OxygenOS 16 fixes one of my biggest issues with OnePlus phones

In case you missed it, most Android manufacturers these days are trying to emulate the success of the iPhone. Two ways for brands to achieve that objective are to establish their own ecosystem or replicate iOS-like visual elements. On this topic, my colleague Rita L. Kouri recently wrote about the profound impact Apple’s design choices are having on Android brands.

While most Android purists may disagree, I’m glad that one of my favorite Android brands, OnePlus, is implementing some iOS-inspired features. One of my favorites lets you more easily control accessories, especially wireless earbuds. This addition comes with OnePlus’ new OxygenOS 16 interface, which was introduced in the OnePlus 13 late last month and is now rapidly spreading to many older or less premium devices (whereas the OnePlus 15 came out of the box with it).

In this post, I want to explain why OxygenOS’s improved controls for earbuds are among my favorite OxygenOS 16 features — and how it solves my biggest non-major problem with older firmware on OnePlus phones.

OnePlus has been selling AirPods-rivaling wireless earbuds for the past few years. I have used almost all of them from flagship to buds pro 3 For the most affordable Nord Buds. At about half the price of Samsung’s flagship pair, OnePlus’ premium offering comes with a great mix of great sound, excellent codec support, and a great fit. In addition to good hardware, the earbuds offer software-based enhancements, such as spatial audio and sound personalization features.

However, if there’s one aspect that always sticks out like a sore thumb for me, it’s the insane number of steps required to change basic settings like ANC mode. If you’ve used a pair of OnePlus earbuds, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, please allow me to elaborate.

If you wanted to change even the most basic settings for the OnePlus Buds, the only way – until recently – was to go to the Bluetooth menu in Settings. From there, you can select the specific pair of earbuds you want to change the settings for, and then tap “Earbud Function,” which then opens up space to mess around with the basic settings.

The number of steps may seem overwhelming. This will especially bother you if you have, or still use, a Samsung Galaxy or iPhone, both of which provide quick access to these settings.

For me, this has been one of the minor gripes so far with OnePlus devices and OxygenOS. This won’t stop me from buying a OnePlus phone, but it continues to bother me. Whenever I got a chance, I’ve also mentioned it to people from OnePlus’ OxygenOS and audio equipment teams.

And I’m glad they finally listened to me.

Thankfully, this problem is finally going away with OxygenOS 16. The new Android 16-based interface that OnePlus started rolling out in late October offers much easier options for configuring your OnePlus earbuds.

OxygenOS 16 introduces a new option to customize Bluetooth earbud settings right where you expect them – right in the quick settings panel. This latest addition is part of the broader Quick Settings overhaul that OxygenOS 16 brings, which includes options to move the brightness and volume sliders more freely, or add dedicated widgets for audio profiles (which becomes important as OnePlus moves away from the three-way alert slider).

With the freedom to play more freely with Quick Settings — though still a little locked down compared to Samsung’s upcoming One UI 8.5 update — I can now also add dedicated widgets to Quick Settings for various system apps. One of them is called “My Devices” and changes how OnePlus phones interact with accessories or other connected devices (via Device Connect).

This new Quick Settings widget is available in two sizes – occupying two or four columns – and has modern, minimalist icons that make buttons very easy to spot and tap. In the small, two-column option, I tap the earbuds icon, which redirects me to the dedicated earbuds page with quick controls to change the noise cancellation mode or check the battery. Here, as you’d expect, I can cycle between different ANC modes or choose the level of noise cancellation.

For more detailed settings, there’s an “Earbud Settings” shortcut at the bottom that takes me to a dedicated page that I could previously only access through Bluetooth settings, as I mentioned above.

The little addition’s shortcut apparently makes switching ANC modes much easier. And, by reducing the number of steps, the new shortcut seems less risky than the previous version.

At times when I still find the Quick Settings shortcut difficult, OnePlus offers another way to access these features: homescreen widgets. OxygenOS 16 introduces the option to add widgets to control connected devices, including earbuds.

These widgets can be used individually on each device or as a collective control center to get a summary of multiple devices. I prefer to use separate widgets because they let me control multiple connected pairs at once. Notably, it’s a step up from Samsung’s implementation, which only allows me to control the pair of earbuds currently in use.

With individual widgets, I can achieve the same things as shortcuts in quick settings – access battery and toggle between noise-cancellation modes. The widgets also display a clear image of the wireless earbuds, making them easy to distinguish if you use multiple widgets. And there’s a widget showing me a cluster of all the different apps connected to my OnePlus phone through various means. It’s not the same as the Apple ecosystem, but it’s a positive step in that direction.

I’m not too happy with the fact that these widgets can’t be resized, but they can be placed in the widget stack, for which OxygenOS 16 also adds support.

As I wrote above, OxygenOS 16’s My Devices feature serves a broader purpose than just letting me control the earphones, even though I think most users will rely on it for that.

As its name suggests, My Devices lets me easily access and manage other OnePlus devices connected to my OnePlus phone. These include audio devices or accessories, like the OnePlus Pad’s Pencil. This section also allows adding devices that use OnePlus’ cross-device control features. That means I can pair my OnePlus tablet and explore its file storage — or even connect my iPhone or PC, provided those devices are set up with OnePlus’ O+ Connect.

What’s interesting is that OnePlus hasn’t included the OnePlus Watch here, which seems like this is the second reason why the company isn’t keen on supporting its Wear OS devices (the first one is here). But that’s another rant for another time.

While OnePlus’s new quick settings and widget additions solve one of my biggest problems, I would like to see a few more issues addressed in a later update. For starters, the new Quick Settings customization options are currently only available when Notifications and Quick Settings are split into two pages, somewhat like the Control Center in iOS. If you go back to the traditional approach, features disappear, which is less than desirable.

Second, as I mentioned above, I would like OnePlus to add support for the OnePlus Watch 2 so that it’s easier to check its battery through the widget. This isn’t something I’d actively do, but I’d prefer to be reminded of it randomly rather than wait for the Watch to reach low battery before charging. And finally, the two-column widget in Quick Settings automatically shows the last device you interacted with. I would really like OnePlus to offer the option to pin favorites.

That said, I’m really happy that OnePlus is finally working on this change. Many of you may feel that this doesn’t require that much attention, especially since I can change the noise cancellation mode on the stem of the earbuds. I know! But that’s why I called it a “minor” inconvenience, not a major one. It’s a matter of preference, and it’s especially useful for me as I switch between different pairs of headphones OnePlus has sent me for testing over the years, each with different controls on the stems. Well, this is another task for OnePlus.

In the meantime, all I can do is appreciate the time the team has taken to refine the usability across my beloved OnePlus devices and I hope there’s more to come.