The Nothing OS 4 update, which started rolling out on November 21st for the Phone (3) and later to other models in Nothing’s portfolio, has been halted due to a certain issue. Based on Android 16, the update’s major highlights included visual consistency, dual pop-up views, brand new homescreen icons, an Extra Dark Mode, and an AI Usage Dashboard.
Previously, several reports from Nothing Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus users claimed that right after installing the Nothing OS 4 stable update through OTA, a dialogue box appeared that mentioned “Android Beta Program”. This was followed by the text “This device is enrolled in the Android Beta Program” within the same dialogue box. From the perspective of actual owners of the devices, seeing such an alert after installing a “stable” update can make them anxious about what they have run into. Such reports could possibly be the reason Nothing paused the release of Nothing OS 4 for the Phone (2a) series.
In other news, several Phone (3) users expressed their disappointment on Reddit for not receiving the official Nothing OS 4 despite it being announced weeks ago. Turns out, when a Phone (3) user asked about the update’s rollout status by contacting Nothing’s customer support, they responded by saying that the OTA has been temporarily halted to work on an “urgent fix”. While many users, at least in India, have already bagged the Nothing OS 4 update, including our own Phone (3) unit, those still waiting for the OTA to land on their phones may have to wait a bit longer.
At this point in time, Nothing hasn’t announced the root cause of the delay in the updates or the exact issues that led them to pull the rollout. While the Nothing OS 4 started releasing for Phone (3) on November 21st, the Nothing Phone (2), Phone (2a), Phone (2a) Plus, Phone (3a), and Phone (3a) Pro bagged the update on November 28th, which has now been delayed for users who didn’t install it back then. The company says the CMF Phone 2 Pro is set to get the new update by the end of December 2025, while the freshly released Phone (3a) Lite will gain Nothing OS 4 early next year.
While the company was reportedly quick to halt the update and work on an urgent fix, no official announcement was made about the pause of the update, leaving users tense and speculating on forums and social media. A statement acknowledging the bug and outlining the update re-rollout timeline would have eased the concerns. This isn’t the first time a smartphone brand has pulled back a major update release; it definitely sheds a bad light on Nothing for releasing a potentially problematic update in the first place. A few months back, Samsung pulled the stable One UI 8 update for the Galaxy S23, indicating a major glitch, while OnePlus had once backtracked the OxygenOS 12 update for the OnePlus 9 series.
What’s new on Nothing OS 4?
For starters, the Nothing OS 4 update brings refreshed homescreen icons, which now integrate red colour accents over the existing monochromatic design. A key multitasking feature that has been added is the ability to open two apps in pop-up view (floating window), which is something skins like HyperOS, One UI, OxygenOS and others have allowed for a while now. Android 16’s core feature, called ‘Live Updates’, has been implemented to work with the Glyph interface on phones with Glyph LEDs and Glyph Matrix for the Phone (3), which can show real-time tracking of food orders from Zomato and a timer countdown.
A quality-of-life feature that has been added is in the form of ‘Extra Dark Mode’ under the Dark mode settings. It applies a pitch black theme to first-party apps and the quick settings panel, fully leveraging the AMOLED panels on Nothing phones. This is a much-requested feature by Nothing users and community members. Moving on, two new clock styles have been added to the lockscreen, providing users with more options to customise their lockscreen.
