The fourth Android 14 beta landed yesterday mainly to clean up any remaining bugs as it nears its stable release. But along with a long list of fixes, there is a little surprise hiding in this beta update that many Android devotees eagerly wait for every year — the Easter egg. Android 14’s new space-themed game is a big departure from Android 13’s Easter egg and will keep you occupied as you hunt for a nearby star.
This isn’t the first time Google is gamifying its Android Easter eggs to let you kill time on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Android Lollipop’s Flappy Bird-inspired mini-game is perhaps the most popular example, while we also got a kitty collector game with Nougat. The ones on Android 12 and 13 were rather insipid, but Android 14 is now back in the game (via Mishaal Rahman).
When you first spot the Easter egg, you will be greeted with Android 14’s NASA-inspired logo. Long-pressing the icon will take you into the game. Right in the middle, you will find a small spaceship that will remind you of the good-old Space Impact game on Nokia feature phones. You can guide the shuttle in the direction you like and slide your finger on the screen to regulate the thruster power.
In the bottom left corner, you will see the stats for your capsule — its thruster power, velocity, and coordinates. While at the top, you will find the details of the nearest star which space enthusiasts will find especially interesting. You can use the coordinates to guide your spaceship toward the star, and if you’re lucky, you may be able to hit one and then bounce off it. If not, you can simply float around in space aimlessly and reach the end of the universe (yep, there’s one, at least in this game).
As usual, you can find the Easter egg by going to Settings > About phone > Android version. A few quick taps on the Android version number (14, in this case) will take you to the new Android 14 logo. Long pressing the logo will make the logo and your phone tremble a little. Don’t let go of it for a few seconds and you will enter the game.
Since this is currently exclusive to Android 14 Beta 4, you will have to enroll your eligible Pixel handset into the beta program. If you hold any of the other top Android phones, you’re out of luck right now, but the stable Android 14 build should bring the Easter egg to everyone.