Nothing has been teasing an operating system built for AI and, today, they’re showing that off with “Essential” and it’s… a lot.
“Essential” is, by Nothing’s description, a “new kind of operating system.” The idea is to build something that’s unique to each user, but the full vision for this is a long-term one, and we won’t see the debut until the first half of 2027.
In the meantime, “Essential Apps” are launching on Nothing Phone devices running the Nothing OS skin on top of Android.
This new feature leverages the newly available “Nothing Playground,” where “Essential” will produce custom apps on demand using AI. No coding is needed, just descriptions fed to AI. Once an app is generated, you can add it to your homescreen and start using it.
Nothing says:
That journey starts with the launch of Essential Apps for Nothing devices. Just describe what you need – ‘capture the receipts from camera roll, and export a finance-ready PDF every Friday’, ‘before my calls, show me a one-page brief based on my calendar and message threads’, ‘create a mood tracker that syncs with a music playlist’ – and AI generates an Essential App you can add to your home screen instantly. The destination is a future where your phone shapes itself based on who you are: a personal OS.
These aren’t “apps” though, but rather homescreen widgets.
The “Nothing Playground” is live now and some of the initial “app” examples include a flight gate reminder, a date widget, a clock widget, an F1 calendar widget, and one that just has “big eyes.” The Playground will allow users to create their own widgets or add ones created by other users.
There’s also a limit on how many of these you can use. Nothing Phone (3) running Nothing OS 4.0 (now in beta) supports up to 6 widgets, while all other Nothing Phone models on the same update only support 2 at a time.
Nothing is making a lot of big promises for its future here, so what do you think of what’s been presented?
More on Nothing:
- Nothing’s CMF Headphone Pro launch for $99 with a physical slider to tune bass, more
- Nothing Ear (3) are now available for $179
- CMF by Nothing is becoming something of its own
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