We Went on a Digital Easter Egg Hunt, And Here’s What We’ve Found

In software, Easter eggs aren’t painted pink and stuffed with jelly beans — they are undocumented fun features hidden within an application! The Syndicode team has decided to go on an early hunt, and here’s what we’ve found:

On macOS

• Learn a fact for every day of the year

Go to the Utilities folder in Applications and launch a Terminal. Paste the following line: “cat /usr/share/calendar/calendar.history” (without the quotes), and hit Enter. You’ll see what every day is remarkable for.

• The Lord of the Rings timeline

Use the Terminal again and paste this: “cat /usr/share/calendar/calendar.lotr” (without the quotes), and hit Enter. You’ll see a list of all key events from The Lord of the Rings.

On Windows 10

• Frodo’s house (The Lord of the Rings again)

Go to “Settings -> Ease of Access,” then hit “Closed captions” in the panel on the left.

In the preview box, you’ll see a green hill with a hobbit hole which is a screenshot from the movie. What can we say, software developers seem to have a penchant for fantasy stories.

On Android

• A secret behind the version number

Go to Settings -> About Phone and tap the version number several times in succession. A new interactive screen appears that is different for each version. Give it a try!

On Google

• Special search results

The Google search function is full of Easter eggs. Our favorites are the “do a barrel roll” and “anagram.” Just type any of these phrases into the search field and press Enter. For the “anagram” query, look at the suggested search right below the number of results.

If you are a visual person, try googling “DVD screensaver” and check if you’re lucky enough to see the flying logo hit the screen corner.

On Google Sheets

• Turn your spreadsheet into a rainbow

This feature was added to honor Pride Month. Type PRIDE across the first five rows of a sheet (a letter per row), and see the usual dull cells burst with color.

On Wikipedia

• It’s not what it appears

As you search for an Easter egg definition in media, you may notice that the main picture is impossible to click on, except for a small area over the hedgehog. By clicking on it, the user is redirected to a picture of actual Easter eggs!

Did you happen to find anything unexpected your everyday applications can do? Let us know in the comments and Happy Easter!