Easter egg: Clarus the DogCow returns (almost) to iOS

If you’re a veteran Mac OS user, you’re probably familiar with the DogCow. This small icon was used until Mac OS 9 to present the orientation of the pages at the time of printing. Its name comes from the fact that the preview windows of the time had such poor quality that one could not differentiate whether it was a dog or a cow: so it was decided that it was a dog-cow. The icon quickly became a mascot of Macintosh developers while a small cult was dedicated to it. Called Clarus, the community decided that its cry would be “Moof”. It’s long gone from macOS, but is back on iPhone and iPad thanks to a little easter-egg.

Moof!

One twitter user noticed that when you type the words “Claurus” or “Moof” on the iOS keyboard, it will suggest two emojis: a cow and a dog. They don’t appear in the correct order, but the intent is there and the reference is fun. If the phenomenon has gone out of fashion since the 90s, Apple still sometimes refers to it, for example in this page of the documentation Swift. You can also find Clarus in the sticker pack Classic Mac for iPhone and iPad.

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