Set Up Private DNS
Every website you open on your OnePlus phone starts with a DNS lookup, and by default that request travels unencrypted across your network. Anyone sharing your Wi-Fi or your mobile carrier can see, log, or even redirect which domains you visit. Private DNS closes that gap by routing the entire lookup through an encrypted connection.
Turn Call Vibration On or Off
If your OnePlus phone buzzes every time someone calls even though you only want the ringtone, or the vibration stays off in a quiet room where you actually need it, the culprit is a separate vibration setting tied to Phone ringtone and vibration. Ringtone volume and vibration are controlled independently on OxygenOS, so muting one does not affect the other.
Set a Custom Notification Sound
Every SMS or Messenger alert on your OnePlus still plays the same stock tone, even after you scroll through the built-in sound list twice. OxygenOS does support your own audio files as notification sounds, but the option to load a custom file sits one menu deeper than the regular tone picker. Until that file is placed correctly on your phone, the system keeps falling back to the default ringtone.
Enable or Disable TTY Mode
If a hearing or speech aid device cannot connect to calls on your OnePlus, TTY mode is probably switched off in the Phone app. Without it, the phone cannot convert voice to text or text to voice during a call, which makes standard calling unusable for TTY users. The setting sits in the accessibility options of the Phone app and is off by default.
Add Contact to Favourites
Calling the same person over and over means scrolling through your whole contact list every time on your OnePlus phone. Marking that contact as a favourite pins it to the top of the Contacts app, so you skip the search entirely. It is a quick fix if you keep hunting for the same few names.
Enable or Disable Call Barring
If you are traveling abroad with your OnePlus and want to avoid unexpected roaming charges, call barring lets you block specific call types before they even connect. You can restrict outgoing calls, incoming calls, or international calls depending on which option you activate. Without the right setting enabled, calls still go through as usual and charges keep piling up.
Create a New Event in the Calendar App
Forgetting a meeting usually comes down to never adding it to the Calendar app in the first place. On OnePlus phones, new entries split into four types - Event, Task, Reminder or Goal - and picking the wrong one can leave out details you actually need, like location or repeat settings. Knowing which type to choose upfront saves you from redoing the entry later.
Pairing Messages for Web with a PC
If you want to reply to texts without picking up your phone every time, pairing Messages with a browser tab on your PC solves that. The catch is that the phone still has to handle every message in the background, so the web session depends entirely on a working connection between the two devices. Many users get stuck at the QR code step because they open the wrong menu or use a browser that blocks the scanner.
Show Date and Location of Photos and Videos
Wondering exactly when a shot was taken or where you were standing at the time? OnePlus stores that data inside the file itself, but the Gallery thumbnail never shows it. Location tags only appear if geotagging was active in the camera app when the photo or video was captured.
Enable or Disable Auto-Sync for Personal Data
Contacts, calendar entries and app data can update automatically the moment you change them online or on another device. If Auto-sync personal data is switched off, those changes stop reaching your OnePlus phone until you sync manually or turn the option back on.
Enable or Disable Screen Cast
If your OnePlus phone won't show up when you try to mirror the display to a smart TV, monitor or Fire TV Stick, the Screen cast function is often switched off or blocked by a network mismatch. Wireless mirroring only works when both devices sit on the same Wi-Fi network, so a hidden toggle or a wrong network can quietly break the connection. Some OnePlus units also link this feature to a separate casting toggle, which adds another spot where it can get disabled.
Find a Keyword on a Website in the Browser
Scanning a long article on your OnePlus phone for one specific word can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. The browser's built-in find function highlights every match in yellow, so you do not have to scroll through walls of text. Knowing where this tool hides in the menu saves real time.
Stopwatch: Start, Pause and Lap Timer
Trying to time a workout or a recipe on your OnePlus phone but the stopwatch buttons seem to do nothing when you tap them? The Clock app bundles a stopwatch with lap timing, but Start, Lap, Pause and Reset only respond in a fixed order. Tap them out of sequence and the stopwatch either freezes on the current time or the lap list stays empty.
Enable or Disable Fixed Dialing Numbers
If your OnePlus phone suddenly blocks calls to numbers that are not on a specific list, Fixed Dialing Numbers (FDN) is probably active. This call restriction only allows contacts stored on the SIM card to be dialed, which many parents use to limit a child's phone to a few approved numbers. Turning FDN on or off always requires the PIN2 code from your carrier, not the regular SIM PIN.
Add a Contact Shortcut to the Home Screen
Digging through the Contacts app every time you want to reach the same person wastes time, especially if that contact is not one of your recent calls. On OnePlus phones, a home screen shortcut places that contact right next to your apps, one tap away. Here is what the Add to Home screen option actually does and when it is worth setting up.
Enable or Disable the Emoji Switch Key
Typing emojis on your OnePlus normally means holding down the language key or hunting through a separate emoji panel, which slows you down in chats and emails. A dedicated emoji key on Gboard puts the smiley picker one tap away, but it swaps places with the globe icon used to switch languages. If you type in more than one language, that trade-off matters before you turn the option on.
Stop Battery Saver Turning Off After Charging
If Battery Saver on your OnePlus phone switches off by itself once charging passes roughly 90%, the „Turn off when fully charged“ option is behind it. That's inconvenient if you want power saving to stay active no matter how full the battery is.
Set Up a Proxy Server
If your OnePlus phone seems to have no proxy option at all, you are looking in the wrong place. The setting only shows up once you open the properties of a Wi-Fi network you are already connected to. Without a valid proxy host name and port, the connection will simply fail to save.
Enable or Disable UltraShot HDR
Photos taken on your OnePlus phone sometimes come out with blown-out skies or crushed shadows, and UltraShot HDR is the setting responsible for balancing those extremes. When it is switched on, the camera captures several exposures and blends them into one shot, which can make some scenes look overprocessed or slow down capture speed. Turning it off gives you a single, faster exposure at the cost of that extra brightness detail.
Delete an Album in Gallery
Old collections pile up in the Gallery app and take up space you want back. Before you tap Delete on an album, it helps to know that removing it wipes every photo and video stored inside, not just the album itself. Mixing up 'delete album' with 'remove from collection' can cost you files you actually wanted to keep.
Add App to Data Saver Exception List
When Data Saver is active on your OnePlus phone, background data gets blocked for most apps. WhatsApp and other messengers can then miss incoming messages until you open them manually. Adding an app to the unrestricted data list keeps it connected even while data saving stays on.
Enable or Disable Spell Check
On a OnePlus phone, Gboard runs two separate features: auto-correction and spell check. If spell check is active, typos get underlined instead of fixed automatically, which can be confusing when you expect immediate corrections. Turning it off stops the underlining without touching auto-correction.
Enable or Disable Wi-Fi
If Wi-Fi on your OnePlus phone keeps dropping, reconnecting slowly, or refuses to join a network at all, switching the radio off and back on often clears the stuck state. This matters most before downloading larger files, apps, or updates, since a shaky Wi-Fi connection can stall or fail those transfers. Knowing exactly where the toggle sits also helps when you want to force the phone onto mobile data instead.
Delete a Contact
Old numbers, duplicate entries, or contacts you no longer need can pile up in the Contacts app on your OnePlus phone. Deleting a contact removes every stored detail at once, including phone numbers, addresses, website entries, and birthdays. If that contact is linked to your Google Account, the deletion carries over there as well.