New Delhi: Nothing has started rolling out the Essential Apps Builder beta for its latest flagship, the Nothing Phone 3. The feature sits inside the company’s Playground hub and lets users create mini apps or widgets using simple text prompts. The move marks a wider push by the UK based brand into AI driven software experiences.
The announcement builds on the Essential Suite introduced in September 2025. Back then, the Apps Builder was limited to an early Alpha group. As of Wednesday, the beta is expanding gradually through a waitlist, starting with Phone 3 owners. Users need to register on the Playground platform to join the queue.
Create apps shaped exactly around your specific needs and context.
That’s what Essential Apps are.
You describe what you need. AI builds it. It appears on your phone’s home screen, ready to use.
One billion apps for one billion people.
Beta starts today on Nothing Playground. pic.twitter.com/tgqi0aq64r
— Essential (@essential) February 10, 2026
What is Nothing Essential Apps and how it works
Nothing describes the idea in simple terms. You type what you want, and the AI builds it. Inside Playground, a prompt kicks off the process. The system then creates a homescreen widget based on your description.
As explained by the company, “You describe what you want in plain language and our AI-powered Apps Builder creates it. When you edit something, only those specific parts update. Your App stays stable and gets more reliable over time.”
If something breaks during editing, there is a safety net. Nothing says, “And if an update goes wrong, you can restore an earlier version in one click.”
The apps are actually widgets. They do not open into full screen applications. Still, they can do useful tasks. For example, Nothing shared a use case where a widget checks the weather and your calendar to suggest the best day and time for a run.
Current features and what is coming next
Right now, Essential Apps support three permissions:
- Location
- Calendar read only
- Contacts
This allows users to create:
- Location based reminders
- Agenda summaries
- Meeting countdowns
- One tap contact widgets
Nothing confirmed more tools are on the way. “They exist but we’re preparing them for stable release,” the brand noted while talking about camera, microphone, network access, notifications and Bluetooth support.
A late February OS update will unlock activity recognition, usage stats, sensor data and the system Weather API.
Why only Phone 3 for now
Nothing clarified the restriction in its community post. The company said the Phone 3 has “the performance to run multiple Essential Apps while we refine the system. Starting here lets us validate behaviour and iron out issues before expanding to other devices.”
Once stable, the beta will roll out to older Nothing and CMF devices running Nothing OS 4.0 and above.