Nothing's Essential Space AI Feature May Require Subscription, Hinting at $120 Annual Fee

Nothing's Essential Key could come at a cost in the future

Nothing is ready to join the big leagues with its first flagship phone Summary Nothing Phone 3a series introduced new hardware and software with the Essential Key and Essential Space. These new features make it possible to capture information on the go, and easily organize it. There's a possibility of future monetization for the Essential Key feature that was discovered in a software update. The release of the Nothing Phone 3a series was highlighted by a new hardware button the company is investing in called the Essential Key. It makes it easier to capture data throughout your day, while also using a dash of AI in order to make it all simpler to organize. For the most part, it's a clever addition, and the brand seems intent on making it better with software updates. Related Nothing Phone 3a update adds camera support for Essential Space An update worth taking a look at Posts While the Essential Key and accompanying Essential Space software are all free at this point, it appears that there could be plans in the future to monetize this portion of the phone if new details are to be believed. The folks at Android Authority have discovered this new information in strings of code that seem to indicate or at least hints that there could be some form of paid offering of the Essential feature in the future. A paid service from Nothing Again, this is just some data in the code found in the latest Essential Key software update, so there's a chance that this is just there and may never come to fruition. But there are words found like "free trial," along with "AI credits" that make it seem like there may be a paid version of this feature, which could be a way for Nothing to make a little extra money from its users. At this point, the software is pretty barebones, so it would seem like a risky attempt to try and capitalize on the situation. But once this feature get built out into something really special, Nothing could charge a small fee in order for users to gain access, or maybe just offer a paid tier with more features for those that want it. We've seen it countless times. Someone is always willing to pay extra to get more features, so this could become a new revenue stream for Nothing, which is important. Within the new code, Android Authority was also able to discover hints of new features that are on the way, which the brand has already highlighted in the notes for its latest update. Sometime in the future, Nothing will update its Essential Space software to include: Smart Collections, Focused Search, and Flip to Record. While we aren't sure what these features will bring, it's easy to take a guess. The news outlet reached out to Nothing regarding what they found and weren't able to get clarification on the brand's direction regarding paid services. Again, it's unclear whether a paid tier will ever arrive, but one last detail within the code has a placeholder for the amount of $120. In time, we'll see whether Nothing is confident enough in its Essential Space feature to offer it as a paid service. Or if this is all just something that is internal and will never come to light on a consumer level.

Nothing's Essential Space feature may cost as much as $120 per year, app hints

Nothing is building out new AI features for its smartphones, with the "Essential Space" on the Phone (3a) series even bringing a physical button along with it. Apparently, though, Essential Space may end up costing users $120 per year, a Nothing app hints. The Essential Space is an AI-powered app that analyzes screenshots, pictures, and voice recordings to generate to-do lists, reminders, and more. It's a clever idea, and one that's easy to access with the help of a dedicated "Essential Key" found on the side of the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro. Nothing has also previously teased that additional features are coming later, including "Flip to Record" for automatic voice recordings and more. But, apparently, it's not going to be cheap. As it stands today, Essential Space is free for Nothing Phone (3a) owners during this "early access" period, but Android Authority found references in Nothing's latest software update that suggests payment will be required in the future. Strings in the Essential Space app talk about a "free trial" and "AI credits." Apparently, users could get a 1-year free trial, but would eventually be required to pay as much as $120/year for the service. So far, Nothing has discussed Essential Space in terms of it being an early access product, something that's not finished. To date, Nothing has said... nothing regarding pricing for Essential Space, and still claims that "no decisions have been made." In a statement, Nothing says:

Nothing Phone 3a could start charging for using AI features -- and I think that's a terrible idea

The Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro are incredible value for what they offer users, but both could spoil that slightly by requiring a subscription to use their most advanced features, according to findings by Android Authority. To recap, the Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro both feature an "Essential Space," where screenshots and recordings made using the phones' new Essential Key live. The Essential Space can then index these files to help you search for them later, or turn them into notes, summaries or to-do list items. We found the system a bit bare-bones in our reviews, but Nothing promises more features are coming which could address that complaint. However, another upcoming addition to the Essential Space could be mandatory payments to use at least parts of it. According to the code Android Authority discovered during an APK teardown of Essential Space, there's text explaining how new users will be able to get a year's free trial of Essential Space features. This could apply to only currently unreleased abilities also mentioned in the code, like Smart Collections or Flip to Record. But outside of that trial, users will have to pay for AI credits, with a $120 fee also being mentioned. It's not clear how much AI time 120 bucks would get you though, although I'd expect this is at least a year's worth of use, if not a lifetime subscription. Nothing commented to AA that it's currently offering a free early access period for Essential Space, and that "no decisions have been made yet around potential pricing." But the presence of the code suggests that it's seriously considering the idea, even if it ends up being a different amount. Phone makers appear keen to add AI-related features to their new phones, but none of them seem entirely certain how to monetize it. Even if they clearly want to. Last year, when Samsung debuted the Galaxy S24 series and its Galaxy AI feature package, there were rumors of Samsung considering charging a subscription fee. But here we are a year later, with the Galaxy S25 series out and still offering its AI features for free, and claims from Samsung high-ups that there are no plans to change things right now. While Apple isn't charging anything for Apple Intelligence (at the time of writing at least), it got on this trend earlier by claiming it would charge owners of an iPhone 14 or a later iPhone for Crash Detection or Emergency SOS via Satellite. But after originally claiming you'd have to subscribe after two years, Apple extended the free trial for the iPhone 14 to three years, kicking the can further down the road. With phones costing more than ever, locking many of the key features behind additional payments is never going to go over well with phone buyers. Especially when these new features make up most of the upgrades from previous generations of the same phone. Optional extra features need to add a lot of value to be seen as worthwhile, such as cloud storage. And as clever as some of these AI features are, none of them have proven to be as universally handy as off-device storage yet. Perhaps 2026 will see a flurry of companies suddenly paywalling their AI features as the generative AI market matures and settles, with Nothing among the first going by its current level of preparedness. I'm still not convinced the phone-buying public's sold enough on these features to pay for them separately though.

