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Nothing's Android 16–based Nothing OS 4 is rolling out to the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro, bringing a handful of tweaks — an AI-driven dashboard, a refreshed icon pack and a new "Stretch" camera preset. But one new addition has stirred more controversy than excitement: Lock Glimpse, a rotating lock-screen feed that many users are calling bloatware.
Lock Glimpse: familiar feature, fresh pushback
Lock Glimpse delivers curated wallpapers and quick-view widgets for weather, reminders and bite-sized content on the lock screen. To many users, it looks and behaves a lot like Glance — the kind of lock-screen feed you see pre-enabled on budget and mid-range phones from Realme, Oppo and Redmi.
That similarity is part of the problem. For people who prefer a static wallpaper or a minimal lock screen, the constant swapping of images and interstitial content can feel intrusive and unnecessary. As one Nothing community member put it, it’s a feature you didn’t ask for that takes over a core piece of your interface.
Why Nothing says it’s doing this
Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis confirmed that Lock Glimpse is only one element of a broader plan: the company intends to pre-install a "carefully considered selection" of third-party partner apps and services on select non-flagship devices. Evangelidis framed the move as partly pragmatic — a way to offset higher BOM (bill of materials) costs and thin margins by tapping into software-based revenue streams.
He pointed to apps like Instagram as examples of the type of third-party software that could ship out of the box. That choice carries extra irony: CEO Carl Pei called out Instagram as bloatware in a now-notable social post back in 2022.
Users want control — and clarity
Nothing says these partner apps will be "minimal and easy to remove," and that the company will be transparent about what’s preinstalled and why. For many users, however, the promise of removability isn’t the same as never having to see a feature in the first place.
Imagine buying a phone for its clean software approach, then discovering your lock screen behaves like an ad-saturated newsfeed. That’s the friction at the heart of the current backlash — it’s not just about storage space or CPU tax, it’s about user experience and trust.
Where this fits in the wider industry
Software partnerships and preinstalled apps are already common among larger manufacturers that can subsidize hardware costs through advertising and service deals. For a smaller, design-focused brand like Nothing, exploring similar revenue models is a logical, if risky, step toward sustainability.
The company's assurances about transparency and removability will be closely watched. If Nothing can strike a balance — offering partners without undermining the brand promise of a lightweight, intentional UI — it could avoid alienating the very community that helped build its early momentum.
For now, the rollout of Nothing OS 4 and the arrival of Lock Glimpse are sparking a wider conversation: how much software monetization should consumers accept before a curated phone experience becomes just another storefront?
Source: gizmochina
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