Nothing OS 4.0 Beta on Phone (3a) Series - Lock Glimpse & Future Plans

Akis · 2025-10-24T17:20:00+00:00

![](https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-10-24/1761326648-151450-glimpse.jpg "banner") Hi everyone, Today, we rolled out the Nothing OS 4.0 Open Beta for the Phone (3a) Series, which included Lock Glimpse and sparked a lot of questions. We had planned to cover this next week as part of a new product announcement, but we wanted to address it now to be transparent and provide you with the full context. Building Nothing from the ground up hasn’t been easy. We are the only smartphone brand in the last decade that has successfully launched, scaled and developed full end-to-end capabilities. This is no small feat in a market defined by high entry barriers, from massive capital requirements and complex supply chains to intense competition. One of the biggest challenges for any new entrant is managing the BOM (Bill of Materials) cost, which is higher than that of established players. On top of this, most brands also have software-based revenue streams, the most straightforward being pre-installed partner apps and services. This is a common approach across the industry, including for established brands like Samsung. For us, this means operating on razor-thin margins and making careful, deliberate choices for every aspect of the product while still delivering an optimal user experience. As we continue investing in hardware and software innovation as well as sustaining our growth, we need to explore sustainable revenue models to avoid passing costs and ensuring optimal pricings for our products - especially for entry- and mid-segment products. Moving forward, on select non-flagship devices, we’ll start including a carefully considered selection of third-party partner apps and services that don’t disrupt the Nothing OS experience you love. These are apps most people install on day one, like Instagram. They’re not random - we’re working with popular platforms many of you already use daily, and in some cases, these integrations can even enhance performance or provide tighter experiences, such as improved camera or sharing features. As part of this we have a new feature called Lock Glimpse being tested in the Nothing OS 4.0 Open Beta on the Phone (3a) Series. Lock Glimpse brings fresh, high-quality wallpapers to your lock screen, curated to your taste across nine categories. It can also surface timely updates and useful content, designed to enhance your experience, not distract you. A few important details: * On Phone (3a) Series, Lock Glimpse is off by default. * You can enable it anytime in Settings, or access it only by swiping left from your lock screen. * You can customize wallpaper categories, refresh anytime, or disable it completely. * In future updates, you’ll be able to use your own photos, replacing standard wallpapers entirely and making every unlock uniquely yours. * If you choose to turn it on, no personal data is shared. This is standard across the industry, but we’ll always do it the Nothing way - redesigning each element and integrating them into Nothing OS in the most optimal way (default designs look terrible…) - while keeping everything completely under your control, giving you the ability to remove things or turn features on and off as you wish. What’s not changing: our focus remains on delivering the best possible user experience while taking the steps needed to achieve our ambitions. We’ll always: * Keep partner apps minimal and easy to remove * Be upfront about what’s pre-installed and why * Give you full control over features like Lock Glimpse We’d rather be open and transparent about this change and hear your feedback and suggestions. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments regarding third-party apps and services. Thanks Akis **[ UPDATE ] - 30 OCT** Yesterday, we launched Phone (3a) Lite, the first entry-level smartphone from Nothing. As mentioned above, we want to remain open and transparent about the inclusion of third-party apps and services in Nothing OS, and we welcome your feedback and suggestions regarding this change. Continuing on that, we’ve made some new developments regarding third-party apps and services and have begun including a carefully selected range of third-party partner apps and app recommendation services in Phone (3a) Lite. These are some of the most widely used apps globally , the ones most users tend to install on day one. 1. TikTok - EU , UK and Japan 2. Instagram - All Regions ( except Japan ) 3. Facebook - All Regions ( except Japan ) Because these apps come pre-installed, they offer : * Faster startup: These apps launch 50 to 100 milliseconds quicker. * Smarter background performance: App background retention is optimized, so when you switch back to Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, they resume exactly where you left off without reloading. * Better power efficiency: These apps are optimized for power efficiency, helping extend your device’s battery life by reducing power consumption. * Seamless camera access: Using the camera within these apps is smoother, providing a more fluid shooting experience and reducing the chance of lag or crashes. And importantly, you still retain full control. If you choose to, all three apps can be uninstalled at any time. Additionally, some community members have raised concerns about the Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and Meta Service. These apps are designed to ensure that pre-installed apps are updated to their latest versions in a timely manner and to maintain their stability. If users wish to disable them, they can do so by navigating to: Settings App > All apps > Tap the icon in the top-right corner > Select “Show system” > Find the Meta apps > Select the “disable” button. However, we recommend not disabling these apps if you intend to use the pre-installed apps, as they are essential for ensuring the stability and proper functioning of those apps. ‎ We are also introducing recommendation services which essentially recommend apps that are curated to enhance the initial setup experience for users by helping them quickly discover essential utility and social apps, rather than searching for and downloading each one individually from the Play Store. A few important details: * It’s only visible during the initial phone setup or when the phone is reactivated after a factory reset. Once the setup is complete, there are no more app suggestions during daily use. * Users have full control over it — you can choose to skip and not download any of the recommended apps. * The recommended apps are verified by a trusted partner, eliminating the risk of malware or low-quality software. If users wish to disable this feature , they can do so by navigating to: Settings App > All apps > Tap the icon in the top-right corner > Select “Show system” > Find “App services” > Select the “disable” button. ‎ **[ UPDATE ] 3 NOV** Hi everyone, Following your feedback and suggestions, we’ve been working on making pre-installed services more flexible and within your control. Starting later this month, you’ll be able to completely remove Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and Meta Services from your device. Previously, these could only be disabled. While we recommended keeping them active for better stability of pre-installed apps like Instagram or Facebook, we understand that some users prefer full control over what stays on their device. We’re aiming to roll this out by the end of the month and will confirm once it’s live. Thank you for your continued feedback. It helps us keep improving while staying true to our promise of openness and user choice. Akis

