Nothing Confirms Removal of Lock Glimpse Feature from Phone (3a) After Heavy Backlash
Backlash threatens the brand’s Clean OS identity
Nothing has officially confirmed that it will remove the controversial Lock Glimpse feature from the Phone (3a) in its next software update. Introduced alongside Nothing OS 4.0, the feature faced strong criticism from users during the beta testing phase, with many expressing dissatisfaction over what they viewed as unnecessary content being forced onto the lock screen.
Lock Glimpse is designed to display high-quality wallpapers interspersed with curated content on the lock screen, functioning similarly to the Glance platform commonly found on budget Android smartphones. The main concern among users stemmed from its reported association with Bouyan, a digital advertising platform based in China. This connection directly conflicted with Nothing’s long-standing brand image, which emphasizes a clean, minimal, and ad-free operating system.
Reports from Dr. Android and members of the Reddit community revealed alarming technical behavior. Users attempting to forcibly disable Lock Glimpse found that the related service would automatically restart every three seconds in an endless loop. This resulted in severe battery drain, even when the feature appeared to be disabled through standard system settings. Because Lock Glimpse was embedded as a system-level application, users were unable to fully remove or control it.
Beyond power consumption issues, investigations also detected that Lock Glimpse continued transmitting certain data to external servers, even when users had never activated the feature. This raised serious privacy concerns, prompting questions about whether personal user data was being collected for advertising purposes. The lack of transparency significantly shook the trust of Nothing’s core fanbase.
Nothing’s support team has since responded to Phone (3a) users, confirming that Lock Glimpse will be completely removed as part of the upcoming update. The company stated that it intends to refocus on developing features that genuinely align with user needs and expectations. However, Nothing has yet to provide a detailed explanation regarding the original decision to integrate an ad-linked system feature in the first place.
Although the official confirmation currently applies only to the Phone (3a), many within the Nothing community believe this signals a broader strategic shift. Users are now expecting the feature to be removed from other models as well, including Phone (2a), Phone (3a) Lite, and the CMF Phone lineup such as CMF Phone 1 and CMF Phone 2 Pro, in order to restore confidence in the brand’s commitment to privacy and a truly clean operating system.
Source: Taisy0
