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What you need to know
- Nothing announced that it's rolling out an update for its Essential Space/Essential Key for the Phone 3, 3a, and 3a Pro.
- Users can soon long-press the Essential Key to begin "call recording," which will then save the recording, as well as a transcript to their Essential Space.
- Nothing updated its Essential Space suite of AI features earlier this year, enabling users to utilize the Key in the camera app.
If you own the latest Nothing Phone, the company is rolling out an update that might come in handy and make its on-device AI a little more seamless.
Nothing announced the update early this morning (Oct 6) via its Essential account on X. The post, accompanied by a video, states Essential Space, its on-device hub of AI features, is receiving call recording for the Phone 3, 3a, and 3a Pro. The big thing Nothing is highlighting in this update is the ability for users to activate call recording with the push of a button. Simply "long-press the Essential Key" to activate the feature.
It seems that during calls, users will receive a notification from their device stating, "Recording available." It will explain that users can long-press the Essential Key to begin, or they can tap the "start recording" button on the alert itself.
However, taking the simpler button-press step during a call will activate call recording without looking at your screen. After the call is over, your Nothing Phone will deliver another notification, stating the recording has been saved and that you can hop into your Essential Space to view it. Nothing's AI will generate a title based on the context of your conversation. It'll also state who was involved and display the recording for you to listen back.
Additionally, the AI will generate a transcript of the call with a brief paragraph summary and some main "highlights."
Making the Essential Space... Essential
Call Recording rolls out on Essential Space today! ☎️Long-press the Essential Key to record any call.Focus and be present in your conversation. Essential Space remembers the details. pic.twitter.com/4FuYL2tvuJOctober 6, 2025
Nothing says Phone 3, 3a, and 3a Pro users can expect the automatic update to begin today (Oct 6). Call recording in Essential Space is expected to hit users in the U.K., Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia by October 7.
Essential Space is Nothing's own version of on-device AI for its users, bringing an entire hub dedicated to such features. This one place will collect all of your screenshots, notes, photos, voice memos, and more, so you can come back and rediscover them with ease. The backbone of Essential Space is the artificial intelligence, which comes in for analysis and summarization purposes for everything you put into the hub.
There was an update for this suite earlier this year, shortly after the 3a and 3a Pro arrived, that made it possible to use the Essential Key in the camera app. Users can take photos normally, but save them separately to the Essential Space when they need to remember something for later. During the save process, users can attach a written note or a voice note to the image.
The Nothing Phone 3 is the company's attempt at making an overall better phone, to try and capture that flagship sentiment. The device sports a radically changed rear panel, with a smaller dot matrix circular screen for quick alerts and more. Additionally, consumers will find Nothing's attempt at making thoughtful software leans toward assisting you with daily life through the Essential Space.
