Nothing OS 5.0 Open Beta starts rolling out to Phone (4a) Pro
After announcing Nothing OS 5.0 at the end of August, Nothing swiftly rolled out the Open Beta update for its flagship Phone (3). As promised earlier, Nothing Phone (4a) Pro owners can now get their hands on Nothing OS 5.0, as the company has begun seeding the beta firmware. Said to be the company’s biggest software release yet, the Android 17-based software brings new features and improvements across customisation, productivity, and AI, while maintaining its unique design philosophy.
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How to download Nothing OS 5.0 Open Beta on Phone (4a) Pro
Before updating to Nothing OS 5.0 Open Beta, make sure your Phone (4a) Pro is running the latest Android 16 firmware, i.e., Nothing OS 4.1. That said, here’s the procedure to download and install NOS 5.0 beta:
Step 1: Download the Nothing Beta Hub V2.0 APK from Nothing’s website. The download link can be found at the bottom of this webpage.
Step 2: Now, go to the Downloads folder on your phone and install the Nothing Beta Hub APK. Enable the “Install unknown apps” option in Settings beforehand so the APK installs successfully.
Step 3: Now go to the Settings app > System > Nothing Beta Hub and check the version
Step 4: Tap the Join Beta button to register for the update
Step 5: Once done, wait for five to six minutes Open Beta update will be seeded to your device, after which you can tap Go to initiate the update
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The Nothing OS 5.0 beta installs like any regular local update and should take just a few minutes for your phone to reboot. You may occasionally see an error saying that joining the beta has failed. For the Phone (3), Nothing has confirmed this is usually caused by server overload when too many users try to access the open beta at the same time. If this happens, simply wait a few hours and try again on your Phone (4a) Pro.
If you run into bugs or find the beta unstable, you can request a rollback through the Nothing Beta Hub in Settings.
What’s new on Nothing OS 5.0?
Nothing OS 5.0 brings two new lock screen clocks (Gooey and Micrographics), wallpaper-adaptive clock colours, new widgets (Collector, Away Time, Glyph Timer), and a translucent Lucent theme. The new clocks add a welcome touch of personalisation. While the update brings new customisation features, it continues to distinct itself with its unique design approach in multiple areas, be it fonts, widget design or clock styles.
It adds a dedicated Glyph app, multi-app drag-and-drop on the home screen, a split Quick Settings option, torch intensity control, the Geist font, refreshed icons, and tighter Settings spacing. If you’ve been looking for a slightly refreshed interface, Nothing OS 5.0 delivers.
Essential AI gets faster voice transcription, Smart Collections, and easier AI app creation. Performance improves across the board, and Android 17 features like 3D emojis, a better Dark Theme, and iPhone Quick Share support are included. Since we’ve covered Nothing OS 5.0 in-depth, feel free to check out our hands-on review story to get a full picture of what you can expect with the new update.
Since this is a beta, we recommend installing it only if you’re an enthusiast comfortable with potential bugs, or if you have a secondary device. For your primary phone, it might be wiser to wait for the stable Nothing OS 5.0 release, which should arrive in early November, per Nothing.
