Nothing addresses and explains controversy around its new "not an ad" lock screen feature
The company clarifies its new opt-in 'Lock Glimpse' feature and why it's needed on some devices.
Nothing recently faced the wrath of its most loyal users when a beta test appeared to be putting ads on the lock screen of their devices. The company has now clarified it's an opt-in feature called "Lock Glimpse," not traditional ads, and they're just gathering feedback for now. Furthermore, the company explained the reason why these changes are happening.
What’s this about ads on Nothing’s lock screen?
A bit of a panic rippled through the Nothing community recently. Users enrolled in the recently released Nothing OS 4.0 Beta for the Phone (3a) series noticed something that looked suspiciously like ads appearing on their lock screens. Given that a clean, ad-free experience is a huge part of Nothing's brand, people were, understandably, not happy about it.
Thankfully, Nothing has stepped in to clear the air. In a detailed community post. They basically said this: building a phone company from scratch is incredibly hard and expensive. Their cost for parts (the "Bill of Materials") is higher than established players, and unlike giants like Samsung, they don't have existing software revenue streams. They’re operating on "razor-thin margins."
So what is Lock Glimpse, really?
Nothing OS 4.0 'Lock Glimpse' optional feature. | Image credit — Nothing
Nothing is pretty adamant that this is not the "shady ads" that everyone fears. Instead, it's an opt-in feature designed to surface content. Here's the official breakdown of what it will and won't do:
Lock Glimpse features
- It is OFF by default. You have to actively go into settings or swipe left from the lock screen to enable it.
- It brings what the company says are "high-quality" wallpapers (from 9 categories) and can show "timely updates and useful content."
- It’s fully customizable: you can change categories, refresh, or disable it completely.
- Nothing states clearly: "no personal data is shared."
- In the future, you’ll be able to use your own photos with the feature.
Honesty is great, but it’s a slippery slope
I have to say, the transparency here is refreshing. It’s not often a company just comes out and says, "This stuff is expensive, and we need to make money." But this whole situation is a very slippery slope.
This incident touched a major nerve because lock screen ads are almost universally disliked. It’s a strategy that feels cheap and invasive. We’ve seen other companies try it, and it never goes over well. Amazon famously did this with its "Prime Exclusive" phones, which offered a discount in exchange for plastering ads on the lock screen. While it made the phones cheaper, the user experience was awful. Samsung also faced years of backlash for pushing ads through notifications and into its native apps, a practice it has thankfully scaled back.
I probably won't use it, as I prefer a clean lock screen. But I appreciate them telling us why it exists instead of just sneaking it in.
The only thing that makes this acceptable is that it's "off by default." As long as that toggle remains untouched, and they respect the user's choice, I can't be that mad. They are basically admitting that their cheaper, non-flagship phones will need some financial support from software, while hopefully keeping the flagship experience pure.
I probably won't use it, as I prefer a clean lock screen. But I appreciate them telling us why it exists instead of just sneaking it in.
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