London-based smartphone company Nothing has taken a big step towards its AI based operating system. This company led by Carl Pei has now released the beta version of Essential Apps Builder. This time the company has introduced a tool through which people will be able to create apps even without learning coding. The company claims that this tool works through ‘vibe coding’. That means you just have to tell in text what kind of app you want and the system will automatically prepare it and give it. Essential Apps Builder is part of Nothing’s Playground Hub. Its special thing is that users can create custom apps for themselves by giving instructions only in common spoken language. It does not require any technical knowledge or programming skills. Overall, this tool can be beneficial for those who want to create an app but do not know coding. Let us tell you that Carl Pai, CEO and co-founder of Nothing, founded OnePlus with Pete Lau in 2013, where he worked for 7 years before starting his own company.
What is ‘Essential Apps Builder’ and ‘Vibe Coding’?
We often use such apps which are made for millions and crores of people but they are not always able to meet our small personal needs. To overcome this problem, Nothing has introduced Essential Apps Builder. This tool works on ‘vibe-coding’ technology. This means you don’t need to learn or understand coding. You just write your requirement in simple words and AI creates the app or widget for you on the same basis. Currently, this tool can create features like reminders, calendar agenda and one-tap contact widget based on location. This means that you can create small useful tools yourself as per your need, that too without any coding knowledge.
How does ‘Apps Builder’ work?
Nothing’s Playground is the company’s own App Store-like platform and Apps Builder is provided within it. It is very easy to use. In this you just have to write your requirement in simple language. After this, AI understands the text written by you and prepares the code itself and creates a widget for you. If the finished widget is not as per your liking, you can ask the AI to make changes to it. The best thing is that for this you do not need to have any knowledge of coding. You can use the widget that is created directly on your phone.
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On which devices will it work?
Essential Apps Builder is currently only available on the Nothing Phone 3, which was launched in July 2025. The company has not released it for all the users at once but it is being rolled out in phases. To use it, users will have to first join the waitlist. As part of the future plans, Nothing says that soon this feature will also be made available on all those Nothing and CMF devices which run on Nothing OS 4.0. The company is trying to launch it completely for all users by the end of this year. At that time, a new feature like ‘Remixing Apps’ will also be added, through which users will be able to make changes in the existing apps.
Is the era of ‘vibe coding’ coming to an end?
On one hand, Nothing is promoting vibe-coding, while on the other hand, a different direction is being seen in the tech industry. Many big experts believe that now the time of ‘agentic engineering’ is beginning. According to AI expert Andrej Karpathy (who coined the term vibe coding), the focus is no longer just on making code easier to write. Now the focus is on such AI agents that can handle the entire work on their own. In agentic engineering, humans do not write the code themselves. He acts like a supervisor and gives instructions to the AI agents. These AI agents generate complete code by themselves and complete the work. New and advanced AI models like Cloud Opus 4.6 are accelerating this change. This means that in the future, AI can become not only helpful but also a ‘digital assistant’ that works on its own.
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The tool looks like a ‘toy’
At present, there are some big challenges facing this idea due to which it does not seem to be a powerful tool. The biggest problem is that it is still in early beta stage. Currently, this feature only works on Nothing Phone 3 and supports only small size widgets (2×2 and 4×2). That means its capabilities are still limited. However, the company says that more features will be added in the coming time – like internet data usage, media library access, camera access and Bluetooth support. After these updates, this tool may become more useful and stronger than before, but for now it seems like an initial experiment.
Good results only when you get the right prompt.
As far as the second challenge is concerned, the biggest problem is not technology but humans themselves. Many times the user does not clearly know what he actually wants. AI gives correct and effective results only when it receives clear and correct instructions (prompts). If you are not able to explain your needs properly then the results will not be as per your expectations. Creating an app based on vibes sounds good but for real use, vibes alone are not enough, clear thinking and clear instructions are equally important.
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WhatsApp is also bringing premium AI features (paid subscription)
Not only Nothing, but Meta is also preparing for major changes in its messaging platform WhatsApp. There is news that WhatsApp may soon launch a paid subscription plan. In this, special AI features will be given to the users. Under this plan, users will be able to create videos with the help of AI and will also be able to remix them as per their choice, which can be called ‘Vibes Video Generator’. Apart from this, advanced tools like human AI agents can also be available which will simplify the needs related to business and work. Apart from this, facility to pin new app themes, premium stickers and more chats can also be provided for customization. This means that in the coming time, WhatsApp will not be just a simple chatting app, but can become a more smart and personal platform connected to AI.
Upcoming updates and new features
Apps Builder will become more powerful with the Nothing OS update coming by the end of February. After this update, it will get access to many important features like camera, microphone, Bluetooth, activity recognition and system weather API. With the addition of these features, users will be able to create more advanced apps as per their needs than before. The company’s future plans are also quite big. Nothing promises that the tool will continue to improve. Activity recognition, sensor data and weather API will be supported in the February update. By the end of the year, a feature like ‘Remixing Apps’ will also be added, through which users will be able to make changes to already created apps. Apart from this, there are also preparations to give it full access to features like camera, microphone, Bluetooth and calling in future. This means that after the upcoming updates, Apps Builder will not be limited to just small widgets but can become a more useful and powerful tool.
