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Oppo

Guides for Oppo A38

406 guides

Calls & Messages2

Turn On/Off Call Barring

If certain calls still get through even though you set up barring, or international calls stay blocked after you land back home, the wrong barring option is probably still active on your Oppo. Call barring works per call type, so outgoing calls, outgoing international calls, roaming calls and incoming calls each have their own separate switch. On dual-SIM devices this gets confusing fast, since barring is configured per SIM card.

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Battery & Power2

Turn High Performance Mode On or Off

If your Oppo phone drains battery fast or feels hot during gaming, High Performance Mode might already be active in the background. This setting disables every energy-saving feature to push maximum speed, which trades battery life and temperature for smoother performance.

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Other2

Turn Glide Typing On or Off

Typing every letter by hand feels unnecessary when Gboard can turn a single finger swipe across the keyboard into a full word. On some Oppo phones, Glide typing stays switched off by default, so swipe gestures do nothing and the keyboard falls back to individual key taps. Whether you want faster input or need to stop an accidental swipe trigger, the setting sits hidden inside the keyboard menu.

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Security & Privacy2

Add Trusted Devices for Smart Lock

If your Oppo phone still asks for a PIN even though your smartwatch or Bluetooth headset is connected, Smart Lock likely does not have that device listed as trusted yet. Trusted devices keep the phone unlocked automatically as long as the Bluetooth connection to a paired accessory like a fitness tracker, car handsfree, or headphones stays active. Pairing alone is not enough - the accessory has to be added to the trusted list before automatic unlock kicks in.

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Security & Privacy

Change Privacy Password

Switching from a PIN to a pattern for your Oppo privacy password, or just unsure which type you originally picked? The privacy password guards hidden files and cloned apps separately from your screen lock, so updating it means confirming the current one before you can set a new type.

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Notifications & Focus

Set Sound and Vibration for Calendar Reminders

When a calendar reminder pops up on your Oppo phone, it usually plays the same ringtone and vibration pattern as every other notification. That makes it hard to tell at a glance whether an alert came from Calendar or from a chat app. You can give Calendar reminders their own tone and vibration so they stand out.

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Notifications & Focus2

Turn Off Notifications for a Single App

If one chatty app keeps flooding your lock screen while everything else stays quiet, a blanket notification toggle wont fix it. On ColorOS you can allow or block alerts per app instead of turning notifications off system-wide.

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Calls & Messages2

Add Members to a Contact Group

Creating a contact group on your Oppo phone does not lock the member list. If you forgot someone or need to add a person later, the group only updates once you open it again and confirm the new members through the add-contacts screen. Skipping that confirmation step leaves the group unchanged even though it looked like the contact was added.

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Calls & Messages2

Change Contacts Name Format (First/Last Name Order)

If your contacts list shows first name before last name and you need it reversed, the sort order comes from a setting inside the Contacts app, not your phone's system settings. This affects how names appear in calls, messages, and the contacts list alike.

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Calls & Messages2

Clear the Entire Call Log

If your Oppo call list keeps piling up with old numbers, missed calls, and duplicate entries, finding a recent call becomes harder every week. Since the Call history screen mixes calls and messages together, a full log can make it tricky to spot what actually matters. Clearing it out gives you a clean list again without touching your saved contacts.

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Notifications & Focus2

Allow Repeated Calls in Do Not Disturb

Urgent calls from the same number can go straight to silence when Do Not Disturb is active on your Oppo phone. ColorOS has a built-in exception that lets a second call within three minutes ring through, but it stays switched off until you turn it on yourself. Without it, every call gets muted the same way, no matter how often someone tries to reach you.

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Security & Privacy2

Turn Google Play Protect On or Off

If Google Play Protect keeps blocking an app you trust or throws a warning notification every time you install something, the built-in scanner is doing its job a bit too aggressively. On Oppo phones this security check runs in the background by default and can interfere with sideloaded apps or apps from outside the Play Store. Turning the scan off, or back on, changes how much control Android has over what runs on your device.

