Nothing’s next OS update will make the Essential Key much more useful

Nothing kicked off the open beta for its Android 17-based Nothing OS 5.0 last week. A stable release is still weeks away, currently slated for the middle of October, but the company’s already talking about Nothing OS 5.1 and beyond.

In a forum post, nothing’s shared a little about what we can expect from future Nothing OS updates. The biggest detail to come out of the post is that the next update, Nothing OS 5.1, apparently won’t be a feature-rich release, but it’ll include the option to remap the Essential Key on phones that have it.

As it stands now, the Essential Key is meant to access and save content to Nothing’s Essential Space app. Some industrious users have found unofficial ways to remap the key to act as a camera shortcut or quick access to turn their phone’s flashlight on and off, but official remapping options have been a common request for Nothing fans.

The post also says that Nothing’s software team has started thinking about Nothing OS 6.0, which will be released in 2027. Nothing aims to get user feedback both online and in person to inform the direction of the next major Nothing OS upgrade, but it hasn’t shared anything concrete about the update.

Android 17-based Nothing OS 5.0 is available in beta now on Nothing Phone 3 with a stable release to follow in the coming weeks. Nothing Phone 1 and Nothing Phone 2 won’t be eligible for the update;  those models will almost certainly miss out on Nothing OS 5.1 and Nothing OS 6.0, as well.