Nothing has officially announced Nothing OS 5.0, one of its biggest software releases in recent years. Built on Android 17, the update brings an on-device AI app builder, a standalone Glyph app, new widgets, and a range of performance and visual upgrades. Alongside the announcement, Nothing has also confirmed which phones will get the update ...
Nothing has officially announced Nothing OS 5.0, one of its biggest software releases in recent years. Built on Android 17, the update brings an on-device AI app builder, a standalone Glyph app, new widgets, and a range of performance and visual upgrades. Alongside the announcement, Nothing has also confirmed which phones will get the update and when.
Nothing has confirmed the following phones will be upgraded to Nothing OS 5.0:
Three phones – the Nothing Phone (1), Nothing Phone (2), and CMF Phone 1 – are not eligible, since they have already reached end of life (EOL) for software updates.
The Open Beta program starts August 26 with the Phone (3), then gradually expands to the rest of the lineup over the following 4-6 weeks. The Phone (3a) Lite and CMF Phone 2 Pro won’t get beta builds at all. The stable rollout begins in mid-October, also starting with the Phone (3), and is expected to wrap up around mid-January 2027. Here’s Nothing’s official schedule:
| Model | Open Beta | General Release |
|---|---|---|
| Phone (3) | August 26 | Mid October |
| Phone (4a) Pro | Early September | Early November |
| Phone (4a) | Late September | Early November |
| Phone (3a) Pro | Late September | Early November |
| Phone (3a) | Late September | Early November |
| Phone (2a) | Mid October | Mid November |
| Phone (2a) Plus | Mid October | Mid November |
| Phone (3a) Lite | – | Late December |
| Phone (4b) | Mid December | Mid January |
| CMF Phone 2 Pro | – | Mid January |
Anyone interested in joining the beta program can find registration details and other important notes in a dedicated post on the Nothing Community.
Once the beta goes live for a given device, Nothing outlines these steps to install it:
If registration returns an error saying the beta join failed, Nothing says the server may be under heavy load and recommends trying again in a few hours.
Visually, Nothing OS 5.0 separates notifications and Quick Settings into two swipe gestures – the top-left corner opens notifications, the top-right opens a redesigned control center with iOS-like volume and brightness sliders, resizable tiles, and smoother animations, while classic quick settings remain available. A new Lucent theme adds translucent effects and Gaussian blur across widgets, search, and first-party apps like Gallery, alongside refreshed status bar icons, animations, and a clearer Settings layout.
Home and lock screen additions include wallpaper-adaptive app icon and tile colors, an Away Time widget tracking time spent off the phone, a Collector widget that displays photos like a digital frame, a Glyph Timer launchable from the home screen, an improved Depth Effect around the clock, and two new clock faces – Gooey and the still-in-development Micrographics.
On the AI side, Essential Voice gets a faster on-device engine with real-time transcription, improved formatting, and Super Mic support for Ear (3). Essential Space adds Smart Selection to automatically sort scattered photos and screenshots, plus MCP support so compatible AI platforms can search stored information. A new Essential Apps Builder lets users build custom apps by describing them in natural language and deploy them straight to the home screen.
Built-in apps also see updates: Camera controls are simplified with lens options moved to the top-left, QR code scan results now stay stationary at the bottom of the screen, and Glyph settings move into their own dedicated app for controlling lighting, ringtone schedules, and sounds.
From Android 17 itself, Nothing OS 5.0 inherits Expanded Dark Mode for apps without native dark themes, Cross-Platform Quick Share for sending large files to iPhones via QR code, a floating screen recorder with quick controls, new privacy indicators for AI processing and location access, and isolated audio controls for adjusting smart assistant volume independently of system media.
Apple AirPods Pro 3
Cristian Penisoara is a Guides Writer and Android specialist at Droid Tools. An Android user since version 2 and a professional event photographer, he combines technical curiosity with a detail-oriented approach - every guide he publishes is tested step-by-step on a real device before it goes live.
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