Wassup Community,

Nothing OS is slowly shifting from a traditional update model into something more alive. Playground and Essential together represent a new direction where experimentation and daily usability grow side by side instead of separately.

This isn’t just about new apps. It’s about changing how features are born, tested, and become part of the system and lets dive deeper.

What is Playground?

Playground is the creative space for Nothing OS.

It’s not just a feature section. It’s a platform where creators experiment, build, remix, and share ideas directly with the community.

The goal is simple:

Create something uniquely yours
Share it with others
Let ideas evolve through real usage

Playground acts as an open canvas where Essential Apps, Glyph Toys, camera presets, audio profiles, and more can be created and explored by anyone with access.

What is Essential?

Essential is the philosophy behind how apps work in this new system.

Rather than traditional apps downloaded from a store, Essential focuses on generative, personal tools that start with your needs.

You describe what you want, and the system helps create it.

Key ideas behind Essential:

Apps built using natural language
Personal-first experiences that adapt to you
Software that grows from individual usage into a shared ecosystem

Essential Apps are meant to feel lightweight, focused, and deeply integrated into Nothing OS.

How Playground + Essential Work Together

Think of it as two layers:

Playground = Exploration

Build and test ideas quickly
Share with community
Remix existing creations

Essential = Evolution

Personal apps that solve real needs
AI-assisted creation
Mature concepts that become core experiences

This creates a loop:

Idea → Build → Share → Improve → Become Essential.

Instead of closed development cycles, the OS evolves through creators and users together and this is the future of an hyper personalised operating system.

Creating Essential Apps

Essential Apps make building feel simple. You don’t start with complex tools or heavy development workflows. You start with an idea and describe it.

1. Wait for access

Access is currently rolling out in stages. Submit a strong, creative prompt when applying. Show what you want to build and why it matters. Once approved, keep an eye on your email for the access confirmation.

2. Open Playground

If you’ve received access:

Go to playground.nothing.tech
Navigate to Essential Apps
Tap “Create your app” to create a new Essential App

You’re now ready to start building.

3. Create using natural language

Describe your app in plain language.

Keep it:

Focused on one clear idea
Useful in daily life
Simple and intentional

The system uses your description to generate the structure of the app. Refine your prompts and iterate until it feels right.

4. Build constructively

Create respectfully and thoughtfully. Playground is community-driven, so aim to build things that add value and encourage creativity.

5. Deploy and test

Once your app is ready:

Deploy it to your phone
Test how it behaves in real use
Adjust flow, interaction, and clarity if needed

6. Publish to the community

If everything works well, publish your app to the community and wait for approval. Once approved, others can explore and use.

What’s new in (Beta)

Alpha focused on testing the core idea of Essential Apps and natural language building. Beta makes things more practical and opens access to more users through a waitlist rollout.

Stability is improved, editing is clearer, version control is better, and the builder feels more reliable for creating real apps. Deployment is currently focused on Phone (3) for performance testing, with support for more Nothing and CMF devices coming later.

Even without builder access, anyone with a Nothing device can browse Playground and download Essential Apps from the community, while creating your own apps requires access.

What’s available

These features are stable and ready to use:

Calendar (read access to existing events)
Contacts (read access to contact info)
Haptics with full vibration support
System UI elements like toast notifications
Audio playback
RSS feeds for news and structured content are arriving soon
Structured data support like flights and sports fixtures is currently in development
API handling and data fetching are being optimised to feel smoother inside the Builder

Coming Soon

Upcoming native integrations include:

Weather
Gallery picker
Media integration
Camera access
Microphone access

Essential is the Future

Essential isn’t just another feature or app platform. It’s a new way of thinking about what a phone and operating system should be. Instead of forcing users into fixed software built for everyone, Essential moves toward a future where your device shapes itself around you.

The core idea is simple: Your phone should learn who you are, understand what you need, and adapt over time.

Q1 2024 - Ear (1)
Q2 2022 - Phone (1)
Q2 2023 - Phone (2)
Q1 2025 - Essential Space
Q3 2025 - Essential Apps
H2 2026 - AI-Native Devices
H1 2028 - Essential OS

And yeah,

I’ve designed a series of Essential Apps, I’ll be sure to link them up if they are approved and that’s about it.

Cheers,

Thanish