OnePlus How-Tos

How To: Remove Background Telemetry Services on Your OnePlus to Stop Unnecessary Data Collection

Your phone tracks your every move to some extent, and I'm not just talking about Google services. Smartphone manufacturers use telemetry services that run in the background to track how you use the device, mostly for ads or to improve their future products. You don't usually have a say in the matter, but if you have a rooted OnePlus, there's a way you can take control over it.

How To: There's a Faster Way to Check for System Updates on Your OnePlus

We all know Android updates have been iffy in the past. But Google has implemented several measures recently that have sped up the process substantially, and OnePlus is taking advantage of these. Still, a staged rollout update might keep you waiting for a few days or longer. So if you'd rather skip the wait, there's a better way to manually check for system updates.

How To: Customize Your OnePlus 7 or 7T Pro's Caller ID Screen with an Updated Design

When you receive a call on your phone, you likely don't think twice about the design when the notification pops up. Whatever the default UI is, that's what works best since there aren't any other choices to pick from. At least, that's how things used to be in the past — we're starting to see some new OnePlus mods that allow you to expand on it.

How To: This TWRP Alternative Lets You Manage Magisk Modules & So Much More on OnePlus Devices

TWRP has been the king of custom recovery on Android for years now, thanks to device compatibility and core features. But there's a new player in town — at least, for OnePlus devices — and it's got a lot of useful features that might finally get you to ditch TWRP.

How To: Make Any App Work with OnePlus' Parallel Apps Feature

OnePlus offers a variety of features that you don't get with some other Android phones. Parallel Apps is one of those standout extras you didn't know you might enjoy until you've tried it. It allows you to clone compatible apps installed on your device, which means you can use the same app with two different accounts, for example.

How To: Quickly Answer Calls on Your OnePlus by Lifting the Phone to Your Ear

We've seen some Android phones in the past make answering calls as simple as lifting the phone to your ear. Although it's not a highly mentioned feature, you can enable this setting on your OnePlus device in a few taps and stop having to fumble with an on-screen slider or button.

How To: Get Fastboot Flashable Factory Images for Any OnePlus Phone

OnePlus phones are easy to root, but that also means they're easy to brick if you get trigger happy with your superuser privileges. If you find yourself in this situation, you'll quickly realize the OnePlus firmware download page doesn't provide files you can flash in Fastboot mode.

How To: Make OnePlus' Lift to Wake Feature Show the Lock Screen Instead of the Always-on Display

OnePlus releases some unique and exciting features before they start catching on with everyone else. Their OxygenOS is often considered the cleanest and most useful variant of Android. However, there are still a few key features OnePlus has yet to bring to their devices. This includes a proper lift to wake option.

How To: Add Quick App Shortcuts to the in-Display Fingerprint Scanner on Your OnePlus

If you have a OnePlus phone with an in-display fingerprint scanner like the 6T or 7 Pro, the "Quick launch" feature can put a variety of app shortcuts right on your lock screen for easy access. For example, you could use the "My apps" shortcut for the Play Store to check for your app updates in an instant.

How To: This Is the Easiest Way to Take Screenshots on Your OnePlus

There are quite a few ways to take screenshots on Android, but not all are so obvious. In fact, the best methods are often gesture shortcuts, hidden from sight by the OEM. OnePlus is no exception.

How To: Your OnePlus Home Screen Has a Built-in Step Counter

A great way to incorporate a healthy exercise routine is by taking lots of steps throughout the day. While most smartphones can track and report your steps via a third-party app, you can check them right from your home screen if you have a OnePlus phone.

How To: Enable Dark Mode on Your OnePlus with Android 10

OnePlus often introduces unique features that receive praise from the smartphone community. But they can sometimes change things up and confuse their users as well. Take dark mode, for example, which became a huge hit thanks to Android 10. Both Google and Samsung offer their dark mode settings in the same general location, but OnePlus took a slightly different approach here.

How To: Add a Dark Mode Toggle to Android 10's Quick Settings on Your OnePlus

The biggest new feature in Android 10 is the system-wide dark mode. Both Samsung and Google phones have it, so third-party support is everywhere. The only problem is OnePlus forgot to include a way to quickly toggle dark mode on and off.

How To: Enable 20x Zoom on Your OnePlus Camera App

OnePlus has always pushed the boundaries with specs. They give their phones the premium treatment, which, yes, includes the camera nowadays as well. But even though they have become pretty solid in the photography department, it could always be better.

