View Messages Stored on SIM Card
Old text messages that arrived before you switched phones often sit only on the SIM card, not in the main inbox of the messaging app. On Coloros this SIM storage is hidden by default, so those messages look like they vanished. A separate settings menu on Oppo phones brings them back into view.
Change Lock Screen Wallpaper
If your lock screen keeps showing the same picture as your home screen, ColorOS is applying wallpaper changes to both screens by default. This happens with your own photos, standard wallpapers, and live wallpapers alike. You need to pick the target screen manually to keep the two separate.
Import Contacts from a vCard File
Switching to an Oppo phone often means your old contacts sit in a vCard file or on another device, and there is no simple sync button for that. Coloros only lets you import a full .vcf file or pull contacts directly from another phone via Bluetooth, without any option to pick single entries from the list. If you only need a handful of numbers, you end up with everything from the source file instead.
Allow Calls During Do Not Disturb
If Do Not Disturb is active on your Oppo phone, calls get silenced unless you add an exception. You can choose to let calls through from everyone, only from saved contacts, or from a handful of selected people. Missing this setting means important calls go straight to silence with no ring at all.
Turn Split Screen On or Off
If a three-finger swipe up does nothing on your Oppo phone, split screen mode might be switched off in the background. ColorOS ships with the feature active out of the box, but the gesture only works while split screen itself stays enabled in the settings.
Turn Screen Rotation On or Off
If your Oppo screen refuses to switch to landscape when you turn the phone, or it flips around when you'd rather it stayed still, the Auto-rotate function is usually the cause. This setting depends on the built-in position sensor and can be changed either in the system settings or right from the quick settings panel. Some apps ignore this setting entirely and force their own orientation regardless of what you pick.
Show or Hide Password Characters While Typing
On Oppo phones, the last character you type into a password field briefly shows up on screen instead of staying hidden behind dots. That's handy for spotting typos, but it can expose your password if someone else is looking at your screen. Whether this happens depends on a single toggle buried in your security settings.
Uninstall an App via Settings
Long-pressing an app icon on your Oppo home screen and tapping Uninstall does not always work, especially if the shortcut sits inside a folder or has been removed from the home screen entirely. In that case the quick gesture method fails and you need a menu that lists every installed app regardless of where its icon lives. The App management section in Settings covers exactly that gap.
Create an Event in Calendar
The Calendar app on Oppo smartphones lets you create events, but also goals, reminders, and tasks from the same menu. Each entry type asks for different fields, so picking the wrong one can mean missing a location box, a due date, or a reminder toggle later.
Check for Software Updates Manually
If your Oppo phone hasn't picked up a new ColorOS version yet, waiting for the automatic background check can take days. The system only looks for firmware at set intervals, so a pending patch or security fix might sit unnoticed for a while. Triggering the check yourself confirms right away whether a new update is actually available.
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.
Expand RAM Using Internal Storage
If your Oppo phone slows down when you switch between several apps, the built-in RAM expansion feature might still be turned off. This function borrows free space from internal storage to act as extra RAM, but it only shows up if enough storage is free and your model supports it. Not every device offers the same expansion size, and the setting can be easy to miss in the menu.
Custom Ringtone for a Contact
If your Oppo phone plays the same generic ringtone no matter who calls, you can't tell an important contact from a random number without looking at the screen. ColorOS lets you swap in a custom sound for individual contacts instead of relying on the default tone. This works with your own audio files, not just the built-in ringtone list, and it stays independent from Focus or Do Not Disturb rules.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Set Data Usage Billing Cycle Start Date
If your Oppo phone always resets data usage tracking on the 1st of the month, but your carrier bills you on a different day, the numbers in your data usage stats never match your invoice. This mismatch comes from the mobile data limit settings, where the tracking start date is fixed by default. You can align it with your actual billing date instead.
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.
Access Scientific Calculator Functions
If the Calculator app on your Oppo phone only shows basic addition and multiplication, functions like sine, cosine and tangent seem to be missing entirely. Many users assume Coloros ships without a scientific mode, when it is actually built into the same app and just hidden from view. This becomes a problem the moment you need quick trigonometry or advanced math on the go.
Adjust Smart Sidebar Opacity
When the Smart Sidebar floating bar sits fully opaque on the edge of your screen, it can cover subtitles, icons, or app content behind it. On Coloros, the handle transparency is adjustable, so you can make it blend in during games or video playback instead of standing out. Left at the default level, many users find the handle too bold for everyday use.
Turn Overnight Auto-update On or Off
If your Oppo phone applies system updates without asking, overnight auto-update is likely active. It only installs updates while you are not using the device, between 2 and 5 AM, and only downloads them over WLAN. Turning it off keeps every update on hold until you approve it manually.
Change Alarm Volume
On Oppo phones running ColorOS, the alarm volume is one shared setting for all alarms, not something you adjust per individual alarm. If one alarm feels too quiet or too loud, you cannot fix it in isolation without affecting every other alarm you have set.
Delete an Alarm
If your Oppo phone keeps ringing at a time you no longer need, an old alarm is probably still sitting in the Clock app instead of being removed. Alarms pile up fast after schedule changes, trips, or one-off wake-up calls you forgot to clear. Removing them one by one or several at once keeps the alarm list from getting cluttered.