Nothing might charge you for pressing the AI button on its future phones

Nothing's latest smartphones, the Phone 3a and the Phone 3a Pro, come a with the company's own AI-powered dashboard, called Essential Space. It is a place to organize your screenshots, images, voice notes, and reminders, and can be activated with a dedicated button called the Essential Key. While these features are free to use at the moment, Nothing might charge you a subscription to use these services in the future. Nothing aims to evolve Essential Space into an AI-powered second brain solution for storing stuff that you may otherwise not be too motivated to remember. While it's in beta right now, the presence of a dedicated activation button indicates Nothing is serious about making it a central feature on the future phones. The services are free at the moment, and Nothing has not shared any details about charging a subscription fee in the future. However, Android Authority has discovered references to a "free trial" in the app's source code, hinting the service would require payment eventually. The code mentions a "1 year free trial," "AI credits," and a "monthly processing limit," all which attribute to the likeliness of a paid subscription once the trial period is over. Recommended Videos Another block of code gives us some inkling on what to expect in terms of pricing. It includes a mention of "USD 120" in the onboarding workflow, and this could very well mean Nothing plans to charge the amount for you to access current and future features in Essential Space. Although $120 is likely too steep for a monthly payment, it is most likely what you would be expected to pay annually, thus, equating to a $10 payment per month. Please enable Javascript to view this content Of course, this is less than the $20 you would pay for Google Gemini Advanced or ChatGPT Pro monthly, but can seem unreasonable since Nothing's app offers far limited usability -- and can only be accessed through a Nothing phone. If Nothing is to implement these prices, we can expect some clarity when Essential Space is out of beta. The app was recently updated to add Camera Capture, which fetches information from an image or a screenshot similar to Google Lens but also saves this information in Essential Space for you to revisit later. Meanwhile, Nothing has promised features, such as Smart Collections, Focused Search, and Flip to Record, will arrive with future updates. We will know about the exact utility of each once they are available to try.

Nothing's Essential Space Feature Might Soon Require a Subcription

Nothing might eventually charge users for access to some features Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro are the latest smartphones from the UK firm led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, and these handsets are equipped with an Essential key. This button is tied to the Essential Space app, which offers features powered by artificial intelligence (AI), such as Camera Capture, which is now rolling out to users. A new report suggests that Nothing could introduce a new subscription for access to some Essential Space features in the future. During a teardown of the latest version of the Essential Space app from the Nothing Phone 3a series, Android Authority discovered the presence of multiple strings that referenced a "free trial" and "AI credits". The former suggests that users will be able to try out certain Essential Space features before a subscription fee is required, while the latter indicates that users might be able to spend money on credits to access certain AI features. It's worth noting that the presence of these strings in the app does not indicate that all the Essential Space features are going to require a subscription in the future. Nothing could offer some functionality for free, while other advanced features might be locked behind a subscription. One of the strings reads "start 1 year free trial", but this could also change with a future update. Additional strings discovered by the publication shed some light on how much the subscription might cost. The code in the Essential Space app suggests that customers might have to pay $120 (roughly 10,300), which could be an annual or a one-time fee. Regardless, it seems like a steep price for a smartphone that launched at $379 (roughly 32,500) in the US and Rs. 24,999 in India. As of now, Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro owners can update the Essential Space app and install the Nothing OS 3.1 update to access the new Camera Capture functionality, which is rolling out to users. Gadgets 360 tested the feature, and found that it functioned as advertised. Nothing isn't the first OEM to suggest that it will eventually charge customers to use AI features on its smartphones. Samsung's product pages for Galaxy AI devices indicates that AI features will be available for free until the end of 2025, and there's no clarity on whetther the company would charge for access to AI features, or how much it might cost.

Nothing's Essential Space Could Soon Be Locked Behind a Subscription Fee

Along with these, the teardown also hints at upcoming features like Smart Collections, Focused Search and Flip to Record. The release of Nothing's new Phone (3a) series (review) came with a surprise addition. A new physical key that lets you invoke an AI-powered Essential Space app, which helps to create tasks and reminders using screenshots and voice recordings. While the feature itself is in early release, Nothing might be planning to add a subscription fee to Essential Space soon. Android Authority did an APK teardown of the latest version of the Essential Space app. They found a string of code that clearly hints at paid features, using terms like "free trial" and "AI credits". They found another string of code mentioning and . The latter one is more interesting as it suggests that, whatever the subscription, Nothing is cooking up for the Essential Space, it could cost around $120. Surely this won't be the monthly cost, but it could add up to a yearly or lifetime plan. Along with these, they also managed to dig up some upcoming features through the code. These include Smart Collections, Focused Search, and Flip to Record, which Nothing confirmed were in the pipeline after a recent Nothing OS update. The first one likely automatically sorts your screenshots into collections. Focused Search might let you perform an in-depth search, much like Gemini. And Flip to Record could start recording your voice upon flipping the phone. Having used the Essential Space for a while now, I can say that the feature needs more work before it is anywhere near charging subscriptions. Plus, it is not easy to convince people to pay for what "essentially" is a productive screenshot app. But maybe they know something that we don't. They could make the app so useful that we can't imagine a day without it. These plans can also change later down the line. We heard that Samsung could soon start charging for its Galaxy AI features, but that hasn't come to fruition yet. So who knows what the future holds? That said, are you onboard with paying for the Essential Space? Let us know in the comments below.