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OnePlus

Guides for OnePlus 8 5G

444 guides

Security & Privacy

Rename a Fingerprint

Every fingerprint you register on your OnePlus phone gets a generic label like Finger 1 or Finger 2, so telling your own thumb apart from a partner's index finger later is pure guesswork. Once several prints are stored for unlocking or app logins, keeping track of who owns which slot gets confusing fast.

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Calls & Messages

Power Button Ends Call Setting

Struggling to tap the on-screen End call button during an active call on your OnePlus? A hidden accessibility option lets you hang up with the power button instead, but it only works once the right setting is turned on. Leave it off and pressing the power button just locks the screen while the call keeps running.

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Photo, Video & Media

Delete Photos and Videos

Storage filling up on your OnePlus usually comes down to old photos and videos nobody looks at anymore. Deleting them from the Gallery app does not remove them right away though, since OnePlus keeps a safety copy for a while before space is actually freed up.

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Network & Connectivity

Enable or Disable USB OTG

When a USB flash drive, mouse, or keyboard connected to your OnePlus phone via USB-C is not detected, USB OTG support is usually switched off in the system settings. Without this option enabled, the phone will not exchange data with external USB accessories even if the hardware itself supports OTG. Leaving OTG active also has a small effect on battery drain when accessories stay plugged in for long periods.

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Apps & Installation

Manage Game Space Settings

Install a game from the Play Store on a OnePlus phone and the icon never lands on your home screen - it only shows up inside the Game Space library. That trips up a lot of players who assume the install failed. Game Space also decides whether calls, notifications and screen taps get blocked while you play, so the wrong toggle can cost you a message or an incoming call mid-match.

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Notifications & Focus

Banner Notifications for Apps

Missing an important alert, or getting a banner pop-up from an app that should stay quiet? On OnePlus phones, banner notifications only show while the screen is unlocked and depend on a per-category 'Pop on screen' setting that's easy to miss. If that toggle is off, the alert still lands in the notification panel, but it never appears as a banner at the top of the screen.

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Security & Privacy

Permission Manager: Control App Access

When an app suddenly asks for camera or location access again, or you are not sure which apps can read your contacts, the Permission Manager on your OnePlus gives a clear per-function overview. Instead of digging through each app individually, you pick a function like Camera or Location and see every app that currently has access to it. This makes it much faster to spot apps that have no real reason to hold a sensitive permission.

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Language & Input

Delete Learned Words and Keyboard Data on OnePlus

If Gboard on your OnePlus keeps suggesting outdated typos, old contact names, or words you only typed once, the learned word dictionary has grown too large. This personal dictionary builds up over time and can start pushing irrelevant suggestions ahead of the words you actually want to type. Clearing it resets predictions without touching your installed keyboard or language settings.

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Network & Connectivity

Reset Network Settings (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data)

Wi-Fi keeps dropping, Bluetooth won't pair, or mobile data refuses to connect even though the signal looks fine? On OnePlus phones this often points to a corrupted connection profile rather than a hardware fault. A full network reset clears these profiles so you can rebuild every connection from scratch.

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Display & Home Screen

Disable Screen Animations

If your OnePlus feels sluggish when switching apps or opening menus, fade-in effects and shadows are often the cause. These transition animations use extra graphics processing and RAM every time a window or panel appears. Turning them off frees up resources without changing anything else about how your phone behaves.

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Network & Connectivity

Turn Off Wi-Fi Hotspot Automatically

If your OnePlus hotspot stays on for hours after everyone has disconnected, it keeps draining battery for no reason. This happens when the automatic shutoff for the Wi-Fi hotspot has been switched off or was never turned on. The setting only kicks in once no device has been connected for a few minutes.

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Notifications & Focus

Change Notification Sound

If the same notification tone keeps going off for every text, WhatsApp message or app alert on your OnePlus phone, it is easy to start tuning it out. OxygenOS comes with a handful of preset tones, and you can add your own audio files once those feel repetitive. The setting that controls this sits a few taps deep in the sound options, which is why many people never change it.

