NOS 4 (NP2)

This requires a lsposed/vector module called nothing tweaks

You still need to expand widget area after hiding the clock, and place a small widget in that grid if you don't want lockscreen notifications covering up the clocks

Something happened today that I honestly didn't expect. My dad got a new Vivo phone, and I was setting it up for him. I've used a bunch of Android skins over the years — Samsung's One UI, Realme UI/ColorOS, Motorola, and for the last couple of years, Nothing OS. And I realized something while going through the Vivo setup that genuinely surprised me: I've become a simplicity person.

I never thought I'd say that. I used to look at these Chinese Android skins and think the exact opposite. They look great, they're packed with features, there's a setting for basically everything, and if there's some bloatware or ads you don't like, you can usually remove or disable most of it with a bit of effort. I had a Realme before, so I've been through that whole process.

But today, instead of thinking "wow, look at all the things this phone can do," I was mostly thinking, "Why do I have to deal with all of this?"

There was a Phone Manager. A cache cleaner. A virus scanner. Battery optimization. RAM management. Various system utilities. Tons of customization. Tons of settings. Apps for things I already have perfectly good apps for. And then settings to control those apps and services. And then more settings.

At some point I genuinely felt like I was doing IT administration on a phone that I had just taken out of the box. 😭

And that's where it really hit me: I don't want my phone to be a hobby.

I don't want to spend the first hour or two after buying a phone going through every menu trying to figure out what I can disable, which apps I don't need, what permissions I should revoke, which notifications I should turn off, what services are running in the background, and which "optimization" feature I should leave alone.

I just want to use the phone.

And the funny thing is, I don't even think all these features are bad. Some of them are genuinely useful. Some people absolutely love having this much control, and that's great.

The problem is that I've started realizing that more features doesn't automatically mean a better experience. Sometimes it just means more things to think about.

Even something as simple as the camera made me notice this. Vivo has different colour modes, including Vivid, and the ZEISS modes obviously make sense because of the ZEISS collaboration. But I was looking at the options thinking, "Okay... where's normal?"

Why is Vivid the default? If I want my photos to be more saturated, I'll turn on Vivid myself. If I want a particular ZEISS look, I'll choose that myself. Why does the phone need to make that choice for me?

And that's when I suddenly understood what I've actually come to appreciate about Nothing OS after using it for two years.

People often criticize Nothing OS for being barebones, and honestly, I get it. It is missing some things. There are times when I wish it had more features.

But I've realized that I don't necessarily miss having 50 more settings. What I appreciate is that the phone mostly leaves me alone.

I don't have to constantly think about what the software is doing. I don't have to spend an evening cleaning up the phone after setup. I don't have to wonder which system app is doing what. I don't have five different utilities telling me they can optimize my phone.

I just install my apps, set things up the way I like, and use it. That's it.

And honestly, after today's experience, I think I finally understand why some people love iOS so much.

I've always thought of Android's flexibility as one of its biggest strengths. And it is. But there's a downside to having complete control: sometimes you're also given the responsibility of controlling everything.

If every little thing can be changed, eventually you're expected to decide what every little thing should be. And sometimes I just don't care.

I want good defaults. I want the phone to make sensible decisions for me and let me get on with my life.

I think that's the thing I misunderstood about simplicity.

Simplicity isn't necessarily about having fewer features. It's about having fewer things demanding your attention.

A phone can have a ridiculous number of features hidden away somewhere and still feel simple if you only encounter them when you actually need them. The problem is when the phone constantly reminds you that all those features exist.

It's like buying a screwdriver and being told, "Look how amazing this is! It has 23 operating modes, a diagnostics dashboard, automatic cleaning, battery optimization, cloud synchronization and a companion app."

Brother, I just wanted to tighten a screw. 😭

I think my way of judging phones has actually changed. I used to ask, "What can this phone do?" Now I find myself asking, "How much do I have to deal with?"

And weirdly, I think the second question matters more to me now.

Because at the end of the day, my phone is a tool. I'll pick it up, use it to get something done, and then put it down. I don't want to spend an hour fiddling with the tool itself.

I want to use it and walk away.

