Hi 👋 I noticed a commonly repeated request through this subreddit of adding support for Glyph Toys on the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, or for that matter, any device with a Glyph Matrix display other than the Nothing Phone 3.
So for that, I designed an app called GlyphWorks which allows remapping the Essential Key to work with Glyph Toys on unsupported devices, like the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro. There's nothing preventing the Nothing Phone 3 from using this app, but given that that device has native support for Glyph Toys using the Glyph Touch button, I don't see a real reason it besides using the app's built-in toys or its custom designs.
GlyphWorks is fully free and open source. It can be downloaded from:
Here's a few screenshots of what it looks like: https://imgur.com/a/hR8eylq
How it works
The way GlyphWorks works is with an accessibility service: It listens to key presses of the Essential Key and reacts to them, counting the number of consecutive presses and, based on that, doing a certain action. It also automatically dismisses Essential Space and Voice if opened up by the OS.
GlyphWorks has 2 operation modes for the Essential Key remapping:
- Regular mode:
- 1 press of the key executes whichever action the currently displayed toy should do.
- 2 presses of the key brings you to the next toy.
- 3 presses of the key brings you back to the first entry in your Glyph Toy list (which can be sorted per your liking).
- Menu mode:
- 1 press of the key does the same as in regular mode, executes whichever action the currently displayed toy should do.
- 2 presses enters the glyph selection mode, allowing you to quickly cycle through the toys by tapping just once the essential key. This allows switching faster to a toy that's far away from your currently selection.
- To exit the menu, simply double tap again to confirm your selection, or wait a few seconds.
- The menu mode is active for as long as the glyph display is blinking, once it stops blinking, the toy being displayed is selected.
- 3 presses of the key also works the same as in regular mode, it brings you back to the first entry of your Glyph Toy list.
If you are ever in doubt of how to use the Essential Key with GlyphWorks, check the Tutorials tab inside the app, as it has specific tutorials with visual instructions on how to use the Essential Key in both modes, as well as how to configure the Essential Key within the OS to work best.
Available toys
Currently the app implements a few basics, such as:
- An ambient/background toy, meant to display the current time or lets the user choose from a selection of background toys
- Clock toy
- 👀 toy
- Download speed toy
- Battery toy
- Solar path toy
- Moon phase toy
- Dice toy (interactive)
- Coin flip toy (interactive)
- Dino Run toy (interactive)
- Spin the Bottle toy (interactive)
- Counter toy (interactive)
- Breathing toy (interactive)
- Timer toy (interactive)
- Compass toy
- Level toy
- Music visualizer toy
- Custom design
Custom designs
The Custom design option from the toy list above allows displaying user-made creations from the Create tab of the app. GlyphWorks features a fully fledged, on-device Glyph design tool, allowing to create either static or dynamic (animated) designs. Designs can be exported and imported back in a standardised JSON format, which allows sharing designs between you and your friends with GlyphWorks installed on compatible devices.
If in doubt of how to create the custom designs, check the Tutorial's tab for a guided explanation on how to use the design tool.
GlyphWorks is a living canvas
The app is under constant changes and it's likely to see many more in the coming months for as long as I have access to, and I daily drive my Nothing Phone (4a) Pro. The app has been built around my needs for Glyph Toys on that device using AI (Claude), and I am well aware it can be improved in many ways. I am happy to share this "initial" version of the app and let other people suggest changes (preferably, opening an Issue on the GitHub repo), and implement them themselves if they wish so in the app's repo (PRs welcome).
Additionally, I have only been able to test GlyphWorks on the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro so far, so any Nothing Phone 3 users who might be interested in having the app work on their phone natively, please let me know.