Oppo Color OS guide: Everything you need to know

If you have an Oppo phone, the software used on it is called Color OS. This is an Android skin – a proprietary software customization that goes beyond the standard Android. Oppo’s software also appears on Chinese OnePlus phones (Oppo and OnePlus are sister brands under the BBK banner). It previously appeared on Realme phones as well, but those phones now have a Realme user interface.

See also: Immerse yourself in Oppos Color OS 12

Oppo is one of the largest smartphone brands in the world, so its skin appears on millions of devices. If you’ve never used an Oppo phone, you might be wondering what it is like. Even if you already own one, you may want to learn more about it. Either way, you’ve come to the right place! We are going to give you a lot of useful information about the software here.

Publisher’s Note: This article will be updated starting October 2021. We will add / remove content as soon as Oppo announces more information about Color OS.

Oppos’s Android skin is very different from stock Android. Google’s Pixel UI, OnePlus’ Oxygen OS, and even Samsung’s One UI all retain the overall feel and look of Android throughout the operating system. However, Oppo leaves almost nothing untouched. It’s a very different experience.

As you’d expect, this makes Color OS a bit divisive. Some users really enjoy the colorful, cartoon-like feel and appreciate the wealth of features it offers. Others don’t like how Oppo is drastically changing Android and find it clunky and confusing.

See also: What is android

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide which side of the fence you land on.

Note that OnePlus’ Color OS and Oxygen OS will be merged in the future. This creates an as yet nameless uniform operating system that is displayed on all OnePlus and Oppo phones. For this article in its current form, however, we will focus solely on the unique version of Color OS that existed prior to this future merger.

The latest version of Color OS

Oppo has gotten pretty quick in providing updates to its smartphones. The company launches many phones around the world and some phones get more / faster updates than others. However slow or fast it happens, phones are getting updates.

As of right now, most of the Oppo phones released in the last year or so are based on the latest version of the software, which is Color OS 11. As the name suggests, it is based on Android 11 which launched in 2020 .

See the next section for steps to check your version number.

How to check your version and for updates using Color OS

If you don’t know what version of Color OS is on your Oppo or Chinese OnePlus device, this is an easy one to check. Conveniently, these steps also check whether a software update is available. Here are the steps:

1. Go to Android settings by finding the shortcut in your app drawer or notification bar.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and tap the Software update Section.
3. Your phone will automatically check for an update.
4. Once the verification is complete, you will be shown your current Color OS and Android version number. The information appears under the software logo.

If your software is up to date but you don’t have the latest version of Color OS, it means your phone hasn’t received the update yet. It is also possible that your phone is too old to receive new updates.

A brief history of Color OS

The first version of Color OS was released in September 2013. Oppo had previously released many Android smartphones, but the software on those devices didn’t have a proper title. It wasn’t a standard Android, but Oppo didn’t refer to it as a Color OS. Color OS 1.0 was based on Android 4 Jellybean.

Over the years, Oppo has launched new versions of its Android skin alongside new official versions of the operating system. In November 2019, the company made things pretty confusing by announcing that Color OS 6.7 would switch to Color OS 8. It even launched installable versions of this software. Eventually, the company abandoned this plan and switched to Color OS 7.

See also: The complete history of the Android operating system

To reduce confusion, the company announced in 2020 that it would use the same numbering scheme as mainline Android. Therefore, Color OS jumped from v7 to v11 with the introduction of Android 11. This year we will be launching Color OS 12 based on Android 12.

As mentioned earlier, Oppo’s Android skin also appeared on phones from the Realme sub-brand. However, in 2020 Realme stopped this practice and released its own skin known as the Realme UI.

What Color OS looks like

Here is a gallery of screenshots to give you an idea of ​​what to expect from Color OS.

Color OS’s best unique features

Every Android skin out there puts its own stamp on the software. Here are four things Color OS can do that most other skins can’t:

Translate three fingers

It’s easy to use Google Translate or Google Lens on your smartphone to convert text into your native language. However, to do this you need to pause your activity, open those apps, navigate to what you want to translate, and do it. However, with Color OS 11, you can simply swipe three fingers on the screen wherever you are. This will take a screenshot. Once that happens, just tap the translate button that appears and the text will be translated with the power of Google Lens. This can save you some time!

Transitions on the home screen

On most smartphones, the animations that appear when you slide across your home screens are pretty standard. However, with Color OS, you can customize this very easily. Scroll makes it appear as if you are rotating a scroll as you move on to the next screen. “Cube” makes it look like your home screens are panels in a big box and you’re moving from side to side. There are also other options like “Flip”, “Card” and “Tilt”. You have to try them all to find out which one is best for you.

Adjustments

Color OS offers a wealth of customization options. You can do basic things like changing your system-wide font, colors, sounds, and so on. However, you can also create your own system elements. For example, you can create your own ringtones by touching and swiping on a colorful controller (no music experience required). You can even use similar systems to create your own wallpapers and Always-On-Display (AOD) themes.

O relax

One app that is pre-installed on many Oppo phones is called O Relax. It offers white noise from different sources that you can play for a specific amount of time. Ocean waves, ambient noises from different world cities, rain storms and even synthetic creations such as “space travel” are present. Sure, you could download other apps that do this, but it’s nice that Oppo has this out of the box.

More information that may be of interest to you

That’s all you need to know about Oppos Color OS! Make sure to bookmark this page as we will update it if Oppo changes the Android skin.