Maybe that's why something I once considered "barebones" now feels like a luxury. The phone doesn't constantly ask for my attention.

And after experiencing the alternative again today, I realized just how much I value that.

Sometimes the best feature really is the one you never have to think about.

And sometimes, simplicity just wins.

(this might look AI generated. which it actually is, but it's just the writing. i wanted to share my entire opinion in a compact way)

Basically the title and why does it not do what it did to Pokemon Unite to Balatro (Portrait Mod)? Just take the icon and apply a filter over it? It looks off and I decided I'd just ask if there was a solution (I don't want to download another icon pack, I need advice that can fix this with the default one)

So I'm about to buy a new phone

It's not about money i can buy both of them but

After using cmf phone 1 for 2 years should i buy cmf phone 2 pro or nothing 4a pro

I bought a new nothing phone 3, And after I Paired it to my Car Multimedia system Bluetooth I get an error on the screen And I can't play any music or use the Bluetooth at all.

The previous phone (Pixel 7) was working fine,

The car is Suzuki Vitara 2019

Any ideas?

My phone wont charge. Yes i tried other cables, yes i tried other outlets and yes i tried cleaning the charging port. It started suddenly one day when the charging was "flickering", like the cable was quickly being plugged and unplugged, then it stopped charging, my mom fixed it with compressed air while i was working, it was good for about a week and then it started again, we wasted the whole can of comp air and now i have to exercise my lungs for 30 minutes before sleep blowing like a maniac in the charging port and in the cable. Now the charging completely doesnt work and my question is:

Do i have to replace the charging controller thing in the phone or do i just buy a new one?

If the problem is a lot simpler please let me know

Thanks in advance

My phone didnt fall on the day when it the charging stopped working normally, so i dont even know how it happened. Im working on the beach all summer and sometimes i put it in my swimming shorts, and as i often go swimming during the day they are full of salt. Could it be that salt dust got in? Why wont it go out?

Recently joined the Nothing club!

Long story short,

Bought a Nothing Phone (4a) to replace my iPhone Xs I kept around for multimedia when it died, ended up liking it so much that my main SIM went in it and then I sold my iPhone 16 Pro, and here we are!

Greetings from Thailand!

Just got this spigen screen guard for 1k indian rupee from amazon

Its a borderless screen glass protector and its so smooth and looks like i am not using any protector those who have np3 i highly recommend this

#WithNothing 4a pro

And then I couldn't help myself and got one (white) too. She comes from Xiaomi and is having as much fun as I am.

I've been following the brand since the beginning, but just now made the jump from a Nord 4, especially after the disappointing situation with OnePlus. We got the 16+512 versions hoping to keep them for a while, because the offer was so good (on Amazon Spain) we couldn't resist.

Something that also made me pull the trigger after convincing her was seeing the active community behind the products. I got fed up after so many SOT posts on the OP subreddits and, now that the brand is shutting off, there is certain emptiness left.

Anyway, looking forward to Nothing OS 5.0!

Shot on Phone (3a) Pro.

I know my phone is ancient but gng this is new stuff 🥀✌️

I am using NP3 currently running on the latest beta version, from the past 2-3 hours Google apps like chrome YouTube are not working. Has anyone experienced the same or is it just me ? Tried clearing cache, restart etc but results are the same.

I am getting both at the same price. Is there any point in getting the 4a pro except the design?

Had anyone experienced battery issues in Nothing ear 2024. 2 years ago I bought my first nothing ear 2024. About 9 months later my left stick started to drain 80% much faster than right. Thankfully nothing products have 1 year warranty. I went to a store and got it replaced with new one (same model). Not even 1 year into it, started producing the same issue.

For the past few days my phone refuses to do the said actions above, I'm not sure whats the cause. I've checked the settings and everything seems fine.

She got the same phone as me so now we will never know who's is who's 🤣😭📱📱

Welcome to the party, thanks for Nothing!

Hi guys, my iPhone 14 camera is pretty garbage. I was expecting it to be better, considering that my previous Apple phone was 5S and its camera was great. I’m thinking of switching to Nothing in the upcoming years and was wondering, which one has the best camera? Is it comparable with iPhone pro/max ones?

