Google has added a playful feature to its iOS application that lets you kick off a random trivia search – aka, the “I’m Feeling Curious” search feature – just by hard pressing on its app icon. The feature takes advantage of 3D Touch, which means it only works on Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices. After tapping on the “I’m Feeling Curious” button, you’ll be taken to a search results page that displays a random fact or bit of knowledge.
Practical? Nah. Fun? Yep!
In case you missed it, Google actually rolled out the “I’m Feeling Curious” search trick last fall as something of a boredom buster. However, some pointed out at the time that the loading animation on the web version of the feature also worked as a way to showcase Google’s new logo and identity, which had rolled out around the same time.
To trigger an “I’m Feeling Curious” search on the web, users had to type the phrase into the search box. The 3D Touch option via the Google app icon is actually a bit more obvious.
After pressing the button – now the top choice above image, voice and quick searches – you’ll be presented with a random fact that’s pulled from a website in Google’s index, with Google linking to the source.
These pieces of trivia, presented in the form of a question, run the gamut. For example, some are about historical events, others about pop culture, others about nature or science, and so on – they’re not all that dissimilar from those you’d find in a game like Trivial Pursuit, in fact.
[gallery ids="1271409,1271408,1271407"]
After you run the search once, you also have the option to press a button to “ask another question” to keep playing. You can either challenge yourself by not reading ahead, or play with others, by having a friend ask you questions. It can be a little addicting, and almost as fun as browsing Instagram when you have time to kill.
Google’s iOS app already supported 3D Touch as of December, so this addition is not necessarily meant to draw attention to the option of hard-pressing on the app icon for Google Search shortcuts. If anything, it’s likely that Google is just having a little fun itself. Of course, if it has the side effect of boosting usage of the Google app, I’m sure the company is just fine with that, too.