Nothing OS 4.0 based on Android 16 is the next major update for Nothing devices. While not the most exciting update judging by the Beta version that rolled out last week, it brings a few new features to enhance the user experience. If you own a Nothing mobile phone, here are all the Nothing OS 4.0 features you need to know about.
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Extra Dark Mode
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Starting with the Extra Dark mode toggle in Settings, while Android and most user interfaces fully embrace dark mode, they lack a pitch black dark mode. Nothing OS 4.0 finally adds an Extra Dark mode toggle, which switches the interface from a contrasty grey to pitch black.
While not the most innovative feature, some users may prefer having darker blacks for better readability than a slightly grey dark mode. The Extra Dark mode toggle option can be found inside Settings > Display > Dark theme.
2
Enhanced Pop-up floating windows
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Multi-tasking on Android has improved leaps and bounds over the past few years. With manufacturers OnePlus and Vivo pushing multitasking to its limits, Nothing takes a brief step in the same direction by enhancing pop-up floating windows.
The release now allows users to switch between two floating windows seamlessly. With the ability to resize them, pop-up floating windows add another great layer of multi-tasking over split-screen mode, giving Nothing OS 4.0 and its users a much-needed productivity boost.
3
AI Dashboard
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AI Dashboard is a new addition to the Essential Space on Nothing OS 4.0, and it's a fairly simple feature. With on-device AI models expanding, the feature helps users with insights into how LLMs are being used.
It's not exactly a game-changer, but it could be great for privacy and transparency if you want to know which AI model is working the most, how exactly and in which part of the operating system.
4
New Lock Screen Clocks
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Nothing OS 3.0 brought new lock screen customisations to the mix, including brand-new lock screen clocks. Nothing OS 4.0 builds on that legacy by bringing two new clocks – one with slim numbers and the other with stretched numbers. The font choice is very much inspired by Apple's promotional banners for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air.
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2x2 Quick Settings tiles
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Nothing also rolled out a lot of Quick Settings customisations with Nothing OS 3.0, and that continues with Nothing OS 4.0. For starters, certain tiles can now be resized to a 2x2 shape, allowing them to show more information. This change could also make it easier for people to make no errors when tapping on a Quick Setting tile to enable it.
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Essential apps and Playground
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Although not exactly a part of the release itself, Nothing has introduced Essential Playground as a one-stop destination for the community to share their creations. It essentially (pun intended) allows users to share unique Widgets and Glyph Toys with the Nothing community so that anyone can install them on their Nothing phones.
For starters, it gives Nothing Phone (3) users access to a myriad of community Glyph Toys, making the feature more expansive. The rest of the Nothing OS 4.0 supported devices can use the community-created widgets to add spark to their home screen customisation.
And those were all the features Nothing's bringing with Nothing OS 4.0. While most of the features from our Nothing OS 4.0 wishlist did not make it to the list, we hope Nothing considers them before the Beta testing concludes. The stable Nothing OS 4.0 update is expected to roll out to supported devices by the end of 2025.
Besides the aforementioned features, we also expect Nothing OS 4.0 to get a few Android 16 features, including Live Updates, Search option in Photo Picker and Advanced Protection mode. That said, the Nothing OS 4.0 update based on Android 16 could likely be an incremental update, unlike Nothing OS 3.0.
