Here are Google’s custom Android pins from MWC 2024 [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Mar 2 2024 - 9:30 am PT

MWC 2024 was my first time visiting the show, and the absolute highlight of my time at Fira de Barcelona was collecting Google’s Android pins.

Every year at Mobile World Congress (MWC), Google’s “Android Avenue” is an experience that shows off Android hardware and software features to attendees much like the company’s booth at CES. But since MWC is a show that has way more focus on smartphones, Google also hosts the “Android Partner Walk.”

At the Android booth, attendees can pick up their guide to the experience, which includes hunting down Android pins throughout the show floor. This year, 19 booths across Fira de Barcelona were giving out Android pins. On day one, there are 19 pins to collect, each showcasing “The Bot” in a sport or activity of some sort. Each booth hands out a different pin through the day, some showing off demos of new features or devices before giving them out. It’s a great way to get attendees through the whole show floor.

On day one, I did demos with Circle to Search at the Google booth, Honor’s Magic 6 Pro camera, Gemini in Gmail at the ZTE booth, and more. Other booths, though, just have the pins out in the open where you just have to explore the booth to find them. I was able to collect all the pins for that day pretty easily, getting in a lot of steps in the process.

On day two, Google and its partners start handing out different pins, these with more unique designs. They’re definitely the more exciting of the two, and that’s why I was a bit disappointed – I wasn’t quite as lucky in my collecting. Since my day started away from Fira, I didn’t arrive at the convention until the afternoon, at which point the Samsung, Lenovo/Motorola, and Xiaomi booths were already out of pins. You can’t collect these once they run out, so I walked away without them.

Still, I was able to collect 15 of the day’s 19 pins, and got a pretty good collection going.

The other part of day two is a crossword puzzle in your guidebook. Answers are found at each booth, and if you collect all the pins and fill out the crossword, you get a “final prize” which, to my understanding, was some Android swag.

The Android Partner Walk isn’t something that’s open to the general public, but only those who get the chance to attend MWC. But, still, it was a super fun experience and a huge highlight of my first time visiting the show.