OnePlus halts OnePlus 8/8 Pro beta update that wiped users phones

OnePlus 8 Pro Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central

Update, November 09 (8:00 am ET): OnePlus has halted the latest beta OTA for the OnePlus 8 series after it was found that the OTA was causing data wipes on some devices.

What you need to know

An update to users on OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 3 has been performing full data wipes on some OnePlus 8/8 Pro devices.
OnePlus has confirmed that this is because some users are accidentally receiving a 'Stable' update over the Open Beta 3.
OnePlus is advising users to do a full backup and to check if the OTA is indeed an Open Beta.

OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 3 started rolling out to OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro devices almost two weeks ago.

However, based on recent community posts in the OnePlus forums, an OTA to a stable build of OxygenOS 11 from the OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 3 has been completely wiping away user data on some OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro devices. In a new stickied post, OnePlus has confirmed that the issue does exist and has provided an explanation.

It seems like some users are reporting receiving the Stable update over the Open Beta 3, leading to a full data wipe. This information was already shared with the software team so it can be checked and addressed. Meanwhile, if you receive an update OTA, please double-confirm if it's an Open Beta update. If it isn't, please DO NOT install it.

OxygenOS is available in three different channels including Closed Beta, Open Beta, and Stable. It seems that some users on the Open Beta channel have been accidentally receiving an update from the Stable channel, which has been erasing user data.

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According to the official confirmation, the OnePlus software team is already working on the issue, however, it is a bit puzzling why they're not temporarily pulling the OTA so it doesn't affect any more devices. We have reached out to the OnePlus team for further comment, but they have not responded yet.

Nonetheless, for now, OnePlus is advising users to perform full backups and to double-check the OTA descriptions on their devices to make sure they are receiving an Open Beta update. If not, users should not be installing the update.

Update, November 09 (8:00 am ET) — OnePlus halts beta OTA, apologizes to the community

In a forums post, OnePlus has confirmed that it halted the rollout of the OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 3 update:

On Friday, November 6, a stable software update ( 11.0.1.1) was inadvertently pushed out to a limited number of OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro devices running our Open Beta software. Some of these beta testers who rebooted their devices after installing the update reported a full data loss.

Immediately upon learning about this, we halted the roll-out of this update and provided a solution to those who had installed the update but hadn't yet rebooted their devices to ensure they would retain their data. These open beta users can install an APK file as instructed in the OnePlus Community (link below) and will be able to restart their devices without losing data.

We sincerely apologize to any of our beta testers who were impacted, and are actively working to improve this process in the future.

OnePlus 8 Pro

OnePlus phones may not be the affordable flagships as they once were, but they still offer a great bargain compared to other flagship phones. For $800, you can get a Snapdragon 865 SoC, 120Hz display, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.