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Security & Privacy

Allow or Deny System Settings Permission

Some apps on your OnePlus phone ask to change system settings on their own, like the wallpaper or ringtone. This permission only covers those convenience settings and has no effect on security features such as the screen lock.

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Language & Input

Switch Keyboard Language While Typing

Typing a message that mixes two languages and the keyboard keeps autocorrecting the wrong one gets annoying fast on a OnePlus phone. Most keyboards let you swap languages mid-sentence, but the trigger for that switch is not always obvious. Some people tap a small globe icon near the space bar, others just hold the space bar down and get nothing.

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Apps & Installation

Change App Icon Shape and Style

If every app icon on your OnePlus home screen still looks like a plain square or circle, the icon shape setting is likely still on the default option. Switching between the pre-installed icon packs or a downloaded one changes the outline of every app symbol at once, but the option is easy to miss inside the home screen settings. Some downloaded packs also only apply partially if a step gets skipped.

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Calls & Messages

Change Calendar View

By default, the Calendar app on OnePlus phones opens with a combined overview of every added account, which makes it hard to see a full month at a glance. If you only need a quick daily rundown or a compact weekly plan instead, the current view setting is working against you. This applies to all accounts synced into the app, not just one calendar.

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Calls & Messages

Change Default Messaging App

If your OnePlus keeps opening the stock Messages app instead of the messenger you actually installed, the phone is still pointing to the old default handler. Notifications, quick replies and even the share sheet stay tied to whichever app holds that role, no matter which one you prefer to type in. Switching the default only takes a moment, but the option sits a few menus deep in the system settings.

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Network & Connectivity

Enable or Disable Location (GPS)

If regional weather widgets show the wrong city or navigation apps cannot find your position, Location access on your OnePlus phone might be turned off. Location runs by default to support GPS-based features, but constant background tracking also drains the battery faster than expected. You can check the current status and switch it directly from the quick settings panel or the main settings menu.

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Other

Change Default Homepage in Chrome

If Chrome always opens to the same news feed with shortcuts and suggested articles when you launch it, the browser is using a preset homepage instead of a site you picked yourself. On OnePlus phones this default start page ships active out of the box and keeps loading until you override it. You can swap it for any web address you actually use every day.

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Network & Connectivity

Change USB Connection Type

When you plug your OnePlus phone into a PC or laptop, it defaults to charging only and blocks file access. If Windows or macOS does not show the phone as a drive, or you need MIDI or PTP mode instead of MTP, the connection mode is set wrong on the phone side.

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Network & Connectivity

Enable or Disable Mobile Hotspot

If your laptop or tablet cannot see your OnePlus phone's WiFi hotspot, or the connection keeps dropping, the toggle for it is not in the quick settings panel on OxygenOS. It sits inside the network menu together with the hotspot name and password. Leaving it on unnecessarily also drains the battery faster than a normal WiFi connection.

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Notifications & Focus

Snooze a Notification Temporarily

A WhatsApp message or other alert keeps sitting in the notification bar until you open or dismiss it, even when you just need a break from it right now. OnePlus phones have a built-in Snooze option for exactly this case, but it only shows up once you swipe the right way and it stays hidden if notification access for that app is limited. Without it, you are stuck choosing between reading the message immediately or clearing it away for good.

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Display & Home Screen

Adjust screen brightness manually

If the screen on your OnePlus phone feels too dim indoors or too bright at night, automatic brightness is often making the call instead of you. Once Adaptive Brightness kicks in, the slider can jump around on its own, making it hard to lock in a comfortable level. Setting the brightness by hand gives you a fixed, predictable result every time.

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Apps & Installation

Add an App Shortcut to the Home Screen

When the app drawer is turned on, your home screen stays mostly empty and every app only shows up in the full overview list. That means an extra swipe and tap each time you want to open something you use daily. Adding a direct shortcut fixes that without switching off the drawer.

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