OxygenOS 16 arrives in India: OnePlus unveils AI features, Fluid Cloud, and revamped design for flagship devices

New Delhi (India) October 17: OnePlus has unveiled the OxygenOS 16 in India. This new OS, OnePlus's very own customized version of Android 16, will roll out to OnePlus flagship devices with immediate effect. 

The company launched the OxygenOS 16 before its rumoured OnePlus 15 arrived. Users can expect at least some new features and overall different UI compared with OxygenOS 15.

AI Power with Plus Mind

‘OxygenOS 16’ is making things even more interesting on the AI front. One of the standout features is something called Plus Mind. It is introduced in the OnePlus 13S. Plus Mind essentially allows you to create a virtual memory sort of space where you can save photos and capture short voice notes up to one minute long.

Personalised Quick Settings

The most important update is to the quick tiles themselves. OxygenOS 16 will offer more personalisation as there is a feature to customize the quick settings panel. Though the second plank of the panel might have all elongated 2×1 tiles, at least it is ones that you can eliminate or shuffle around however you wish. Another thing is that OxygenOS 16 allows you to expand any tile of your choice. While most tiles work the same way when expanded, some, such as the flashlight, provide different functions depending on where you tap.

Fluid Cloud & Live Alerts

OnePlus’ Live Alerts, a tool that dynamically displays key information in a widget around the selfie camera in pill-shaped form. It is also receiving some updated functionality. Other than that, OxygenOS 16 introduces Android 16’s new Live Updates API — this allows it to gain updates from apps like Google Maps. 

Now, OnePlus has launched a feature known as Fluid Cloud which will allow its users to get quick information directly to their phone’s lock screen. This feature allows you to receive real-time notifications from apps like Spotify about music, sports news and food delivery services without having to unlock the phone.

Refined Look & Layout

What’s more, OnePlus has refreshed it too – there are softer edges on the app icons and a soft blur effect applies to the background. The theme that is used in quick settings and the app menu has been updated to be clearer & semi transparent. These changes are meant to make the phone not just look better, but be easier to use.

OxygenOS 16 also makes major changes to the home-screen customisation and layout. You can now reformat the home screen layout to 5×7, resize widgets without restrictions and expand app icons and app folders. Speaking of the app drawer, in OxygenOS 16, there’s a new “Categories” tab for your app drawer that automatically categorises apps.

Parallel Processing 2.0

OnePlus is referring to the technology as Parallel Processing 2.0. As for the animations, these are much improved over previous OS and very easy on the eye. This comprises organisations applications, navigation gestures and all interacting with the system.