We recently received our OnePlus 6T here at Review Hub only to find that it’s running the Chinese Hydrogen OS. There are pros and cons to importing yourself the OnePlus 6T, the main pro being some big savings!
Related: OnePlus 7 Pro Hydrogen to OnePlus 7 Pro Oxygen Guide.
The downside? If you choose a mainland China OP6T, then your warranty will only cover you in mainland China.
But if you do find yourself with a OnePlus 6T and are thinking “what the heck is this Hydrogen OS that’s pre-installed? Why are there lots of Chinese apps? And how do you get the PlayStore?” Then you’re in the right place!
You can easily turn your OnePlus Hydrogen OS phone into a OnePlus Oxygen OS phone in around 5 minutes. It’s hassle-free and done via the official OnePlus website.
Step-by-step Guide: OnePlus Hydrogen OS to OnePlus Oxygen OS
Note: This will delete all your data, so be sure to backup first.
- Download the Official OnePlus 6T Oxygen ROM from OnePlus.com
- Move the downloaded Zip file to the root directory.
- Downloads > Select File > Options Move > Options Show Internal Storage > Top Left ‘One Plus’ root > Move
- Next, we need to enable developer mode & turn on advanced reboot.
- Settings > About Phone > Tap Built Number 6 Times
- Settings > System > Developer Options > Turn ‘on’ advanced reboot
- Now we’ll install the OnePlus Oxygen Download.
- System Updates > Top Right Cog > Local Upgrade > Select Package > Install
- Hold down the power button & select ‘Recovery’.
- Choose to wipe data and cache and reboot.
That’s it! Your phone is a brand new OnePlus Oxygen OS phone!
Related: The best OnePlus 6T Competition!
We tested this ourselves with a mainland China OnePlus 6T and it worked a dream! You’ll now have access to the Google Play, Chrome, Duo, Drive, Maps, Gmail, Google Pay, Notes and YouTube already. All pre-installed and ready to use! Enjoy!
Let us know in the comments how it went! : )
Hope this OnePlus Hydrogen OS to Oxygen OS guide helped you and if you have any questions? Just post below : )
Hi James, this method doesn’t work for me and other users : when I chose “Local Upgrade > Select Package”, I have this message : “The version of your selected package is lower than of the current system. To avoid booting up failure, downgrading is not allowed” :( do you a solution ? thanks
Hi Ben,
Thanks for the update. Which OnePlus phone model and Version of Hydrogen OS are you currently running?
When I did the update on the 5th, it updated the Hydrogen to the latest version and then I downloaded the latest Oxygen version from OnePlus.com. Worked first time.
Seems like there has been update on the Hydrogen OS since then.
Maybe if you make sure automatic updates are turned off in the developer settings and then wait for Oxygen OS to update to a newer version?
As it’s just been released I imagine it’ll only be a few weeks tops with the bug fixes / enhancements.
No problem, glad it worked for you! : )
After i follow your instruction
My oneplus 6t mclaren don’t want to turn on
Any suggestion?
Hi Ardi,
We haven’t tested with the McLaren version. What version of Hydrogen were you on before the update? Did you make sure to download the McLaren version of the software from OnePlus’ website?
Hi, have you tried this method with OP7 Pro? im living in China, wanna get my hands on it but I dont like Hydrogen OS, I did this to my OP6 and I would like to know if the same procedure might work with the newer phone, thanks!
Hey Yussuan,
Thank for your question. We haven’t got our hands-on the OP7 Pro yet. Maybe someone else in the comments will be able to update and help you with changing the OnePlus 7 Pro IS from Hydrogen to Oxygen though : )
ok, thanks a lot!
It actually worked!!! Thanks a ton guys.
I tried to download the latest one i got the hydrogen os 9.0.11 i wanna come back to oxygen os can someone help me please
Says download failed :'(((((
I keep getting the notification:
System update installation failed.
This version has no changelog