Google’s always been big on Easter Eggs, hiding little surprises in everything from their online services to Android itself. In Android 5.0 Lollipop, this took the form of an elaborate Flappy Bird clone found buried deep inside the actual OS. Although we were somewhat disappointed to see it making a return inside Android 6.0 Marshmallow (only with slightly tweaked Marshmallow obstacles), we were hoping Google had something new up their sleeves for Android 7.0 Nougat. Turns out, they do.
Now, we’re still in the Developer Preview phase until the official Android 7.0 Nougat rollout begins “later this summer,” so anything can change from now until then. That being said, the Android team has built an entirely new Easter Egg for DP5, a hidden mini-game that appears to be a take on the popular “Neko Atsume Kitty Collector” virtual cat collecting game. It’s a lot less frustrating and so easy anyone can play it. Here’s how you activate Android Neko in the latest dev preview (and we’re sure will include the official release of 7.0 Nougat when it’s available):
Then…
And that’s pretty much it. We’re not entirely sure how many of these funny little felines there are hiding inside the OS (we’re sure someone will dig into the OTA zip and find out soon enough), but that’s what we’re looking out for this year’s hidden Android Easter Egg. Fun stuff.
Thanks, Justin!