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Notifications & Focus2

Set a Custom Notification Sound

If every notification on your Oppo plays the same generic chime, the built-in sound list is probably too limited for you. Sound settings on ColorOS include a Select from files option that scans your phone's storage for compatible audio automatically. That means you can assign your own MP3 as a notification tone instead of picking from the default set.

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Apps & Installation2

Allow Display Over Other Apps

When Messenger, Facebook chat heads or a call app refuse to pop up on top of other apps, the floating windows permission on your Oppo phone is usually switched off. Without this permission the app can only run in the foreground and loses its quick-access overlay. This affects chat bubbles, screen recorders and any tool that needs to draw over your current screen.

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Accessibility2

Enable High Contrast Text

Small system fonts on Oppo phones can be hard to read in bright light or for users with low vision. The 'High contrast text' option in Accessibility boosts contrast between letters and background without changing the actual font size. If the toggle stays hidden, it usually sits inside a submenu that is easy to overlook.

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Security & Privacy

Enable App Lock

Anyone who picks up your unlocked Oppo phone can open banking apps, chats, or your gallery without another prompt. Coloros includes an app lock feature that adds a separate privacy password in front of individual apps, but it stays switched off until you activate it. Without this extra layer, sensitive data stays only one tap away.

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Photo, Video & Media2

Turn Mono Audio On or Off

If you only wear one earbud or rely on a single-ear headset, Oppo's default stereo playback can cause you to miss dialogue, notification tones, or background sounds that are mixed to the other channel. This shows up during calls, videos, and games where audio cues are split left and right. Mono audio fixes this by merging both channels into one identical signal.

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Language & Input2

Turn On or Off the Keyboard Suggestion Strip

If a row of word suggestions keeps popping up above the keyboard while you type, that is the suggestion strip built into Gboard. Oppo phones ship with this bar switched on by default, and tapping a suggested word drops it straight into your text. If the constant suggestions distract you or make typing feel cluttered, you can turn the strip off in the keyboard settings.

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Calls & Messages2

Make a Phone Call

Switching between the Phone app and Contacts can be confusing when you just want to dial a number fast on your Oppo device. New users often do not realize there are several ways to start a call, and dual-SIM devices add an extra step that trips people up. This guide walks through the fastest route to get a call connected.

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Network & Connectivity2

Add a Wi-Fi Network Manually

If a Wi-Fi network does not show up in the list of available connections, you cannot just tap and connect like usual. This happens when a router hides its SSID broadcast or when the signal is weak enough that Android drops it from the scan results. To connect anyway, you need the exact network name and, if the router uses one, the correct password.

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Storage & Backup2

Activate a Downloaded Keyboard

After installing a new keyboard app on your Oppo phone, the system keeps typing with the default keyboard instead. ColorOS keeps every input method, including downloaded keyboards and voice typing, switched off until you turn it on yourself in one central menu. Without that extra step, the new keyboard app sits on your home screen but never appears when you tap a text field.

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Network & Connectivity2

Turn Data Roaming On or Off

If your Oppo phone loses mobile data the moment you leave your home network, data roaming is probably switched off. Abroad, mobile data and sometimes calls only keep working once roaming is enabled for the active SIM. Outside the EU in particular, this setting can trigger noticeable extra charges from your carrier.

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Calls & Messages2

Enable Auto Answer for Incoming Calls

If you rely on a Bluetooth headset while driving or working, missed calls because you could not reach the display in time are a common frustration on Oppo phones. Auto answer lets the phone pick up incoming calls on its own once a headset or headphones are connected. You can also set a short delay before the call gets accepted, so it does not pick up too abruptly.

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Other2

Turn Usage & Diagnostics On or Off

If your Oppo phone keeps sending usage and diagnostic data to Google without a clear reason, the toggle for it sits deep inside the privacy menu and gets overlooked easily. This data includes device performance details, crash reports and app usage patterns, even though Oppo does not fully disclose everything that gets collected. Turning the option off stops the automatic sharing, but you also lose the small contribution to future Android stability fixes.

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