Physical removal/disabling of Essential Key?

pandaman777

I hate this key so much… it gets pressed too easily with the official Nothing case as it’s too tight around the edges, and pulling it out my pocket often turns the screen on due to the button

I don’t think I’ll ever actually use the feature, so wondered if physically removing the button and filling it in with white epoxy (I have a white 3a) would cause any issues?

I am on the verge of returning the 3a due to the button, but thought maybe just removing it entirely would solve it. Any thoughts?

Lumoti

You could download a 3rd party app to disable/remap the button’s functionality.
I also saw a reddit post where someone cut the essentials button out of the case, rather than the phone.

pandaman777

Lumoti None of the remappers work unfortunately

Lumoti

You could try disabling the essentials app.

pandaman777

Lumoti Doesn’t do anything - button still triggers

Lumoti

pandaman777
Nothing want people to engage with the essentials app, which is why it’s not possible to remap it. Due to this, they are very unlikely to give people the option to disable it.

However, I’ve seen many people complaining about the button triggering accidentally and too often. They MIGHT be willing to change the button so it requires you to hold the button to activate it. This would require enough people submitting feedback requesting the feature.

I recommend going to ‘settings>tips & feedback>feedback>feedback’ in your phone. Change the feedback type to ‘make a suggestion’ and request they change the button to require a ‘long press’ or ‘hold’.

I have already done so.

If enough people also request this… they might oblige.

Coldpaw

I guess the most easiest way has already been suggested by Lumoti: Get a case with bulkier sides and try cutting out the cases’ button for the Essential Key.

Other than that, I can only suggest making your frustration official by sending in feedback via the official channel:

Open the settings on your (3a), search for feedback and tap on the suggested link. Then follow the instructions to get to the feedback form.

I can only imagine, the more (3a) users are sending in their negative feedback, the more Nothing might be willing to introduce further options regarding the Essential Key.

AgentBlasko

I don’t use it as often, because I generally don’t use AI too much. With that said I got the phone 3 days ago and in the beginning there was a lot of miss press instead of locking the home screen but since then I know what to push. It’s just muscle memory. You going to get used to it trust me, and after that you won’t even notice it.

Super happy with the device btw,love it🤍