How do turn off Essential Search and other AI features?

NakaraAra

Hello, I got the 4.0 Update like 1 week ago for my Phone 2 and after the device reboot I got greeted by Essential Search. Its this feature where you can let it search your phone for files and images.

However, I dont want this feature. I didn’t gave it access to photos and files etc. but after I did a normal reboot today it suddenly turned on.

Before the reboot everytime I wanted to use the app search an annoying banner popped up and suggested to turn Essential Search on. I always clicked “later” because there was no “never” button.

I dont need this feature and I absolutley dont want to give it permissons to search for my files.

I couldn’t find any way to turn it off in my settings app. Please help.

SiddheshShanbhag

Long press on the home screen > customisation > layout > search bar > no search bar/web search(based on what you prefer) > apply.

Before that, while essential search is on, tap on the essential search bar > three dots in the bottom right > search result settings > there will be a menu of apps for which you can enable/disable essential search, disable all of them if you want the essential search feature to be completely off.

Done.

NakaraAra

SiddheshShanbhag Thank You.

EugeneStover

SiddheshShanbhag

That just removes the search from the home screen, it does nothing for the app search bar you get when you swipe up on the home page to access all apps.

CoendeOude

SiddheshShanbhag I have tried this but whenever it tap on the search bar in the app drawer I still get the “Welcome to Essential Search” with the only option being the yellow “Get started” button and underneath that “By continuing use, you agree with our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.” I do explicitly not want to agree to these terms, I hate it that I can no longer search through my apps without it turning it in a web/AI search. Is there a way to just hide this bar because it is useless to me now.

EugeneStover

CoendeOude I’m in the same boat. Its made the phone so much less then it was before.

FabioR 🇩🇪

You don’t have to install Essential Search.

But unfortunately, you can’t remove the search bar or the yellow button to the right.

Yo might want to make a suggestion via the feedback option in the system settings, to add a toggle for the removal of the search bar/yellow button.

themountofmint

FabioR 🇩🇪 meanwhile I have another problem, because it still not available to me at its full potential😂😂😂 I want to use it, but I can’t

4ZTPCE9ips

This feature is a disaster. No way to turn it off and we’ve lost the ability to search with without surrendering our data.

kewa

4ZTPCE9ips

I had a ticket with support regarding the inability to search the app drawer anymore without accepting the new Essential TOS. Clearly an attempt to shove this down our throats by inconveniencing users.

They told me ‘Sorry, there is no way to remove this feature’ & obviously there is NO OPTION TO DECLINE

Nothing is cooked. I see now the only redeeming quality of this company was the teenage engineering design.

J90

The only way to fix this issue is to factory reset your phone. Unlock the bootloader. Root the phone. Then uninstall nothing launcher 4.0.7 (it doesn’t let you uninstall the launcher from apps menu because it’s a system app) and reinstall nothing launcher 3.2. I backed up that launcher APK for this reason and still am on 3.2 pong. Or you simply use a different launcher that is not from nothing. For example pixel or prime launchers from Google.

Pino90

So, I opened a support ticket and the woman on the other side told me that there’s no solution except handing over my data.

So essentially (pun intended) Nothing has made my phone worse just to harvest my data.

Since the data harvesting wasn’t needed before, it’s clear that Nothing doesn’t need my data to search my apps. It’s a stupid local search that any Computer Science student can write in a few hours.

This is called consent bundling or forced consent under GDPR and it is illegal article 7 in the EU. It’s also illegal under the consumer protection laws. It’s deeply problematic because the only solution not to hand over my data is to factory reset my phone leaving it open to cyber security risks.

Therefore, since Nothing is tone deaf to this issue, I just filed a GDPR violation complaint under Article 7 (4), a consumer protection complaint in Spain for intentionally extorting my data by making my phone worse, another GDPR violation complaint for Essential Seafch sketchy privacy statement (which is contradictory in several places) and I also updated all my reviews to reflect the fact that Nothing cannot be trusted.

