I keep getting this error again and again.
Nothing Phone 3a has been stuck with this issue since around April/June, and now, on 19 August 2026, they have finally released an update. And this is all they have in the changelog.
It feels like every year, Nothing does the same thing: as soon as new devices are launched, they completely forget to properly update and support their older devices.
For example, the Nothing Phone 4a series was launched in March, and it came with features like Essential Voice, AI Gallery, the Combined Network Bar, fully implemented haptics in the Volume Slider, and several other improvements.
And now itās August. It has been 4ā5 months already.
For the last 3 updates, the changelog for these devices has basically just mentioned security updates. The Essential Space error still hasnāt been fixed, and the new features introduced with the newer devices havenāt been brought to the older ones either.
And letās talk about AI for a moment.
Nothing keeps talking about AI and presenting itself as an AI-focused company, but it has been 5 months, and only a handful of AI features introduced with the newer devices have made their way to the older phones. Many of them are still missing.
Just look at the so-called āIntelligence Toolkit.ā
Seriously, Nothing, have some shame.
The Intelligence Toolkit lists Essential Space, Essential Key Settings, Wallpaper Studio, Essential News, ChatGPT Widget and ChatGPT interaction as its AI-related features.
But seriously, Essential Space and Essential Key Settings are supposed to be AI features?
What exactly is āAIā about Essential Key Settings? It is basically just settings for the Essential Key.
And then there is the ChatGPT Widget and ChatGPT interaction. ChatGPT is a third-party AI service, yet Nothing is presenting a widget and shortcuts for it as part of its own AI ecosystem.
Wow, Nothing.
So adding a third-party ChatGPT widget and shortcuts is your AI strategy?
If this is what Nothing means by its āIntelligence Toolkit,ā then honestly, what a joke.
I have purchased the Nothing Phone 1, Nothing Phone 2a, and Nothing Phone 3a, and honestly, today I deeply regret spending my money on these phones.
My biggest mistake was putting my trust in Nothing and believing that Nothing would be different from other brands.
Nothingās Carl Pei keeps comparing the company to Apple. Seriously, please stop doing that. Donāt make these pointless comparisons when the software support is nowhere near Appleās level.
Apple doesnāt treat software updates the way Nothing does. Apple brings major iOS updates and features to older iPhones as well, including devices that are several years old. They donāt simply ignore their older devices whenever a new generation launches.
I genuinely regret buying Nothing phones and thinking that I was supporting a company that would be different.
From now on, I will never purchase a Nothing product again, and I will never recommend Nothing to anyone either. This is my promise.
And Iām 100% sure about one more thing:
When Nothing OS 5.0 eventually arrives, they will probably take the features that should have already been available on older devices, introduce them at that time, and present them as ānew featuresā in the Nothing OS 5.0 changelog.
Then theyāll make it look like they have delivered a huge number of new features, when in reality it will just be a small update consisting of features that should have been delivered months ago.
And to everyone in the community: remember this.
I also wouldnāt be surprised if Nothing ends up deleting or hiding this post/reply.
Honestly, I regret buying Nothing phones.