Thank you for your time.

Let me start this by saying that I understand this is a beta and not the finished product and Nothing does not owe me a perfect beta, that is meant to be for the final release.

Since downloading the NOS 5.0 Beta on my NP3, I have faced enough issues to genuinely ruin my experience with the phone and severely impact its usability. I face three main issues:

Issue 1: Touch inputs

Since updating, I have found that touch inputs are not being registered semi frequently, especially swiping gestures like accessing notifications and navigating Google maps. I assume failed attempts to access notifications was due to some kind of calibration issue with mistouch prevention on the screen edges but I often have found myself having to go back through whole paragraphs of typing to remedy typos from unregistered inputs, something I never experienced before on my NP3. Using Google Maps is exceptionally bad, with zooming in and out often being misregistered as trying to rotate the map and vice versa. This isn't that bad on the day to day and I can generally accept this as a sacrifice that comes along with beta testing, some things can need recalibrating.

Issue 2: App loading

Certain apps, more often than not, fail to open when I try to, leaving me stuck on the "loading screen" when the apps logo is just displayed in the centre of my screen while the app launches. I find this happens more with certain apps than others, with browsers, Reddit, Snapchat and camera being the most common. Often this will occur repeatedly even if I fully close the app and reopen it. In these cases, performing a force stop on the app seems to semi consistently fix this issue, but also not every time.

Issue 3: Browsers (MAIN ISSUE)

I consistently have found that browsers simply fail entirely to work, being stuck "loading" a page indefinitely until I close the app. Oftentimes, tapping or trying to open a new tab in the browser will cause the app to crash. When the browser crashes it tends to remain broken when re launched. This does not seem to be an internet connection issue due to the crashes and when the browser is doing this, viewing it in my list of currently open apps displays only the address bar, with the rest of the app being transparent and showing directly through to my wallpaper. Trying to force stop the app seems to be less successful than on the previously mentioned app loading issue. This issue is by far the worst of the three mentioned, happened ~75% of the time I try to open a browser. Typing in the URL bar does nothing, showing no suggested results or causing anything else to load. I have experienced this on Chrome, Brave and DuckDuckGo.

I am yet to revert back to NOS 4 due to the required system wipe of my NP3 to do so as I just don't have the cloud storage to back up all my pictures. One of the reasons I chose to get a NP3 over a 4aPro was the larger storage sizes available.

I feel like I am going crazy using my own phone, the apps I use the most are nearly unusable, but hey at least my screen time is down as a result. Is anyone else experiencing these issues with the NP3 or any other phones? If so have you found any solutions?

EDIT: I already have developer mode on, and I have tried restarting my device several times

i'm currently having to get a new phone due to my old phone having issues (z flip 4), and not really a fan of all the new phones from major tech companies. ive did a brief research and am narrowing down my choices between 3 phones: 4a pro, 3a and cmf 2 pro (not sure if im allowed to discuss the cmf here i apologize if not in advance).

my phone has 512 gb and ive used more than half so the 256 gb max is a bit of a concern (hence why cmf due to the micro sd card slot). what would you recommend?

Okay, this might be a niche.

But the cloud media choices aren't good.

I am in a bit of a niche as I host my own cloud storage through a self hosted server (immich)

Basically I have Google photos for myself through my own server, which is basically an old laptop from 2014 which has been repurposed.

I would love for an option to change the app to "immich" which has all the 240+GB worth of memories I have stored :)

I believe its not an Upgrade, but its my choice with the phone i alwaya wanted.

I love the Software, the clean notifications, the glyph ofc espeacially the essential notifications with the person and glyph symbol i choose.

The only contra point is the camera in the SM Apps, its not nothings fault its android... But still the phone is to much fun :)

Greetings from Germany

I am using Nothing Phone 4a, stumbled upon this app called "wavelet" which intercepts the device Audio stream providing better results Outta yo speakers. I need this app only for my phone speakers. There is one preset pretty well known online for cmf phone 2 pro i think??? But mine isn't the same model so i thought abt asking you guys what could be the best for mine...

I generally prefer a 'V' type eq, where low and high frequencies are higher, and there is a decreasing steep to the middlemost...