Nothing Phone 2a Special Edition Brings a Hidden Theme; Here’s How to Unlock

The Nothing Phone (2a) Special Edition adds a splash of colors to the Nothing Phones’ usual monochromatic look. These include the three primary colors: Red, Blue, and Yellow, and some gray here and there for aesthetics. While many are divided opinions on its looks, what they might have skipped out on is the little secret hidden within its UI. Let’s look at what it is and how to find it.

Easter Egg on Phone (2a) Special Edition: What Is It?

The Phone (2a) Special Edition draws inspiration from the Bauhaus movement, which is a modernist art and design movement featuring streamlined silhouettes, abstract design, and use of primary colors. Paying homage to this art style, the developers at Nothing have added a new hidden theme as an Easter egg on the Phone (2a) Special Edition.

As you can tell from the screenshots, this new theme adds white, blue, yellow, and gray app icons instead of the typical black and white. What’s missing here is the color red. You can add some widgets to your home screen like the recorder or the Flashlight toggle which turns to red when enabled to complete the look.

How to Unlock Hidden Theme on Nothing Phone (2a) Special Edition

Since the design is inspired by Bauhaus, the hidden theme can be enabled by adding the “Dessau” location in the world clock widget. This is where the Bauhaus campus was located in Germany. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the process.

Note The hidden theme is only available on the Nothing Phone (2a) Special Edition.

1. Long press on the home screen and tap the Widgets option.
2. Under Nothing Widgets, go to Clock.
3. Tap and hold on the World clock and drag it on the home screen.
4. Now tap on the settings icon in the clock widget.

5. Inside the World Clock screen, choose Specific city.
6. Now, type “dessau” in the search box at the top and select Dessau, Germany from the search results.
7. The Special Edition Color theme will now be applied on your device.

This will add the new Colorful theme option, and you can choose it from the Customization menu. Nothing Community member RapidZapper discovered this hidden feature in his post about the same.

Android enthusiasts like me love it when OEMs hide little Easter eggs for them to find on the platform. OnePlus used to do it with the calculator app, where entering “1+” would show a Never Settle splash screen. Or the Fanatic mode, if anyone remembers it. The Pac-Man Edition of the OnePlus Nord 2 also featured some cool Easter eggs.

So this new hidden theme on the Phone (2a) was a nice touch by the company to not only add more colors to its pretty plain UI but also give a nod to the modernist art movement. I would have only wished the theme also applied to quick settings and other toggles throughout the Nothing OS. But what do you think about this hidden theme on the Phone (2a)? Do you like it, or were you expecting something more? Let us know in the comments below.