How to set up the Nothing Phone 1: A step-by-step guide

Nothing -- a new company headed by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei -- finally pulled the curtain this month to reveal its first smartphone called Phone 1. This particular phone is sure to grab a lot of attention with its Glyph Interface. The device has 900 LEDs underneath the glass on the rear that light up with unique patterns. You can find more information about this unique interface and many other things in our Nothing Phone 1 review, so be sure to check it out. If you're curious about the setup process or if you're stuck somewhere and need help, then you've come to the right place. Here's how to set up the Nothing Phone 1 from scratch:

How to set up the Nothing Phone 1:

The first thing you need to do after powering on the Nothing Phone 1 for the first time is to choose your preferred language. Select the language displayed on the screen to open a new page with all the available options. Once done, choose the red-colored arrow button to proceed with the setup.
On the next page, you'll see a prompt to insert a SIM card into the phone. This is an optional step that you can avoid for now and proceed with the rest of the setup process. Simply select the Skip button on the bottom left corner of the screen to go to the next page.

Screenshots showing the setup process of the Nothing Phone 1

You'll now see an option to connect to your local Wi-Fi network for your internet connection and add a Google account to the phone. This is also an optional step that you can skip by choosing the Set up offline button on the bottom left corner of the phone.
We'll select a Wi-Fi network and connect to the internet for this tutorial, so follow the steps if you want to do the same or simply skip to the next steps. Select your preferred Wi-Fi network from the list of available networks and authenticate to proceed.
Once done, you'll get an option to copy apps and data from an existing Android phone to your new Nothing Phone 1. Select Next if you want to do that or just choose Don't copy to set it up as a new phone. We'll set up Nothing Phone 1 as a new device in this tutorial.

Regardless of the option you choose in the previous step, you'll now have to log in to your Google account for the setup. Enter your email address or the phone number associated with your Google account and choose Next. This is also an optional step that you can skip by selecting the Skip button from the bottom right corner of the screen to directly set up a PIN and fingerprint unlock for your phone.
After that, enter your password to verify your account using the 2-factor authentication (if enabled). Once done, you can then choose to enable location sharing or allow Google to create an automatic backup of your data to Google Drive. Tweak these settings based on your preferences and select Next to proceed to the next page.

The next step is to set up a PIN to unlock the device. This is once again an optional step but we recommend setting it up right now as you'll need one to enable the fingerprint to unlock. Simply enter a four digits PIN to unlock the device and select Next.
On the next page, select Set up to register your fingerprints for unlocking the device, signing into apps, and verifying payments.
You'll now be asked to tap and hold the fingerprint sensor until it's registered. You'll have to lift your finger and repeat the same multiple times to ensure the fingerprint is properly registered. Just follow the on-screen instructions for this until it's done.

Next up, you can select whether or not to see your notifications on your lock screen when the phone is locked. You can either see all notifications, hide sensitive information, or simply hide all of them on the lock screen. Select an option and choose Done to proceed with the setup.
On the next page, you'll get an option to either continue the setup process or leave now and get a reminder to finish it later. We'll continue the setup process in this tutorial, so follow along.
The next step is to enable the Google Assistant and teach it to recognize your voice. You'll now be asked to say a few phrases to ensure the Google Assistant recognizes your voice. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to finish this part of the setup process.

Now, we're just a few steps away from using the Nothing Phone 1. At this point, the phone will give an option to add another Google account and tweak things like the system font and wallpaper. You can skip these for now as they can also be changed from the settings menu later. Select No thanks to proceed to the next page where you'll have to accept the terms and conditions to start using the phone.
Note that you will not be able to proceed without accepting the terms and conditions, so select Agree to proceed.
You'll now see a page with an option to allow Nothing to collect analytical data to improve your user experience. Select Share if you want the company to collect the data or choose Don't share to avoid sharing any data.

For the finishing touches, the phone will now give a quick refresher on its new Glyph interface. Simply swipe through these to select how you want to navigate around the phone's interface.
On the next page, you can choose between Gesture navigation or 3-button navigation. These options are pretty much self-explanatory, so pick the one based on your preference and select Next to complete the setup process.

And that's it, you're ready to go! You can now start using your new Nothing Phone 1. We suggest you visit the settings page once to check out and set up the Glyph interface to your liking. It is, after all, one of the highlights of this particular phone. You can also manually enable the hidden Glyph-lighting music visualization feature on the device. And while we don't recommend it for beginners, experienced enthusiasts can consider unlocking the bootloader and rooting the Nothing Phone 1 with Magisk.