The British company Nothing opened the open beta of its Nothing OS 5, built on Android 17, on 26 August. The opening is narrow: one device only, the Phone (3).
The window is seven days
The company says in its announcement that the enrolment channel stays open for seven days and then closes to new subscribers, which puts the closing date at 2 September. Enrolment goes through the “Beta Hub” app downloaded from the company’s site, and after signing up the update may take up to five minutes to appear on the device.
The company warns in the same text that beta software may disturb your data and may require a factory reset, and advises a backup before downloading. That is not boilerplate: do not put it on your only phone.
And when does it reach everyone?
The public release starts in October, bringing a redesigned home screen, a new clock interface called “Micrographics”, and MCP protocol support inside the “Essential Space” feature.
In November comes a redesigned capture experience in that same feature. Live translation in “Essential Voice” is pushed to later in 2026 with no date.
The Phone (4b) waits longer: its beta is expected in mid-December, because its Android 17 development cycle started late. The rest of the devices follow “over the coming months” with no schedule.
What is worth noticing here
The company repeats in several places that these dates are its current plan and may change with development and testing, and that a number of features will arrive after the first release rather than with it. So for anyone who read that the system “has shipped”, the precise statement is that the beta has shipped, the system itself begins in October, and some of what was announced will not be there on the day.
Photo: an Android phone. By 아라, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: two Nothing team announcements on the company’s official forum: the open beta announcement, and the OS release roadmap.
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