The Nothing CMF Phone 1’s unusual and accidental X-ray camera feature has been explained – and blocked

The orange CMF by Nothing Phone 1 on a grey background

The CMF Phone 1 (Image credit: CMF by Nothing)

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 recently launched with a whole lot of features considering its low $199 / £179 / AU$399 price tag. These include a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, a 50MP main camera, a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, a 5,000mAh battery, and even a swappable back cover. But perhaps its most interesting feature wasn’t advertised by the company.

You see, YouTuber @purely_maxwell found that the phone’s 2MP depth sensor can double as an X-ray-like camera, being able to see through certain objects. For example, he was able to see the batteries inside a remote control.

This feature isn’t natively available on the Nothing CMF Phone 1, as you can’t actually use the depth sensor on its own – or not without the help of a third-party app anyway. Still, it’s a cool party trick.

the cmf phone 1 has a see through camera? #cmf #cmfphone1 - YouTube

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But it’s also a trick that has since got the attention of Nothing, with Akis Evangelidis (the company’s co-founder) explaining what’s happening in a post on X.

According to Evangelidis, the depth sensor doesn’t have an infrared light filter, in order to enhance its light capturing capabilities. However, the result of this is that the depth sensor can function like an infrared camera, which as Evangelidis explains “can sometimes reveal the internal structure of thin or semi-transparent objects, especially when it's black acrylic material.”

Unintentional and soon to be inaccessible

But this functionality was never intended to be accessible, which is why it requires a third-party app. And sadly, the company will now “restrict third-party apps from accessing the depth sensor output through a software update expected within a week.” So you soon won’t even be able to access this feature with a third-party workaround.

It seems a shame that Nothing would block such a fun feature, but the company is doing this because it understands the feature could “raise some concerns”. So if you have a Nothing Phone CMF 1, you’ll have to act fast if you want to give this camera trick a try.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.