Mew-World-Magiks

Seems like the grand failure of Phone 3 sales pushed them to add some innovative junks into the software. Carl once mocked others for stuffing bloatwares. Now he’s proudly serving it to Nothing users for a few extra bucks. The team’s so called vision finally revealed itself, profit over purpose. Hopefully, Carl and Akis won’t start charging us premium just to use AI, like the Essential Space😿.

Kudos to the entire team for betraying the core users who trusted you🙌.

MainakBhattacharjee

Akis This is absolutely disgusting

Harisanth_HNolEjkroH

Ive joined the beta hub but still not showing any updates.

DheeruJangir

Do whatever you want with upcoming devices but please don’t add these to existing devices.

We bought them because we liked some of their features or mostly design language and you’re just changing it the way you want.

If you want to do this to show that these are your manufactured devices and you can do whatever you want then just say it out loud.

Sgnoogle

Anonymous903

great catch! This really speaks volumes about how Nothing is “scared” by this move.

AbiS_MjZL72iTVk

PrimeAyan Yes , we should also consider the perspective of business , but did the company (Nothing) considered their users whom it betrayed by false promising , if they didn’t market their devices as clean , bloat free software experience, then it’s not a concern now . But making a promise at the launch and after many people bought their device believing that promise and finally betraying them should not be supported.

Imagine this , If we can have the control of the money paid to the company for buying the device , and when we are in financial need , we take that money out .Would the company consider our perspective ? NO .Same with the vice versa

Anonymous903 First they promised “ Complete Bloat free experience” & they broke it now. Now they are promising “Carefully selected Bloat experience” What’s the surity they will not break this as well ?

Nothing is clever enough to kickstart this bloats as unproblematic as possible now , so they can defend it , and people will believe it

PrimeAyan

AbiS_MjZL72iTVk it’s right what you are saying but I don’t think betrayed is right choice of word. We didn’t sign any contract while purchasing nothing, we just believed in their ideology of clean UI. But for some reason they are rolling out some bloatware (that can be disabled) and they are being upfront about it.

So i don’t think it’s a betrayal for me atleast. For now (we were not in any relationship with them that Nothing betrayed us 😅).

Let’s see until the stable update roll out till then we can only guess.

And many people complaining about flagship/non flagship discrimination.

Is not it universal rule we pay more we get better things in return? ( expect apple 🙂)

Nothing was delivering things we can’t get in budget segment in the first place. Now bcz they are doing things like others we are blaming them.

So my conclusion is Nothing is getting hate bcz they promised to do something what others don’t and now they are not keeping that.

Remember promises are broken every day we should not expect such things from a business company. I dont have any problem till they are giving options for disabling things.

It’s my pov. yours or others can be completely diff and that’s ok I guess.

Maggi Goreng

PrimeAyan

I often see people saying we should look at this from a business perspective. But why can’t the Nothing team also look at things from the users’ perspective? I believe most of us who are unhappy is because we’ve already spent our money — and we’re simply trying to defend what we were promised.

I genuinely hope Nothing continues to grow stronger, and I can even understand that compromises sometimes have to be made for survival. But wouldn’t it be a better decision to introduce this “bloatware” feature on future budget models instead? That way, new buyers can decide for themselves (with full transparency) whether Nothing is still the brand they believed in.

PrimeAyan

Maggi Goreng They have been thinking from user perspective till now!

Now they are maybe in financial loss and want some reveno back that’s why they are doing this.

