OnePlus 8 OxygenOS 11 Beta Wipes User Data, Fix Sort Of Available

For a while, it seemed that the dreaded OnePlus launch curse was finally gone for good but while the OnePlus 8T remains unscathed, its predecessor might be the one suffering from it instead. The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro phones on the Open Beta channel recently received what was erroneously labeled as a stable OxygenOS 11.0.1.1 update. Beyond just a typo, however, the update actually ended up wiping beta testers' phones clean, and OnePlus' "fix" saves only a small number of those affected by this bug.

It was definitely surprising that a stable update would be rolled out to those on a beta testing track but that's exactly what OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro owners got. After unwittingly installing the update and rebooting their phone, they were surprised to discover that their phone's data was all gone as if it put the device back into its factory state. As expected, users were up in arms about it.

OnePlus pulled the update but not after it already had done some damage. It also took them a while to offer a slight fix in the form of an APK that has to be sideloaded after the update has been accidentally installed. Unfortunately, this fix has to be applied before the phone reboots otherwise it will already be too late.

That fix won't save anyone who already lost their data, especially for those whose phones installed the update overnight and rebooted automatically. Granted, beta testers do run the risk of getting bad updates so it's still a good thing to do anyway. The fact that the APK "fix" is being offered via a Google Drive link instead of an official OnePlus resource is also raising some eyebrows.

OnePlus has yet to explain what happened, presuming it actually feels the need to go into detail about it. Given how OxygenOS 11 itself, with its new user experience, has already caused some controversy, this mishandling of an Open Beta problem almost adds insult to injury.