I have been following tech and smartphones for well over a decade. Long enough to see the early days of Android, launch of brilliant Google apps that now rest in a graveyard, and well-known brands becoming irrelevant. So when OnePlus announced on July 16, 2026, that it would exit the US and UK markets, I wasn't surprised. The signs have been there since the start of the year.
What I wasn't prepared for was the announcement that followed. It was clear that OxygenOS would be phased out, replaced with ColorOS on existing and upcoming OnePlus phones. That hit me personally when I realised a OnePlus phone will no longer boot into OxygenOS for the first time in over a decade. It feels like the end of a glorious era, and now it is time to say a proper goodbye to OxygenOS.
Before OxygenOS, Android Had a Problem
To understand why OxygenOS mattered on OnePlus phones, you have to go back to a time when Android was in its infancy. It was open-source, which meant any brand could reshape it into its own look and ship it on its phones. That led to slow, clunky, unoptimised software skins that lagged all the time.
Back then, Samsung was the biggest offender. Their old TouchWiz UI was feature-rich but functionally bankrupt. It would stutter, skip frames, and beg for a breather, even on flagship phones.
That reputation was why I, as a broke high schooler, wanted an iPhone. But I could not afford one, so I went with a Windows Phone. It was short on apps, but at least it did not lag like Android. Then, sometime in 2014, a YouTube video from MKBHD showed up on my feed about a phone called the OnePlus One.
A midrange phone with flagship specs and a custom ROM called CyanogenOS for software. It seemed too good to be true, and I wanted one badly.
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Its Origin Came From a Divorce
However, before I could get my hands on the device, CyanogenOS and OnePlus's friendship ended. A legal dispute with Micromax, which had its own exclusive deal with the ROM maker, blocked OnePlus from selling in India with Cyanogen's software. It was an ugly, complicated situation, but the outcome of it was OxygenOS: born out of a forced divorce and released to the world on March 27, 2015.
It stuck closer to stock Android with a few screen-off gestures, options to change quick settings, a file manager app, and that's it. Just simple add-ons and enough personality to feel like its own thing.
By then, I had managed to find a secondhand OnePlus One for cheap. The first thing I did was to flash OxygenOS. It was my first time doing something like this, and it made me feel like a hackerman. But honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. Yet somehow, I successfully flashed OxygenOS on my phone.
It looked cleaner, simpler, and smoother. The highest praise you could give to any Android phone at the time. It was running better than what Galaxy S5 users reported about their then-flagship. My entire preconception of Android as a platform collapsed in about ten minutes of scrolling through menus.
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The Golden Years of OxygenOS
By the time OnePlus 5 launched, OxygenOS had matured to the extent that it was common to see YouTube videos of speed tests between a OnePlus and an iPhone. And guess what? OnePlus would always win. Within years, when Android was considered a second behind iOS, it was competing toe-to-toe with Apple and beating it, while Samsung was still catching up with its software.
During these years, OxygenOS also stopped hugging stock Android and started doing its own thing. It introduced Gaming mode when gaming phones were not that ordinary and added Parallel Apps, which let you run two WhatsApp accounts side by side.
But the features I remember most are simpler ones. OxygenOS would let you change the OS accent colour. And it had a full pitch-black dark mode. Both features may sound small in 2026, but these minor additions were why OxygenOS ruined every other Android phone for me.
This is also when the XDA developer community and OxygenOS had the best relationship. Some of the ROM developers who had been building custom firmware for OnePlus phones on their own time were eventually hired by OnePlus itself to work on OxygenOS. It genuinely felt like the community was the core part of the company's identity, and the OS kept delivering on what people actually wanted.
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The Merger, and the Beginning of the End
In September 2021, OnePlus announced that it would be more deeply integrated into Oppo with OxygenOS and ColorOS sharing a unified codebase. Pete Lau, CEO of OnePlus, promised that the DNA of OxygenOS would remain clean, lightweight and bloatware-free.
This was the time I purchased my first OnePlus phone, the Nord 2, and it turned out to be the most controversial one. The midrange phone was the first victim of the codebase merger, and people started calling it the death of the brand, with OnePlus forums brimming with complaints.
I remember watching YouTube videos of people claiming it was not the same OnePlus, even one from Beebom itself. However, OnePlus quickly course-corrected and confirmed that they won't be switching to ColorOS and will keep OxygenOS and its identity intact.
And then, slowly, things got better. OxygenOS 13, 14, and 15. By OxygenOS 16, which shipped with the OnePlus 15 and brought Live Space, smoother animations, and a set of genuinely well-implemented OnePlus AI features.
We covered the best OxygenOS 16 features and meant every word. The irony is that OxygenOS 16 is the strongest version of its software to date, and it will be the last one.
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Not Just Another Android Skin
Over the years, I have heard many arguments from people saying it is just a software skin. Why does it matter?
Yes, technically. But software is also the entire experience of using your phone. The reason brands like Yu Yutopia, which ran CyanogenOS, failed to stick around despite competing with the OnePlus 2 in specs and price. Just because of its buggy software experience. Lenovo's Zuk series had the same problem.
Even Samsung had to get its software and update policy fixed later down the line. And I am not trying to discredit ColorOS. It had come a long way since its iOS-look-alike days, and I have given it credit in my Find X9 Pro review. But ColorOS is not OxygenOS.
Maybe it is the decade I have spent with OxygenOS that makes it hit differently. Maybe my next OnePlus phone won't boot into OxygenOS. Either way, my grief is real. And I think it is justified. OxygenOS was an important chapter in Android's history, and it deserved a better ending than being quietly crumbled into non-existence.
Goodbye, OxygenOS. You will be missed.
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