I made my Nothing Phone look super cool with these light glyph skins

Carl Pei took the world by storm with the Nothing Phone 1 in 2022, and its most interesting feature was arguably the strips of white LED lights on the back, called the Glyph Interface. Every Nothing phone since features these lights, except for the latest CMF Phone 1, perhaps to help it retain the sub-brand’s identity.

Once design leaks made it clear the CMF Phone 1 wouldn’t have a Glyph Interface, I decided to get a Nothing Phone 2a; I’ll be honest, the Glyph lights were a big reason why. I was hopeful for addressable RGB lighting for subsequent Nothing models, but Pei quickly shut down any possibility of that, calling the idea “cringe” in a post on X (formerly Twitter). However, that didn’t stop me from adding RGB to my new Phone 2a.

Where and why does this product exist?

A skin for your Glyph Interface

Phones released since Pei’s comment are a testament to the company’s commitment to keep things vanilla. However, when I bought my new 2a, I noticed GadgetShieldz sells $3 sticker packs for the Glyph Interface in red, green, and blue hues. The option is tucked away in the Customize section for Nothing 2a skins, where you can mix and match different colors and materials for different elements of the phone.

Although there’s no way to convert individual LEDs on a fully assembled phone without extensive effort, slapping on a sticker that lends a uniform color to individual LED strips is way more convenient and accessible. My colleague Akash Jhaveri tells me he co-developed this concept’s very first implementation with the Indian phone skin brand, Capes. But Capes only stocks Glyph Interface skins for the Nothing Phone 1, so GadgetShieldz was my solution.

Taking a step back, you might ask why this is necessary. Well, white Glyph lights may look out-of-place in some cases and skin colorways, and these cellophane-like stickers add a touch of personalization.

They also add a previously undiscovered level of convenience when I say, “Hey, Mom, can you tell me if the green LED on the back is on?” It just makes remembering various indications easier while referring to them, like the timer being on the red strip while green is for important notifications on my 2a.

Box contents and application

Easy to apply and use

GadgetShieldz sells Glyph Interface skins for all the Nothing phones, and buying one unit of the RGB kit for a Nothing Phone 2a gives you four pieces each in red, blue, and green, so you can replace them if they start peeling off.

Since each strip can only be a single hue, you can also get monochrome kits where all the Glyph Interface lights are the same color. For $3, you also get four strips per glyph light bar in monochrome kits, which I think is a better bargain because you can apply any of the three hues to any light.

I think that’s important because GadgetShieldz’s RGB kit doesn’t use the sequence of colors in Google’s G logo. Instead of going R-G-B counterclockwise, the kit goes R-G-B in the other direction. With three kits of individual colors, you can enjoy an anatomically correct imitation of the G logo, but that might just be me being pedantic.

That said, installation is fairly straightforward — I recommend switching the Glyph Torch on and placing the device face down before proceeding, as positioning the stickers accurately is easier with the lights switched on. I might’ve appreciated an application template cut from card paper using the camera island as an anchor, but the adhesive on the stickers is forgiving, and multiple pieces help provide peace of mind.

Once applied, you may notice a little light bleeding around the sides is still white, but only in low-light conditions. The stickers might also seem askew when viewed off-angle, but that’s because the light strips are recessed deeper into the back panel.

Fortunately, the stickers don’t tend to come off by accident, even though the edge might catch on fingernails and other sharp objects. However, GadgetShieldz confirmed these stickers can be protected by a FlexArmor protector on top, which really helps the Nothing Phone 2a’s back panel shine.

A little lost and a little gained

Reflected light might look weird

RGB Glyph interface creates fun but weird lighting with metallic paint

Before you excitedly proceed to buy Glyph Interface skins, let me remind you that applying these skins might reduce the light output of the Glyph Torch feature. More importantly, you might have to use that harsh LED flash more often when snapping photos since the RGB stickers create weird reflections and specular lighting when used as fill lights. The effect is particularly noticeable on metallic paint and reflective surfaces.

On the one hand, you might agree with Pei that RGB lights should be done right if Nothing goes that route, but on the other hand, there’s no denying the cool factor of this $3 mod is off the charts, especially with free worldwide shipping.