What Is Google Underwater?
Google Underwater is a famous interactive web trick that transforms the Google homepage into an underwater scene. The search bar and buttons float gently on a rippling water surface, fish and sea creatures swim across the screen, and the whole interface bobs with realistic buoyancy physics. Type a search and the results surface from the depths.
It is one of the most visually striking entries in the Google tricks universe, frequently mentioned in the same breath as Google Gravity, the barrel roll, and Google Sphere.
How to Do Google Underwater
- Go to Google.com
- Type "Google Underwater" in the search bar
- Click "I'm Feeling Lucky" or click the first result (the elgoogle / Mr.doob underwater version)
- Watch the page sink beneath the waves
- Move your mouse to create ripples and interact with the floating elements
Like Google Gravity, Google Underwater is a third-party creation rather than an official Google feature, so you reach it through search results. Several versions exist; the most popular use JavaScript physics to simulate buoyancy and water movement.
The History of Google Underwater
Google Underwater appeared in the early 2010s as part of a wave of creative "Google tricks" built by independent developers. These projects took the universally recognized Google homepage and reimagined it through playful physics simulations — gravity, water, anti-gravity, and more.
They spread the same way the barrel roll did: by word of mouth, shared between friends as delightful surprises. This era of participatory, physics-driven web novelty is exactly what made the barrel roll Easter egg such a cultural phenomenon when Google added it to Search in 2011.
Google Underwater vs. The Barrel Roll
Both tricks take the familiar Google interface and transform it into something surprising. Google Underwater submerges it; the barrel roll spins it. The big difference: the barrel roll is an official Google Easter egg you trigger just by searching "do a barrel roll," while Google Underwater is a third-party site reached through search results.
On this site, you can take the barrel roll far beyond Google's single spin — try our Custom Generator to rotate your screen as many times as you like, at any speed.
Other Google Tricks to Explore
- Google Gravity — the Google page collapses and falls
- Zerg Rush — defend your results from invading O's
- Elgoog — Google mirrored and reversed
- All Google Easter Eggs — the complete guide