How To: Switching Cameras Is Easy with This Simple Gesture on Your OnePlus

Something entirely new for many people is where the future of navigation is headed — gestures. Gesture navigation not only gives you more screen real estate, but it allows for a seamless experience without needing to lift your finger as much. OnePlus knows you want to tap less and do more, so they added a quick camera gesture you should be aware of to make your experience that much better.

How To: Hide Photos in the Gallery App on Your OnePlus Phone for Extra Privacy

Smartphones have so much sensitive information attached to them. If you share your home with others, then you know the pains of trying to keep anything private. Photos are surely among the things you'd prefer to keep to yourself, so OnePlus has you covered.

How To: Run 2 Facebook Accounts at Once on Your OnePlus

The Facebook app only supports one account being logged in at a time — but what if you need one for work and one for your personal life? That would normally involve logging out and logging in every time you need to switch accounts, but your OnePlus device offers a much better solution.

How To: Make the Power Button Launch Google Assistant on Your OnePlus

You might prefer a dedicated button, whether physical or digital, to bring up your digital assistant. Pixel phones have the squeeze function to bring up the assistant, but what about OnePlus phones? Luckily, OnePlus has included a feature that uses your power button to act as your assistant button of sorts.

How To: You Can Double Tap Your Home Screen to Lock Your OnePlus Phone

By default, most Android phones will instantly lock once you turn the screen off with the power button. Doing so is a surefire way to secure your device when you walk away, but what if there was another way to accomplish this even faster? If you're using the OnePlus Launcher on your OnePlus phone, there's something you can do to lock your phone instantly without pressing the power button.

How To: Make Your OnePlus Phone Automatically Restart Overnight

One of the more interesting power-related features for OnePlus phones is the ability to schedule a time to turn it, off then back on again. While OnePlus phones typically run blazingly fast, you can still benefit from the RAM clearing and process killing that a reboot provides. And since you can schedule this to happen overnight, you can wake up to a refreshed, restarted phone every morning.

How To: Get Google's Call Screen Feature on Your OnePlus

Spam calls are one of the most annoying things to happen in the world of smartphones for more than one reason. Not only are they bothersome, but they can also be dangerous to people who don't know any better. Google has come up with a crafty solution known as "Call Screen" to let the Google Assistant handle the call for you while you listen in on the caller like a stealth ninja.

How To: Get the Google Feed on the Stock OnePlus Launcher

Pixels and other near-stock Android phones have the Google Feed baked into their home screen, but sadly, the default OnePlus Launcher doesn't. Even more disappointing is the fact that the OnePlus Launcher actually has the Google Feed code built into it, but it's not activated. Let's change that.

How To: Update Your OnePlus 7 Pro Without Losing Root — No Computer Needed

Multiple methods can be used to update OnePlus phones, but if you're rooted with TWRP installed, you might want to try this one out for yourself. The update method outlined in this guide works like a charm while maintaining your root status after an OTA update. One of the best parts about it — you don't have to rely on a computer like you did when you rooted the first time around.

How To: Getting Delayed Gmail Notifications on Your OnePlus? Here's the Fix

OxygenOS is often described as one of the best skins for Android on the market. It's fast, clean, and has a ton of useful features that appeal to just about everyone. However, it's also faced a significant issue for the longest time — overly aggressive battery optimizations that frequently kill background apps, including Gmail services.

How To: Make All Compatible Games Play in 90 Hz on Your OnePlus 7 Pro

One of the standout features of the OnePlus 7 Pro is the 90 Hz display. A higher refresh rate means smoother gameplay for all your favorite games, which is precisely what you'd want out of your gaming experience. However, not all games play nicely with these higher refresh rates — but luckily, there's a pretty simple fix.

How To: Use Fnatic Mode to Power Up Your OnePlus 7 Pro Gaming Experience

The OnePlus 7 Pro is an outright beast. From the highly rated display with minimal bezels to the 90 Hz refresh rate, there's no denying this phone is great for gaming. Although not explicitly marketed as a gaming phone, it seems OnePlus unintentionally created one by cramming in great specs and game-friendly software features like Fnatic Mode.

How To: Enable Zen Mode on Your OnePlus 7 Pro to Help Curb Your Smartphone Addiction

In this era of smartphones, we all know very well how easily we can get addicted to our devices. Spending hours each day doing the endless scroll through Facebook and other social media sites just because we feel like we'll miss something if we don't. Both Google and Apple are aware of this and are trying to help control smartphone addition in their own way for Android and iOS.

