Nothing Unveils Playground: AI-Powered Tool to Build Mini Apps with Simple Prompts
Nothing Introduces Playground: Create Mini Apps with AI Prompts
Smartphone maker Nothing is stepping up its AI game with the launch of Playground, a new platform that empowers users to build mini apps—called widgets—using simple text prompts. This move aligns with the growing trend of AI-powered app development and aims to make the process more accessible for both regular users and developers.
What Is Playground and How Does It Work?
Playground lets users quickly generate and customize widgets such as flight trackers, meeting reminders, or even virtual pets, all through natural language prompts. The apps are deployed onto the company’s new hub, Essential Apps. For those with coding experience, Playground offers the ability to dive deeper and modify the underlying code for more advanced customization.
Currently, Playground’s capabilities are focused on widgets rather than full-screen apps, as Nothing believes the technology is not yet mature enough for more complex use cases.
A Nothing phone screen featuring a screen time monitor and an Art curator widget. Image Credits: Nothing
Strategic Vision: AI at the Core of Nothing’s Devices
This launch follows closely after Nothing’s $200 million funding round, as the company doubles down on its vision to create AI-first devices and an operating system enriched by AI-powered features. CEO Carl Pei recently highlighted the slow pace of software innovation among major smartphone manufacturers and expressed Nothing’s ambition to leverage AI for more personalized and context-aware experiences.
Building a Developer Community
Playground is currently free to use, with no mention of a paid tier for now. Nothing’s focus is on fostering a vibrant community where contributors are recognized for innovative mini apps. The company’s first AI-enabled app, Essential Space, already enables users to share screenshots, record voice notes, and transcribe meetings, but Playground marks a significant step towards user-generated AI utility.
A screenshot of Essential apps created by the Nothing community. Image Credits: Nothing
Security and Usability: Key Priorities
Security remains a central concern, as previous attempts at similar "vibe coding" platforms struggled with vulnerabilities and ongoing maintenance. Pei emphasized the importance of keeping Playground easy to use and secure for millions of users, pledging that "maintaining a level of security with these apps will be important."
Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
Despite being a smaller player in the smartphone market (with less than 1% share globally), Nothing views its agility as an advantage when it comes to integrating AI deeply into hardware and software. The company hopes that if Playground succeeds on smartphones, it can extend its AI-centric hardware approach to even more specialized devices in the future.
