Android 17 is still fresh, and Nothing is already rolling out its first major Android 17 update to Nothing Phone 3 customers who enroll in the open beta. I got to try out the beta update ahead of the public launch, so you know what to expect as your Nothing Phone 3 downloads it. Head to Nothing’s official website to sign up.
Nothing OS 5 focuses on five pillars: design, personalization, performance, Essential AI tools, and, of course, Android 17. Both the lock screen and home screens get a visual refresh with (you guessed it) a new frosted glass look. This look is optional, and I had to enable it specifically after the update, but it adds yet another style to Nothing’s repertoire of customizable styles in its OS.
This also includes a new system-wide font, more lock screen customization (including a better depth effect, new clock faces, widgets, etc.), wallpaper-adaptive colors, and finally a way to batch edit things on your home screen. I particularly enjoyed the new “Away Time” widget, which shows how much of the day you didn’t spend on your phone via a fun visual timeline.
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Quick Settings can now be split, if you prefer that sort of thing, giving you full-screen notifications or Quick Toggles, with a convenient left/right swipe to move between them. Speaking of convenience, Glyph Timers can be started right from the new home or lock screen widget, which I find pretty handy.
Bluetooth controls have also been simplified, with additional controls added to the pop-up in Quick Toggles, so you don’t have to hop into settings just to perform basic Bluetooth tasks.
Essential Apps finally has a proper app that ships on Nothing OS 5, so you can vibe code your next favorite widget straight from your phone without having to use a computer. Likewise, the Glyph interface now has its own app that lets you quickly jump into Glyph customization (and Glyph Toys!).
One of my absolute favorite new additions is the new AI privacy indicator, which adds a new yellow icon in the top-right of the status bar any time AI is processing data. This should more readily help identify when your data is leaving your phone to be processed in a data center, and it works perfectly in conjunction with the AI usage graph.
Essential Voice got a nice speed boost in this release, with substantially faster voice processing once you’re done (it’s pretty close to instant now). Nothing says you’re supposed to see results in real-time as you speak, but I didn’t see that in my pre-beta release. This build was missing just a few things, so it’s possible this one wasn’t quite ready yet.
And I can’t forget the new Essential Key customization, which lets you enable an accidental-press feature, switch the functions between translate and transcribe, or disable it altogether. That first one helps cut down the number of accidental button presses to zero, which is a godsend.
You’ll also find a number of new options for Essential Space, including Smart Collections (to group together relevant content), plus a new Model Context Protocol that lets compatible AI platforms access data from your personal Essential Space.
All of this is in addition to the normal Android 17 upgrades like the updated 3D emoji, iOS-to-Android QuickShare upgrades, and more, plus performance and animation upgrades. The new homescreen design and Micrographics clock face won’t be rolling out until the Nothing OS 5 general release in October, but you can test everything else out on your Nothing Phone 3 right now by enrolling in the beta.
