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Nothing Launches Playground Beta for AI-Built Home-Screen Apps on Phone (3)

Access is waitlisted with restricted permissions during testing ahead of a broader rollout.

Overview

  • Playground lets users describe a task in plain language and generates personalized mini‑apps that live as widgets on the home screen, a process Nothing calls vibe coding.
  • The beta is initially exclusive to the Nothing Phone (3) and is rolling out in batches via a waitlist, with planned expansion to other Nothing and CMF devices running Nothing OS 4.0 or newer later this year.
  • Essential Apps currently support only Location, Calendar (read‑only), and Contacts, with a late‑February OS update slated to add activity recognition, usage statistics, sensor data, and a system Weather API.
  • Hands‑on tests find the concept promising but rough, citing limited widget sizes, truncated text, unreliable location handling, timers pausing on lock, and occasional widget failures.
  • Nothing highlights version control and rollbacks, community sharing and remixing in Playground, a public release targeted for later in 2026 once integrations stabilize, and new support for image uploads alongside recent design refinements.