Amongst many other surprising easter-eggs from Google, the no-internet-connection Dino-runner game is, no doubt, the most popular one. We have seen many fan-made versions of the game pop-up on the internet. However, never have I imagined that I’ll be able to play the game inside an iOS 14 widget!
Well, I am not kidding, and the app, Steve – Widget Game, was developed by an iOS junior software developer, Ivan De Cabo, back in 2016. Back then, it was launched as a “Notification Center” game. And I was stupid enough to not know about it. And now that I know it, I cannot get enough of it.
I mean, come on, you don’t even have to open an app to play this mindless runner-game. It comes as a 55.5MB (depends on the model) file from the App Store and once you download it, you can tuck it away in the new “App Library” of iOS 14. And if you open the app, it will do nothing but show you the instruction to add a widget on the legacy widgets-page of your device.
Now, the legacy widgets-page is the OG widgets panel which was there before iOS 14 came out. You can find this page by swiping right from your home screen.
You can long-press on any of the existing widgets on this page or tap the “Edit” button at the bottom of the page to go into jiggle mode. Now, tap the “Customize” button to bring up the widgets list and find “Steve”. Tap the “+” button to add it to the widgets-panel and you’re done.
Now, anytime you want to play the game, just swipe right from your home screen and start tapping. However, before you can start the game, you need to expand the widget by tapping the tiny arrow at the top-right corner of it.
It is exactly like the Dino-runner game in Google Chrome which we are all familiar with. The pixelated t-rex runs over a ground full of cacti and you have to tap the widget to make it jump over them. Pretty basic.
However, unlike the game in Chrome, this widget game has multiple unlockable characters to play with. And while running, the T-rex in this game collects coins, with which you can unlock these characters.
Now, although, with iOS and iPadOS 14, iPads and iPhones now support dynamic widgets on any page of the device, this widget does not support the feature, as of now. This means you can add this widget only to the legacy widgets-panel and not on the home screen. Nonetheless, the fact that you can play a game inside a widget is pretty cool in itself.
Download Steve – Widget Game from the App Store (Free)
