Enable or Disable Long Press for Symbols on the Keyboard
If letter keys on your OnePlus keyboard show no secondary symbol, you have to switch to the symbols layout every time you need a special character. Long press for symbols adds a small extra character to each key, letting you insert it by holding the key instead. This setting sits inside the keyboard app itself, not in the general display options, which is why many users miss it.
Set the Time Manually
If your OnePlus phone keeps snapping back to the wrong time or a different time zone, the network time sync is overriding whatever you type in. Oxygenos pulls this value directly from your carrier, so a manual change gets reverted within seconds unless that source is switched off first.
Add WiFi Network Manually
If your OnePlus phone does not show a WiFi network in the scan list, the router is usually broadcasting a hidden or non-visible SSID. Without the network name in the list, you cannot tap it and connect the usual way. Adding the network manually lets you connect once you have the exact SSID and password from the router.
Add a City to World Clock
If the Clock app on your OnePlus phone only shows your own time zone, keeping track of a call with someone abroad turns into constant math. The World clock feature lets you pin extra cities with their live time and current weather, but the button to add or remove them hides behind an icon that is easy to miss. Once you know where to tap, managing your list of cities takes seconds.
Create an Album for Photos or Videos
When photos and videos from trips, screenshots, and app downloads all land in the same Gallery feed, finding a specific shot later gets tedious. OnePlus Gallery groups everything by date by default, with no automatic sorting by topic or event. Creating a named album under Collections lets you group related media manually, but the name you pick sticks unless you go back and edit it.
Change Default Home Launcher
If your OnePlus phone still opens the stock home screen after installing a new launcher from the Play Store, the wrong app is still set as default. This mix-up shows up when widgets, icons or shortcuts do not match the launcher you expected to use. Switching the default Home app fixes which interface controls your start screen.
Add Bookmark Shortcut to Home Screen
Typing the same web address into Chrome every day gets old fast, especially for sites that do not have their own app. A bookmark saved only inside Chrome's bookmark list still needs several taps before the page loads. OxygenOS lets you turn any website into a home screen icon that opens directly, without a detour through the browser menu.
Show or Hide Battery Percentage in Status Bar
Guessing whether your OnePlus is at 20 percent or 60 percent from the battery icon alone is unreliable, especially once the icon outline gets thin. Without an exact number next to the icon, you only see a rough fill level in the status bar. That makes it hard to judge how much time you have left before a meeting or a long trip away from a charger.
Change Lock Screen Clock Style
If the default lock screen clock on your OnePlus phone looks plain, you don't have to keep it. Some styles only show digits, while others add an analog face or a date line underneath the time. Which one fits depends on a setting most people never open.
Delete a contact group or label
A label with dozens of contacts you no longer need clutters the group list in the Contacts app, but removing every member one by one feels pointless. Deleting the group itself takes seconds and does not touch the contacts stored on your OnePlus phone. Only the grouping disappears, not the people in it.
Set Default Keyboard Language
If your OnePlus phone keeps opening a messaging app or input field with the wrong keyboard language, Gboard is likely still using an outdated default. Switching layouts manually every time you type gets annoying fast, especially with several keyboard languages installed. Reordering your language list fixes which layout loads automatically.
Resend Undelivered Messages Automatically
If a text message shows a red exclamation mark or just sits there as 'Not delivered', your carrier connection likely dropped mid-send. OnePlus Messages can quietly retry it as SMS, but only if the resend behavior is configured the way you expect. Without checking this setting, you might be missing messages or getting asked for confirmation every single time a send fails.
Restrict App Downloads to Wi-Fi Only
If the Play Store keeps pulling large app updates through your mobile data plan, your monthly data cap can vanish fast. On OnePlus phones, an app download preference inside the Play Store settings decides whether downloads run over Wi-Fi, mobile data, or both. Once mobile data is excluded, new installs and updates simply wait until you connect to Wi-Fi.
Assign Alarm Functions to Volume Buttons
When an alarm rings on your OnePlus phone at night, the side volume buttons can control it instead of the screen. Some people want a quick snooze, others want the alarm to stop immediately with one press, and some prefer the buttons to do nothing so nobody silences the alarm by accident. If the wrong option is set, you might snooze an alarm you actually meant to turn off.
Set When Screensaver Starts
If the screensaver on your OnePlus phone kicks in at random moments, or never shows up when you expect it, the trigger condition is likely set wrong. OxygenOS only activates the screensaver during charging, docking, or a combination of both, unless you turn it off entirely.
Enable the Scientific Calculator Mode
The stock Calculator app on a OnePlus phone opens with only basic functions, which pushes many people to download a separate scientific calculator from the Play Store. The extra functions are actually built in, but they stay hidden unless you trigger the right gesture or rotate the phone.
Block Unidentified Callers Automatically
If your OnePlus keeps ringing for numbers with no caller ID or generic labels like Unknown, callers hiding behind a suppressed or unregistered number are getting through. This often includes robocalls or alleged competition and survey calls that never show a real number. A dedicated toggle in the Phone app can stop these calls before they reach you.
Enable or Disable Activity Controls
If your phone keeps suggesting apps or search results based on things you did days ago, Google is likely logging your Web & App Activity in the background. On OxygenOS this tracking sits inside the Privacy settings and stays on by default, which also means your browsing and app usage get stored to your Google Account. Turning it off stops new data collection, though it does not delete what was already logged.
Add Widgets to the Home Screen
If your OnePlus home screen only shows app icons and never picks up weather, calendar or messenger widgets, you are probably missing the widget picker, which sits behind a long-press gesture instead of a menu. Placing a widget in the wrong spot often makes it snap right back into the tray. Enough free space on the current page decides whether the drop actually works.
Enable Dark Mode via System Tone
Looking for a Dark Mode switch in your OnePlus settings and coming up empty? OxygenOS hides this option inside the system tone, which controls the overall color scheme of the interface instead of listing dark design as its own toggle. Until you find that setting, backgrounds, menus, and app drawers stay locked in the bright layout even at night.
Enable or Disable Mobile Data
If your OnePlus phone shows no internet connection outside of Wi-Fi range, mobile data is likely switched off. This cuts every data-based connection, including app updates, messaging services and browsing until you turn it back on. Even with mobile data enabled, missing or wrong APN settings can still block internet access.
Add Emergency Contacts for SOS
If your phone is set to send its location during an SOS alert but nobody ever receives it, no emergency contact has been saved yet. OnePlus only sends the automatic SOS text with your current location to people you have added to a dedicated emergency list beforehand. Without that list, the alert has no recipient at all.
Change Keyboard Theme (Gboard)
The default Gboard layout on OnePlus phones sticks to a flat gray look that gets boring fast. If your home screen has its own color scheme, that gray keyboard clashes every time you type. A different keyboard theme, plus the option to turn key borders on or off, brings the typing screen closer to your own style.
Schedule Do Not Disturb Mode
Turning Do Not Disturb on and off by hand every night or before every meeting gets old fast, and it is easy to forget switching it back off, leaving missed calls and messages piling up. On OnePlus phones, the Do Not Disturb schedule inside Sounds & vibration can handle that timing for you, based on either a fixed time window or calendar events. Multiple schedules can run at once, each with its own days and hours.