Nothing Essential Apps Builder enters beta with AI-powered personalised app creation

Nothing has started expanding access to one of its experimental AI-driven features, signalling a shift towards more personalised software experiences. The company recently announced a new phase for its Essential Apps platform, beginning with the Nothing Phone 3 and setting the stage for broader availability.

Essential Apps Builder beta rollout begins

The Essential Apps Builder has moved from a limited alpha phase into beta testing, allowing a wider group of users to try creating personalised mini apps through the Playground platform. Access is currently expanding gradually through a waitlist, with users being added in batches as Nothing gathers real-world feedback and improves system stability ahead of a public release planned later this year.

The concept behind Essential Apps focuses on generating small, purpose-driven tools directly from natural language prompts. Users describe what they need, and the AI-driven system creates an app that can appear on the home screen once deployed.

Updates to these apps now modify only specific elements rather than resetting the entire project, while version restoration has also been introduced for easier control. The latest beta adds clearer project states, improved organisation, and dark mode support to enhance usability.

Capabilities, permissions and future roadmap

At present, Essential Apps support limited permissions including location access, read-only calendar data and contacts. This allows users to create functions such as location-based reminders, agenda views, meeting countdowns and quick contact widgets.

Nothing has confirmed that additional capabilities like camera and microphone access, notifications, Bluetooth, calling and network features are planned for future updates. A software update expected later in February is also set to introduce activity recognition, usage statistics, sensor data and a system weather API.

Early beta access remains exclusive to the Nothing Phone 3 due to its performance capabilities while the company refines optimisation. Over time, the feature is expected to reach other Nothing and CMF devices running Nothing OS 4.0 or newer, alongside expanded widget sizes, design options and deeper system integrations.

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Stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for the wider availability of Nothing’s Essential Apps.