Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Tl;
- Google has updated Android Easter eggs again in Android 16.
- The Easter egg in Android 16 is still the same spaceship minispel from the previous two releases, but it now acts as a showcase for the Live update feature.
- Live updates are a new type of notification that appears prominent in the lock screen, AOD, alert panel and status bar.
Update March 14, 2025 (11:20 ET): Since the live update feature is disabled in Android 16 Beta 3, we were originally unable to showcase the new Android 16 Easter egg in its entirety. With a little tinker, however, we managed to activate the live update feature in Beta 3, and then demo the new Easter egg experience. The article is updated accordingly, complete with a video showing the new Easter egg in Android 16.
Every year, Google sneaks into a funny little Easter egg into its latest Android release. These Android Easter eggs ranges from fun small mini -games to tools that highlight a certain ability for the year release. The new Easter egg in Android 16 are both of these things, a aerospace game that demonstrates how apps can use the platform’s new live update feature. Here’s what Android 16 Easter eggs look like, how it works, and how you can access it yourself.
What is an Android Easter egg?
If you are not known, an Easter egg is any message, image or feature hidden from users. Android’s Easter eggs are no different, except that they are largely an open secret at this time. That’s because every Android Easter egg is hidden in the same place each year, which means if you found it earlier, you know how to access the new one already. If you do not know how to access Android Easter eggs, we will share the steps in the next section.
How do I find Android 16 Easter eggs?
Finding Android 16 Easter eggs is easy. All you have to do is follow these steps:
- Open Settings app.
- Pressure About the phone.
- Tap Android -version.
- Tap Android -version field repeatedly.
- You should now see the Android 16 logo floating in space.
- Finally, press and hold on Android 16 -logo Until the spaceship games are launched. You should see the logo start vibrating, the dots that represent stars in the background turn into strokes, the background color becomes white and your phone starts to vibrate.
Although the Easter egg is the same for all Android phones and tablets Running Android 16, the exact location of the “Android version” field may vary for some devices.
What Android 16 Easter eggs do
Android 16 Easter eggs may look familiar as it is pretty much the same as from Android 14 and Android 15. The Easter egg in Android 16 is a cute space ship game that starts by simulating a start of a spacecraft. When it is launched, take control of a small ship when floating around space. You can find a variety of stars and celestial bodies when exploring the enormous room.
To help you navigate, the game shows the ship’s thruster status, current coordinates and speed. It also shows the name of the star closest to you, the class of that star, its radius, its mass and how many objects orbit it. When you land on a star or a heavenly body, your spaceship plans a yellow flag on it. Finding every heavenly body can be a nice way to pass the time, but if you hoped for a win -state, you won’t find one. The exploration itself is the only source of entertainment.
If you do not manually like to move the spaceship, but appreciate the aesthetics of the game, you can set it as a screen saver. When set as a screen saver, the ship runs on the autopilot, and automatically navigates to the nearest heavenly body. When it lands on one, plant a flag, wait a few seconds and then depart to the next target.
All aspects of the spaceship games I have described so far were present in Android 15 Easter eggsbut Android 16 beta 3 Introduces two changes. First, it is now possible to manually engage the autopilot system while playing the game yourself. Just press the new “Auto” button in the bottom right. Even more important is that the Easter egg now shows a progress -centric notice, which is a central part of the new Live updates feature in Android 16.
When you start the game and return to the home screen, Android Easter eggs will post a notice describing the ship’s status. The notification uses Android 16’s new propulsion -centric warning style, which includes a progress line showing the distance to the nearest heavenly body.
Unfortunately, the live updates themselves are disabled in Android 16 Beta 3. Normally, the live update feature will allow the Easter egg notification to be displayed prominent in the alert panel, always-on-view and in the status bar. With a little tinker, however, we managed to activate the Live Update feature in Beta 3 to give you an early look at what the full Android 16 Easter egg will be. Here is a video showing the new Easter egg in Android 16:
The live update feature allows the Easter egg notification to appear prominent in the alert panel, always on the view and in the status bar. In the status bar, the Easter egg shows an icon and one word representing the ship’s current status. The ship is “free” when it has no specific destination, “along the way” when the autopilot navigates the ship to a heavenly body, and “landed” when it has landed on a heavenly body.
Hopefully, Google will activate the live update feature in the next beta so everyone can try out the new Easter egg in its entirety. Some Android phones can display live updates slightly different due to manufacturer adaptations, so the video built into this article may not reflect your own experience with Android 16 Easter eggs. However, it should still act as a demonstration of the new live update feature that it is implemented on the phone or tablet.
Still, it is cool to see the Easter egg in Android 16 use one of the operating system’s new features, as this was not the case for the Easter egg in Android 14 or 15. I’m sure some of you were hoping for a whole new Easter egg, so hopefully Google things change in next year’s release.