OxygenOS 11 bug on OnePlus 6/6T makes WhatsApp unusable

By Harish Jonnalagadda
published

OnePlus 6 and 6T 2020 review
OnePlus 6 and 6T 2020 review (Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • An OxygenOS 11 bug is affecting WhatsApp on the OnePlus 6 and 6T.
  • The bug blocks media from being downloaded, and a reset doesn't solve the issue.
  • OnePlus hasn't detailed when a fix will be available.

The Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 stable build launched nearly a year ago, and it made its way to the best OnePlus phones, including the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 7, and the Nord series. OnePlus also said it would roll out the update to the OnePlus 6 and 6T, making Android 11 the third platform update for these phones.

It took a long time as OnePlus had to work through a litany of issues, but the OxygenOS 11 stable build is now making its way to the OnePlus 6 and 6T. While that's welcome news, the build has a particular bug that makes WhatsApp unusable. After switching to OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 6T, a family member was unable to download any media from WhatsApp — including older photos and videos that are already stored on the phone — so I asked them to back up to Google Drive, uninstall the app, and start over.

But that wasn't possible; when they tried to get the chat history backed up to Drive, it failed. So I suggested they reset anyway and use the last local backup from three days ago. This didn't solve the issue, as they're unable to download media even after starting from scratch. Turns out this is a known issue in OxygenOS 11 (opens in new tab) on the OnePlus 6 and 6T, and based on several forums threads, the issue started a few weeks ago as more and more devices switched over to the OxygenOS 11 stable channel.

The fact that a core feature of WhatsApp has been broken on these devices for such a long time is incredulous, and OnePlus needs to address this issue. There's no timeline for a fix at the moment, but I reached out to OnePlus and will update the post once I know more.

Harish Jonnalagadda
Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.

10 Comments
  • In addition to the whatsapp problem, I have a spotify/equalizer problem. It has vanished from spotify settings. I can access it from the phone settings but it doesn't work every time. Sometimes it says I'd need to connect headphones to access the "audio tuner". Also, when it was accessible from spotify there was a bass boost feature. So this new update has made two things I use my phone the most for almost unusable: communicating and listening to music. Could you shed some light on this issue as well?
  • Hi there .. any update from One plus or your last connect?
  • I just fixed mine by myself this morning
  • Still no update on this? WhatsApp is my (and many of my clients / friends and family's) go-to platform - this is insane. Have tried as many of the forum suggestions as I can find and still nothing, looks likely that I have lost a bunch of photos / videos of UK family etc. Crazy lack of speed of response from OnePlus
  • Finally rectified my own this morning on my OnePlus 6.
  • How did you rectified it?
  • I noticed that after I upgraded to oxygen 11.1.1 that my WhatsApp no longer functions effectively especially with the media, 🙁😕☹️can't send, can't download what has been sent, can't view status and all the rest.🥱🥱🥱 But finally this morning, I fixed it myself with the following tips🙂🙂🙂
    ...
    1. Go to file manager
    2. Click on storage
    3. Click on internal storage
    4. Scroll on the way down to WhatsApp file
    5. Click and hold to highlight it, then press cut (ready for pasting)
    6. Still in the internal storage, come paste it under the file android
    7. Restart your phone and your WhatsApp will be good to go.😄😄💃💃💃 These simple step is all I did to restore my WhatsApp working again as before.👍👍👍
  • Hey Rachiekings, thanks a bunch !!! This worked for me too. Thanks for sharing.
  • Thank you very much for such an easy solution, it works!
  • Hello there, I have experienced this WhatsApp problem on OnePlus Nord, I have tried everything like uninstalling WA/ clear cache etc. but nothing helped. The only thing that finaly helped was rollback to Android 10. You can do rollback just with phone connected to WiFi, there is no need to use PC and USB cable. Google it, and you will find older Android version for this phone, there are also guides how to do it on YouTube. As far as I know, this is only workaround that really works at this time. I hope that OnePlus is working on correction of this major issue.