Explore more on OxygenOS 12

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago, on social media, we provided a glimpse at the future of OxygenOS. Today, with the release of the first OxygenOS 12-based Open Beta build for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, you get to see firsthand how the overall software experience has reached another level.

With the recent codebase integration with ColorOS, OxygenOS 12 keeps our fast and smooth DNA while delivering a fully upgraded experience on a more stable and power-saving system with solid backend support.

Together with a refreshing UI and a great set of new features, OxygenOS 12 brings a more well-rounded experience that streamlines users’ day-to-day work and enhances digital wellbeing. Get to meet them below.

2020 was a year full of challenges. The impact of the global pandemic has substantially changed our way of living and made us re-think the meaning of being connected. While our smartphones helped us feel closer to the world and our loved ones, there is always more to do to empower and inspire our users. Following our Burden less philosophy, we optimized OxygenOS 12 in three aspects: work, rest, and play, building a pressure-free space for you to chill out.

OxygenOS 12 Burdenless Design

​Inspired by James Turrell’s artwork, OnePlus worked hard to introduce a refreshed new UI in OxygenOS 12 that enhances ease of use and instills power through resilient design:

• Light and Space

Through the ingenious use of light and space, OxygenOS 12 creates a safe and chill place for users. Visually, the change of light indicates a clearer distance, while hierarchy and interspersed relationships enhance readability and ease of use. In addition, the soft light and shadow minimize the unnecessary distractions in the UI, thus providing a more immersive and comfortable experience.

Zen Mode and the newly-introduced Private Safe are perfect examples of this. We created a new design around light and shadow, providing a sense of security and mental comforts through the visual changes.

• Geometric Deconstruction

OnePlus further simplified the visuals in OxygenOS 12 based on geometric deconstruction. Through more straightforward typographies users can easily get key messages, making OxygenOS 12 more inclusive and relatable for users from different cultures and regions.

• Neumorphism

Based on simplicity, we improved details to provide a more premium feel by adding shadows, subtle gradients and customizing each visual according to user scenarios, building a high-end and beautiful interface on OxygenOS 12.

OxygenOS 12 Work

• Shelf & OnePlus Scout

The Shelf you know and love is getting fully upgraded on OxygenOS 12 with a wider range of customizations for you to create the experience that best suits your needs. The brand-new Shelf can be customized with feature cards of different sizes and background images, allowing you to group features and personalize the Shelf layout just like you want it. Inside the Shelf, the step counter card is upgraded into a Health card, which can also be connected to your OnePlus Watch, giving more straightforward access to health information like Calories or Heart rate.

Better yet, to further simplify operations and boost efficiency, OnePlus integrated OnePlus Scout into the Shelf of all global users. This feature has already become a Community-favorite in India, providing a one-stop service for all searches that enables you to find any content on your device, including documents, contacts, music tracks, and web entries. OnePlus Scout makes the overall experience burden less and smoother than ever

• Note

To make work easier and more efficient, the Note app, as one of the most important work tools, was fully upgraded with a bunch of new editing functionalities. With OxygenOS 12, you can now edit the content with new formatting tools. Text too limiting? Use the Doodle feature to sketch out your ideas. The result is a better note-taking experience, with clearer and more straightforward notes.

Rest

Following the introduction of the OnePlus 7 Series, we launched Zen Mode to provide a peaceful place for users overwhelmed with information. As technology became more and more integrated into everything we do, we are now more reliant on smartphones than ever. Our borders between work and life have been gradually blurred, often adding extra burden and mental pressure.

• Work Life Balance 2.0 (WLB 2.0)

Based on the same philosophy of Zen Mode, we first brought WLB mode to Indian users and since then it has received very good feedback. With OxygenOS 12, we’re expanding the experience to our global users with an updated version – WLB 2.0, a first in Android phones. WLB 2.0 offers a number of options for customization to meet your needs, no matter who you are. In the WLB mode settings, notifications and messages of different apps can be categorized into two modes and sorted by priority. In addition, the work and life modes switch intelligently according to office locations, Wi-fi networks, or a specific timing you set, separating your life and work easily and clearly.

• Dark Mode

Based on the feedback from the Community users, you now have three levels of Dark Mode to choose from, giving you more options to adjust your phone to the mode that best fits your reading preferences.

Play

While enhancing the ease of use and boosting work efficiency, we also upgrade your digital space for fun.

• Games – Toolbox 2.0

On OxygenOS 11.3 for Nord 2, OnePlus offered a solid game experience with Toolbox in Games, supporting FPS floating windows, game filters, frame rate settings, and more. With OxygenOS 12, we bring these great features together with upgraded Toolbox 2.0 to all OnePlus global users, taking the OnePlus gaming experience to next level. It supports Voice Modulator in five popular games (PUBG/CODM/LOLM/FreeFire/Fortnite) enabling you to change your voice during in-game chats, protecting your privacy while adding more fun to the game.

• Canvas AOD 2.0

OnePlus believes, beyond practical usage, a smartphone is an important tool for everyone to express themselves, and we are committed to build a platform that enables users to show-off their personality. Among features that OnePlus brought to our users, Canvas AOD is one of the most popular. The newly-introduced Canvas AOD 2.0 has already been hotly anticipated during our OEF events and we are delighted to finally show this to more users with OxygenOS 12.

We optimized the feature based on the original functionality, adding a variety of new brushed and line colors for better customization. The selection of photos and adjustments on the final effect has become more flexible, as it adapts to different sizes of images and supports image scaling. Meanwhile, users can erase lines which does not fit in properly to provide a much more realistic but personalized overall result.

Safe and Reliable

Protecting users’ privacy has always been OnePlus’s top priority. During each iteration of OxygenOS, we have always aimed to build a safe and reliable system that protects our users’ personal information from hacking and leaks, giving our users more security and overall trust.

• Improved Protection

Previously, OnePlus brought a set of information security features to our users. Now, we further improved the protection mechanism and streamlined data storage access, making it easier for users to sort personal files. The data stored in the Private Safe is isolated from other apps while remaining personally accessible. Users can keep personal files such as photos, videos, audios, and documents in the Private Safe securely all through one access.

• Update Timeline

Currently, the OBT builds for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are already available here. It will also be coming to other models (OnePlus 8, OnePlus 9R 5G, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7T, OnePlus 7T Pro, Nord 2 5G, Nord 1, Nord CE 5G) in future updates. Stay tuned!