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Looking for Easter eggs in iOS and its apps

by Mike Schramm Apr 25th 2011 at 7:00PM

We're one day late on this one, but rather than brightly colored hidden eggs for Easter, in this case we're of course referring to "easter eggs," little secrets that programmers hide in their applications and code. Macworld has a great roundup of four easter eggs hidden in popular App Store apps, from a secret edition of the 1926 Kelly Blue Book in the official Kelly app to the funny result you get when searching for "tilt" in Mobile Safari.

Off the top of my head, the only other app easter egg I know of is the fact that you can play with the various characters wandering around the title screen of Halfbrick's Monster Dash. Yelp's Monocle AR service was originally an easter egg, although it is now part of the full app.

And it's not technically an easter egg, but some people may not know that you can access iTunes controls either by double clicking the home button while your iPhone is locked, or by double clicking it while unlocked to bring up the background app icons, and then swiping those to the right.

Any other hidden iOS features or app easter eggs that you know about? Share with the rest of us in the comments below!



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We're one day late on this one, but rather than brightly colored hidden eggs for Easter, in this case we're of course referring to...
 

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jim

In the app Calc Zero, which is a calculator app. Type 55378008 or 7734 and turn the phone upside down a picture shows up. Keep doing it and different pictures shows.

April 27 2011 at 4:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cornelius

In case anyone isn't aware of the not-so-obvious ways to decline calls: You can do it by pressing the Sleep/Wake button twice quickly, or by pressing and holding the mic button on the headset for two seconds, then letting go:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38605?viewlocale=en_US

April 27 2011 at 1:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Darranmoore

Amazing number of people don't know the standby & home button screen dump feature.
Another is holding down zero (0) and getting degrees (°) symbol. I use a lot in my job esp on iPad.

April 26 2011 at 6:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Darranmoore's comment
ManekiNico

Huh, I was looking for the degree symbol on my iPhone just yesterday. Never occurred to me it'd be hidden under the zero. I must have held down every damn key except… well, you know.

April 26 2011 at 7:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
darren

Not an Easter egg as such but; enabling VPN. The logo shows on one side of the menu bar in settings. Moving to any other part of IOS moves it to the otherside.

April 26 2011 at 1:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MJ

Searching for "askew" does the same thing that "tilt" does.

April 26 2011 at 3:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

When selecting items in your camera roll if you touch and hold on one photo, wait for it to select then swipe across multiple photos for deletion or sharing.

Also, you can leave your first home screen (possibly others?) with nothing but the dock by simply dragging all the apps to other screens. Nice for showing off your background :)

April 26 2011 at 12:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Joe's comment
Jon Kessler

Awesome hint.

April 26 2011 at 2:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TheAngryPenguin

In the Speed Test app, swipe the middle of the results window (e.g. the speedometer section) downward a few times... You might go blind!

April 26 2011 at 12:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
prometheus

If you want to scroll back to the top on any apple iOS app without swiping your finger up multiple times, just tap on the time and it will scroll all the way to the top automatically. I have had this little trick work on SMS, Email, Safari, Apps Store and Contacts.

April 25 2011 at 11:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to prometheus's comment
Matt

Aye, that actually works in every iPhone app, assuming the top bar is visible. Loren Brichter and Tweetie actually brought it to my attention when Tweetie 2 was first released.

April 25 2011 at 11:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jordanarnold

From the lock screen:

Double-tap the home button to bring up iPod controls
Hold down the home button to enable Voice Control
Tap the home button to clear Voice Control
And then...

The AirPlay Logo randomly appears in your iPod controls. Tapping on the AirPlay logo can cause it to zoom offscreen.

April 25 2011 at 8:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to jordanarnold's comment
greg.schmeer

I have a couple airport express set up so mine shows the AirPlay icon all the time normally.

April 25 2011 at 9:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Digaos

I did that, but I didn't see the aiplay icon. Instead, my top status bar disappeared.

In order to make it appear again I double tapped the home button to invoke the taskbar and then hit home button again to go back to home screen.

Interesting...

April 26 2011 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
anther93

If you touch the candy on the menu of Cut The Rope it will turn into an easter egg that you can use in the game instead of the regular candy. In the holiday version, if you shake your phone in the menu, it will start snowing

April 25 2011 at 8:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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