BTW, if you’re in Spain and want a Nothing Phone 3a Pro in pristine conditions, I’m selling mine (after documenting what they’ve done).

J90

Pino90 There is another way i found. Please follow the second method!

I wanted to clear things up about my first post. The only 2 ways to go about this issue.

My first paragraph is the launcher way which is more difficult and the second is easier. A way to fix this issue is to go back to Nothing OS 3.2 launcher. The way you do that is to factory reset your phone. Unlock the bootloader (which will make you wipe your phone again). Root the phone with a tutorial on youtube. Then uninstall nothing launcher 4.0.7 (it doesn’t let you uninstall the launcher from apps menu because it’s a system app and it’s grayed out) and reinstall nothing launcher 3.2 when you have root access. I backed up that launcher APK for this reason and still am on 3.2 pong. Or you simply use a different launcher that is not from nothing. For example pixel or prime launchers from Google.

The second and more simpler way is to disable the app responsible. Go into system settings, apps settings, show system apps and search for universal search. In universal search you force stop the app, turn off the ability to allow changing of system settings. You can even clear data and clear cache of the app and then fully disable it by the center button at the top next to force stop. Reboot the phone and your app drawer launcher search will work like normal. Inside the three dot menu in the launcher app select search box the search result settings will not open anymore but the search will work as normal in Android 15 3.2 Pong for searching only apps and widgets.

You’re welcome 😁

Pino90

J90 Neither of them is an actual solution. The first is just unfeasible as it will break several streaming services and most European banking apps. The second is a patchwork: it might work until it doesn’t because Nothing patches this workaround.

ricksmith_8zE1O6lMg7

Just use Niagra launcher

Outrageous

This is outrageous. I registered only to comment on this, as this is a HUGE change in privacy and data sharing, that I personally don’t agree to. Why would I want to share data to LLMs while all I want to do is open an app I already have on my phone?

Is there even any log as to what is being sent to LLMs from your phone?

No bloatware and an illusion of control is one of the main reasons I bought this phone, and tbh I am as well going to discourage anyone from buying their products.

@J90 thank you for the solution, I tried solution 2 and indeed it seems to work for now. Let’s see for how long.

Also get us updated @Pino90 on the GDPR complaint. I’m also in the EU and will definitely file one myself if the solution proposed by J90 stops working.

J90

Outrageous Nothing has not allowed yet a post i made in NP2 main thread. Hear is what else you can do. I did this on windows but this script can be converted to apple or linux. You need adb platform tools and run this script.
Save into a txt file with a .bat file extension on put it into the folder of platform tools. In command prompt go to directory of platform tools and execute this script. Or just run each command individually without the script from the command line.

There are 4 system apps that need to be disabled. 1 is invisible to the android apps menu.

@echo off
echo =========================================
echo Disabling Nothing OS AI components
echo =========================================
echo.
echo Press ENTER to continue…
pause >nul
echo.

adb shell pm disable-user –user 0 com.nothing.essentialintelligence
adb shell pm disable-user –user 0 com.nothing.intelligencetoolkit
adb shell pm disable-user –user 0 com.nothing.universal.search
adb shell pm disable-user –user 0 com.nothing.aiwidget

echo.
echo =========================================
echo Done. Nothing OS AI is now disabled.
echo =========================================
pause

If you want to reenable those apps just run these commands individually to reenable the apps.
adb shell pm enable –user 0 com.nothing.essentialintelligence
adb shell pm enable –user 0 com.nothing.intelligencetoolkit
adb shell pm enable –user 0 com.nothing.universal.search
adb shell pm enable –user 0 com.nothing.aiwidget

Essential Intelligence – core AI analysis engine
Intelligence Toolkit – AI system integration layer
Essential Universal Search – AI-powered global search & suggestions
AI Widget Provider – AI summaries and home-screen widgets