Nothing OS 4.0 open beta adds AI-generated Essential Apps widgets

This week Nothing released an open beta of Nothing OS 4.0, its Android 16-based software, making the update available to owners of the Phone 3, Phone 2, Phone 2a and Phone 2a Plus. The release introduces AI-generated Essential Apps widgets, a set of user interface changes and a series of stability and performance fixes, while the company said support for additional models will follow in the weeks ahead.

The headline addition is Essential Apps, a toolset that generates compact, homescreen widgets on demand using user prompts and on-device AI. Users can create widgets through the Nothing Playground, add them to their home screen and share creations with other users via the Playground community. Examples provided by the company include a receipt-capture tool that produces finance-ready PDFs, a one-page calendar brief, a mood tracker that syncs with playlists and a wardrobe suggestion helper. Nothing said the Playground is live and that widgets are currently limited to two per device on most models and up to six on the Phone 3, limits the company described as temporary to preserve performance.

Phone 3 users also receive an AI usage dashboard inside Essential Space designed to...