Nothing’s latest AI feature lets you create apps with prompts on your phone

Nothing just launched a tool that lets you create your own smartphone apps with AI, no coding required. The feature is called “Essential” and it debuts alongside a new platform named Playground. Nothing is pitching it as the first step toward a future operating system.

Could one day reshape how smartphones work

Essential uses this new feature called Playground, a new platform where users can spin up their own ‘apps,’ though these are basically widgets for now and not actual apps. You don’t need to code a line. Just tell the AI what you want, and it spits out a widget.

Nothing has also shared multiple examples. These include a mood tracker that links with a music playlist, a system that scans receipts and turns them into expense forms, an organiser that checks your calendar and wardrobe before suggesting what to wear, and a briefing tool that pulls messages and appointments into a one-page summary before calls.

Users can install these for themselves or upload them to Playground for others to download and remix.

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There’s also a limitation here on the number of apps you can run simultaneously. The new Nothing Phone (3) can juggle up to six, while older devices cap you at two. Plus, the creation process happens in a browser right now rather than on the phone itself. Nothing says this will get smoother over time, with the dream being voice-driven, fully functional apps that rival the standard stuff we download today.

Carl Pei is calling this the “first step towards an AI-native OS.” Now, while everything here still runs on Android, there’s still something interesting brewing. A phone that bends itself around your needs instead of the other way round feels like a step towards more personal tech.

For now, Pei doesn’t have any plans to monetise the feature. That decision will probably rest on how the feature plays out.