After being put on blast for sneakily pre-installing Facebook apps and services on its phones, OnePlus has stopped this practice. The company’s new OnePlus Nord and 8/8 Pro smartphones will no longer come with the Facebook software pre-installed, allowing owners to remove it at their leisure.
OnePlus also announced that its OxygenOS 14 beta is now available for a limited number of users. The latest update to the OnePlus OS mainly focuses on improving user privacy, emphasizing keeping personal data private.
According to the company, OxygenOS 14 will be “optimized for folding screens” and work with around 95% of mainstream Android apps. The new software will let you run two apps side by side on the OnePlus Open’s inner and outer displays, and the OnePlus Alert Slider will still be present for quick switching between silent, priority, and alarm modes.
The new software will also add a Smart Suggestions feature that lets you glance at your cab’s arrival or food delivery status on the always-on display, lock screen, or notification shade. This goes ahead of Apple’s Live Activities in iOS, and OnePlus says it will be accessible on its foldable device.
Lastly, OnePlus’ Privacy Manager will let you control how much access you can access an app. The feature will allow you to grant full access, read-only, or no access to your files and folders. It will be available in the Utilities section of system settings, with a few options to toggle the feature on and off.
In addition to these changes, OnePlus has added some more general improvements. For example, you can now hide apps in your Secure Folder to keep them away from prying eyes. However, the names of hidden apps will still appear in your list of recent apps or specific Android settings. OnePlus also adds a ‘Parallel Apps’ option for its existing Facebook app, allowing you to run two separate accounts on your phone.
Other new features include viewing your WhatsApp messages in a separate chat window, and you can now choose whether or not you want to receive notifications for text conversations from the same thread. The company is also updating its Gallery application to improve security, and it has added a password feature that will require you to enter a secret code before opening the app.
The OnePlus Open will launch on October 19 in Europe and India, and it is expected to hit the US and other markets at some point in 2023. It will be a competitor for the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google’s Pixel Fold, which cost over $1,800 when purchased in the US. There’s no word yet on how much the OnePlus Open will cost when it launches globally. However, OnePlus is known for offering affordable flagship-level hardware and a clean Android experience that avoids needless gimmicks and bloatware.
