Back in 2020, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei announce his exit from the company. At the moment, the exact reasons were unclear, but now we can imagine. Pei probably was unsatisfied with the targets stipulated for OnePlus. In 2020, OnePlus left the formula of just a few flagship phones per year behind. The company “joined the usual” launching mid-range phones and low-end smartphones under its Nord series. A few months after its exit, we got a big surprise with the announcement of a merger between Oppo and OnePlus.
Nothing phone (1), Nothing OS, Nothing Launcher
While OnePlus was said to stay independent, nowadays, we can see that the brand isn’t the same anymore. Carl Pei left the company to launch its own company dubbed Nothing. In the beginning, the brand was said to be just a brand for wearables and lifestyle products. However, it acquired Essential and its patents making us believe that the company would eventually launch a smartphone. This phone will come sometime this year with the Nothing phone (1) moniker. According to Carl Pei, the phone will differ from the usual with a very close to vanilla Android and an experience that will make it a true rival for the iPhone. Today, the company has launched the Nothing Launcher beta, giving us the first glimpse of this software.
All of sudden, Nothing decided to deploy the Nothing Launcher for other Android devices on Google Play Store. That’s an interesting approach since it basically means that the company will bring some of its apps to all Android devices. The goal probably is to attract more users to the upcoming “Nothing ecosystem”. The Nothing Launcher is stylish but fairly simple. It’s similar to the stock Android launcher but features a set of standard circular app icons and a single Custom Wallpaper. Furthermore, the Nothing Launcher brings a set of exclusive Widgets that are on par with the software’s aesthetics. The device has a clod and a weather widget. Both come with the dot matrix typography and can be had with a clear or black background.
Nothing Launcher available for various devices
The Nothing Launcher also brings a feature dubbed Max Icons and Max Folders. You can press and hold on any icon or app folder on the home screen and click a button to supersize it. This will make the icon or folder go from a 1 x 1 size to 3 x 3. Obviously, there is still a long path to go, but Nothing probably will keep the launcher in a simple form without bloatware.
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As per the company, the launcher will come for Samsung Galaxy S21 and S22 series. The Google Pixel, Pixel 6 series will also get it. The company will also offer support for OnePlus devices in a near future. However, it’s possible to sideload the app and install it on any Android device without much hassle. It probably depends on your Android version, but I’ve managed to install it on a POCO X3 Pro running a custom Android 12 Rom. I’ve downloaded the app through the APK Mirror database, enabled installation from unknown sources and the app was ready for use.
How to Download Nothing Launcher
- Head to this link (credits to APKMirror) and wait the needed time to download
- Click on the APK you’ve just download to install it. Your Browser will require authorization from installing from unknown sources. Just allow and the installation process will start.
- Depending on your ROM you’ll get a prompt to select your default launcher. However, sometimes you’ll need to go Settings >> App and Notifications >> Default Apps >> Home and select Nothing Phone as your default launcher.
The launcher had just been released, so it’s hard to determine how many phones will run it fine. We can recommed you to try and install it by your own luck. Devices running Android 10, Android 11, Android 12 will probably run it without much issues. Older Android versions may not be compatible, but again, it needs testing. We are curious to see if Nothing will bring more apps to Google Play Store. The process is quite simple, and from APKMirror you’re safe to downlad and install. So you’re free to try without many issues. After all, this process does not represent any risk to your device.
According to the rumors, the Nothing phone (1) will come with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the Nothing OS. Apparently, the Nothing Launcher is the first glimpse we have of this upcoming OS. The company will provide three years of Android updates, and up to four years of security patches.
