Apple Watch support documents conceal trolling message, as Apple continues its obsession with 'rickrolling'

Not for the first time, Apple has hidden a years-old meme in its developer materials

Andrew Griffin
Thursday 24 September 2015 11:38 EDT
Comments
Rick Astley's original music video for 'Never Gonna Give You Up' has been removed from YouTube
Rick Astley's original music video for 'Never Gonna Give You Up' has been removed from YouTube (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Apple has hidden a secret “Rickroll” in its Apple Watch support pages, the latest example of the company’s obsession with the old meme.

In one picture found on its developer support website, it shows an Apple Watch face on its “Friends” screen, where people can select a contacts’ initials and get in touch with them. Those initials are shown in a wheel, with all of the letters around the edges.

In the picture, those friends’ initials read: “NE VE RG ON NA GI VE YU UP”. Or, squashed together, the title of Rick Astley’s 1987 hit — linking to a video of which is (or used to be) a popular joke on the internet.

It’s not the first time that Apple has hidden a reference to the song in its developer materials.

In its introduction to Control Centre, for instance — the little page that can be pulled up from the bottom of the screen to change settings — the phone is shown playing the song from the album ‘Rich Astley: The Greatest Hits’.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in