Nothing Phone (2) gets a great free upgrade packed with features

Nothing is pushing a software update, bringing Nothing OS 2.6 to the Nothing Phone (2).

The new update brings updates to Game Mode, fixes bugs and makes some general user experience improvements.

Nothing has only been around for a couple of years, but it's already making waves as a startup technology company. Hot off the back of fleshing out its CMF budget brand with a range of innovative launches, the company is pushing an update to its flagship phone – the Nothing Phone (2).

The update – which delivers Nothing OS 2.6 – has a range of features that it will bring to your phone. That includes a collection of enhancements to Game Mode, allowing you to get quick access to the Game Dashboard during games, and a range of tweaks to improve the handling of calls when gaming.  You can also block notifications so you don't get disturbed when gaming.

There are a couple of things that Nothing has changed to boost the experience – and some will only encounter these things on initial setup. There is a new setup process for the weather widget for starters, then there's also support in Wallpaper Studio. Don't want that wallpaper of you and your ex to be discovered by your new bae? Deleting your wallpaper history is here.

For those using wider devices from the Nothing ecosystem, the Low Lag Mode for Nothing earbuds has been optimised, while there's also support for the CMF Watch Pro 2 in the Bluetooth tile so you can see the battery level.

Beyond that, there are a couple of big fixes. That deals with some issues fixing recording voice calls in WhatsApp amongst a range of other tweaks.

This isn't a huge update, weighing in at 130MB on my device. Nothing says that it's rolling out incrementally, but it has already landed on the Nothing Phone (2) here in the UK.

What's next for Nothing Phone?

The Nothing Phone (2) was announced on 11 July 2023 – exactly a year ago – and many have been predicting the launch of the Nothing Phone (3). That phone hasn't made an appearance, with the company instead launching the Nothing Phone (2a) and the CMF Phone (1) instead, focusing on the affordable end of the spectrum – but resulting in some great cheap phones .

We're expecting Nothing to be quick off the mark when it comes to updating to Android 15, as the Phone (2) and Phone (2a) are both on the Android 15 Beta, which usually suggests they will get the update soon after launch – likely August 2024.

But the big update that we're expecting from Nothing is going to introduce more AI experiences to devices. That's due to land in 2025, while it's also been confirmed that the Nothing Phone (3) will debut those experiences. That either means that the Nothing Phone (3) will launch in 2025, or that the Phone (3) will have already launched before the AI updates arrive in 2025.

For the moment, there's a tasty update for Nothing Phone (2) owners – and I expect the update after this will bring Android 15 with it.