How To: Install Google Camera on Your OnePlus 7 Pro for Better Photo Quality & Night Sight

The triple camera system on the OnePlus 7 Pro is the best setup they've ever done so far, but it could always be better. The primary sensor packs a whopping 48 megapixels, but as history has taught us, megapixels don't equal better photos by default. In fact, with where we are in terms of hardware right now, it's the software that determines a phone's camera performance.

How To: Root Your OnePlus 7 Pro with Magisk

OnePlus has purposefully made their devices easy to root so that you can spend less time waiting and more time doing. These phones are a solid choice for anyone looking to dive into the rooting and modding scene. Using the same principles that Google has with the Pixel line, you can always be sure your OnePlus 7 Pro will get first-class treatment from launch day and beyond.

How To: Install TWRP Recovery on Your OnePlus 7 Pro

When it comes to modding your Android device, you'll want to be familiar with the TWRP name and what it stands for. It's a tool that you'll be using to make NANDroid backups or to install just about any mod file you can think of — the number of uses is quite awesome. You'll mostly be after Magisk for root access and potentially a custom kernel as well.

How To: Unlock the Bootloader on Your OnePlus 7 Pro

The OnePlus 7 Pro is truly the best phone that the company has ever created to date — it's even one of the hottest phones around regardless of OEM. It offers an awesome display with minimal bezels, a smooth 90-hertz refresh rate, a pop-up selfie camera, and the best triple camera system in a OnePlus phone so far. It can truly compete with other flagship phones while keeping the cost down.

How To: Turn Your OnePlus 6T into a Google Pixel

Since we wouldn't have Android without Google, everyone has come to realize that the Pixel smartphones are a prime example of what an Android smartphone should be. With so many unique software related features, no wonder people want that Pixel experience.

How To: Save Your Parking Location from Your OnePlus Home Screen

There once was a time before smartphones when you had to actually remember where you parked your vehicle. This really sucked when visiting a location with a large parking lot — they even made a whole Seinfeld episode about it. But now you can just tap a button to solve this problem. Who says we're not living in the future?

How To: Install Android Q Beta on Your OnePlus 6, 6T, or 7 Pro

Hot on the heels of all the talk about Google's newest Android Q update, known as Android 10, there's a new beta to check out. OnePlus is one of the many partners that can now offer its users a chance to test the latest version early. That means you can install the newest Android Q beta right this second on your OnePlus 6, 6T, or 7 Pro just like Google's Pixel smartphones.

How To: 5 Tips for Recording Better Videos with the OnePlus Camera App

OnePlus always seems to offer affordable yet powerful tools for videographers of all kinds. The camera hardware itself is crucial, but what's hardware without good software to highlight its real potential? It doesn't matter which version of the smartphone you have, they're all powered by the very same OnePlus camera app.

How To: Play Pokémon GO in Fullscreen on Your OnePlus 6T

Phone displays have gotten taller in the past few years, and it seems the OnePlus 6T might not make use of the entire screen by default for a few games. Most games play nicely with the large display on the 6T and its teardrop camera notch, but Pokémon GO is one that doesn't scale correctly. Until an official fix happens, there's a quick workaround you can use to make things a bit better.

How To: All the Privacy & Security Settings You Should Check on Your OnePlus

One of the best things about Android is the ability to customize every aspect of your device to make it your own. However, unless you have prior knowledge or experience with every single setting available to you, you might have missed a few critical features without even knowing it. Some settings are easy to find, while others might be tucked away in another menu of their own.

How To: Disable This Setting if Notifications Are Delayed on Your OnePlus

OnePlus is known for pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible for a mid-range price. One of the best things about OnePlus phones is that their battery life is fantastic in general, but to achieve this, Oxygen OS will disable or delay notifications by default once your phone goes into deep sleep mode. You will not be notified until you wake the phone up — this could be an issue for some.

How To: Update Your OnePlus 6 or 6T Without Losing Root — No Computer Needed

One of the biggest downsides to rooting is that it can be a pain to update every month with each new security patch. With other phones, you might have had to fully unroot the device, maybe flash a stock recovery, or potentially even flash all the factory images to get a new update. Thankfully, OnePlus has made this process super simple for us modders.

How To: Get Dolby Atmos on Your OnePlus 6T for Enhanced Audio

The OnePlus 6T is easily one of 2018's best value phones for many reasons, especially when it comes to rooting and modding. But like many new phones, it's plagued with the single bottom-firing speaker that left us wanting more in the sound department. The speaker is decent on its own, but it appears to have some hidden potential at the same time.