At an event held in London earlier this week, OnePlus reaffirmed its commitment to elevate the smartphone usage experience by offering four generations of OxygenOS and five years of security updates on selected devices launched in 2023 and beyond. This move will ensure users receive a fast and smooth experience for longer.

The team behind OxygenOS, including Gary Chen, Head of Software Products at OnePlus, and Crayon Hsieh, Head of OneLab at OnePlus, shared updates on the future of OxygenOS and details on OxygenOS 13.1 and OxygenOS 14.

“OxygenOS is an integral part of OnePlus, co-created by our community members,” said Gary Chen, Head of Software Products at OnePlus. “As a user-oriented company, we do everything we can to enhance user experience. With more users keeping their devices for longer, we want to make sure we can offer that possibility. This new update policy will give users access to the latest security and functional features required to power OnePlus’ signature fast-and-smooth experience throughout the lifetime of the phone.”

OxygenOS 13.1, expected to launch globally in the first half of 2023, will offer a wide variety of improvements to the user experience. Enhanced safety will be a key focus area implemented through an improved version of OnePlus’ Private Safe function introduced in OxygenOS 13, along with other privacy features. Another area of focus is improved digital health and well-being reflected through an increased focus on accessibility features for users with disabilities. “With our users facing the issues that come with an always-on society, we will continue to propose solutions to improve their quality of life,” says Crayon Hsieh, Head of OneLab at OnePlus. The multimedia experience of applications such as photo albums will also be improved and the software will be further optimized to offer an even smoother experience to users.

OnePlus also announced that the team is now working on the future direction of OxygenOS. During their visit to London, Gary and Crayon held the first in-person European Open Ears Forum after two years, reaffirming the legendary community focus which OnePlus is well known for. This meeting with the OnePlus’ community is just one of several that will contribute to the development of future OxygenOS.

Providing an overview of the future software philosophy of OxygenOS, Gary said, “Creating the best possible product experience for our users has always driven everything we do. Our software team will continue to carry on a burdenless product philosophy with a fast and smooth, and reliable experience that our users have always been familiar with. The future of OxygenOS is one that is safer, more stable, smarter, more globally capable, and with better support for our expanding ecosystem of products.”

During the event, the OxygenOS team also elaborated on the software optimizations and improvements made in OxygenOS 13 which enhance the performance to offer the software experience that users love from OnePlus. These include:

AI System Booster: With advanced, intelligent memory management systems, AI System Booster allows you to suspend more applications at once, so you can quickly jump from one application/task to another for a faster, smoother, and uninterrupted experience. It makes performance consistent even in the case of overloaded memory consumption and gets the work done in seconds. As a result, there is a 30% increase in fluency rate, a 20% increase in app installation speed, and a 10% increase in app start-up speed compared to previous versions of OxygenOS.

Homeland Always on Display: A new, dynamic Always On Display (AOD) triggered by the real-time temperate change. It reveals the environmental changes in the habitats that animals rely on based on daily temperature changes. The AOD also lets you view the time, date, notifications, missed calls, and more when the screen is turned off.

Spotify Always on Display: OnePlus is the first OEM to offer a music AOD. OnePlus and Spotify worked very meticulously to fine-tune the details of the Spotify AOD such as colours, font size, and icon style. In the future, the partnership between OnePlus and Spotify will be strengthened further.

The first Spatial Audio developed with Google: OnePlus is the first manufacturer to co-develop their Spatial Audio technology with Google and Dolby, securing both deep integrations with Android, and the best possible experience with Dolby Atmos. The result of the close collaboration between the three parties is one of the most in-depth spatial audio solutions yet, with support for both multi-channel and dual-channel content. “Sound quality is a subjective matter,“ says Gary Chen, Head of Software Products at OnePlus. “To measure this meaningfully, OnePlus has assembled a team that is dedicated to tuning the sound quality based on feedback from several testing events.”

Private Safe 2.0: The Private Safe 2.0 on OxygenOS 13 ensures that data sharing is safe and secure. OnePlus implements the “Auto Pixelate” feature for specific application scenarios on Facebook messenger and WhatsApp. When users share screenshots from these two apps, OxygenOS 13 will automatically pixelate private information to ensure that user’s data will not be accidentally leaked. When the app requests permission from the user, the user can choose to reject it, agree this time, or always agree.

Aquamorphic Design: OxygenOS 13 is based on the Aquamorphic design philosophy. The colours in OxygenOS 13 are more vibrant and neutral compared to the previous version. At the same time, for a better user experience, buttons with clear borders have been added to increase intuitiveness for users. Calculators, lock screen shortcuts, etc. have been added with clear action areas for more confident and intuitive user clicks. Further elaborating on the Aquamorphic Design philosophy, Crayon Hsieh, Head of OneLab at OnePlus said, “Good design can have a positive impact on people. With the current state of the world – epidemic, social unrest, and climate change, the design team was focused on offering a new design that would alleviate the feeling of being burdened by the ongoing issues. Aquamorphic Design delivers a simplified, cleaner visual interface. With a design language based on the unique properties of water, it offers an immersive, more calming environment along with powerful features to enhance users’ digital quality of life.”