We are complaining about what changed. But we are forgetting what were we getting till now do we become thankful for that ?

I know many are really upset about the changes

But untill it can be disable and doesn’t effect my day to day life exp I will use nothing happily.

But diff people have diff pov and opinions i completely respect that. 🙏

IamSanjith

I’m really disappointed this time. You didn’t keep your promise, and because of that, I’ve lost trust in your brand. I won’t be making any future purchases unless this is made right.

AlexMrngstr69

Or instead of earning through Glance. Give an option for some subscription for Nothing care ….in the budget segment, where people can pay some minimal monthly fee for discounted battery/display replacement,or some perks such as app subscription - Spotify, netflix etc (base plan) for some months . In that way users won’t feel cheated and they can choose what to do…

As in budget segment mostly people can’t afford too high cost display/battery replacement . And in that way you can earn your share as well …

Maggi Goreng

From my personal perspective — if I had been told in advance that an upcoming budget Nothing phone would include something like “bloatware,” I could’ve made an informed decision. I might have chosen to go for their flagship model instead, or even opted for a more affordable Pixel A-series.

Yes, such honesty might hurt Nothing’s short-term sales, but it would greatly strengthen the brand’s trustworthiness. At least in the eyes of users, the company would be seen as transparent and honest. In that case, Nothing would only lose users who dislike bloatware — not the trust and loyalty of its community.

IamSanjith

PrimeAyan If I owe you money and promise to give it back, but then turn around and refuse, that’s not a “mistake”—that’s betrayal. You wouldn’t stay silent or excuse it, because breaking a promise like that kills trust. Promises mean nothing if people can just walk away when it’s inconvenient. Saying “everyone makes mistakes” is a weak shield for dishonesty. Mistakes are accidents; refusing to do what’s right is deliberate.

IamSanjith

PrimeAyan I understand and respect your perspective.

However, constructive criticism helps turn bad decisions into better ones.

No criticism often leads to a bad image.

If we remain indifferent and nothing changes, there will likely be a significant loss of gold customers.

Instead of recovering from losses, this approach could actually worsen them.

Even for their perspective it’s a bad one. This won’t get them enough money to recover. Sales will affect in huge numbers for sure.

Maggi Goreng

PrimeAyan

Same here — I really appreciate your thoughtful perspective🤩
I believe we’re all speaking up because we genuinely care about Nothing as a brand, and this kind of idealistic debate is actually healthy. The extreme comments aren’t really helping anyone👀

Personally, I’m not completely against features like Lock Glimpse or ad-related functions appearing on Nothing phones — what I disagree with is how they’re being implemented. I just think there’s a better way to handle it.

My view is that Nothing can choose to protect its brand image and grow slowly — it’ll definitely be a tougher road in the short term, but it’s also the only sustainable one. Maintaining the brand’s unique identity is what allows long-term value and word-of-mouth from its community.

Simply put: ads might keep a company alive for a few months, but trust keeps it alive for many years.
Unless their goal is to make a quick profit and shut down the company afterward, maintaining a strong trustworthy image should always be the smarter choice in my point of view🔥

PrimeAyan

IamSanjith yes , thanks for understanding rather than like others being rage batting.

Yes sir, you are thinking of their future problems they would face of they adding bloatwares.

That is true, atleast give them some time and let’s see that’s They are cooking, atleast for past few years they were doing good as a company, now is the turmoil phase let’s see what’s awaiting in near future for Nothing.

Stereobasic

Anonymous963 I don’t know how to do that at all 😅 But now I know I can do some digging to find it out. Thank you.

IamSanjith

PrimeAyan That’s good to hear, and I appreciate you understanding my perspective too. We can definitely wait.

Stereobasic

Anonymous903 You are naive if you think it’s true… come on. It’s the whole point of the deal to sell personal data. This chinese company don’t give money to Nothing in exange of anything… Data are sent to the companie “ not personal ”, but afterward they have programs that can succeed to reassemble everything in a very smart and compexe manner to your very personal person.

Anonymous903

Stereobasic Well they’re gonna get sued out of existence if they’re blatantly lying. I’m assuming it’ll be something like google discover (just an example) where you pick topics you like to get wallpapers for, with ads that are also around those topics

Anonymous963

Stereobasic

Very true.

There are also bandwidth overheads delivering this content/wallpapers. They aren’t doing it for free AND paying Nothing for the privilege

They’re clearly going to be harvesting data.

Nothing talks about privacy, but that’s if you don’t agree to the ToS…

itsshibili

Akis many users has only moved to nothing because of the bloatware free software,and what is this it’s totally disappointing and not expected from nothing.

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