OnePlus has released its latest community builds for OnePlus 3 and OnePlus X which the company claims brings in a lot of features. For those who don’t know, OnePlus Community Builds are forum exclusive updates for the members for testing and feedback. Basically, the changes OnePlus intends to make it in the final build is first released and tested in the community build.
According to some of the members of the forum, OnePlus 3’s community build comes with the name OxygenOS 3.5.2 and OnePlus X’s comes as Build 3.1.1. Compared to the 3.5.1, this build is said to bring updates like improved incoming call notification, enhanced battery saver features, improved dialer, an all-new Night mode for further battery saving. The build 3.5.2 weighs around 1.3 GB which is considered heavy for an OTA update.
On the other hand, OnePlus X’s 3.1.1 build brings in the ability to move apps to SD card, improved touch screen and some other bug fixes.
In order to get the community builds OTA update, first you need to flash the previous community builds. Else, you can ADB sideload the OTA but that would wipe your data so make sure you back up your data first. While if you are a rooted user then you must be careful as some of the forum members have reported a lot of issues regarding the TWRP. To detail out, some users claim that they lost TWRP access after the update and also can’t flash it over again after the update.
Keeping that aside, only attempt to sideload or install the community builds if you have working knowledge of ADB and Fastboot.
Recently, OnePlus also announced that it will merge OxygenOS and HydrogenOS in near future for better update schedule. If you don’t know, HydrogenOS is China exclusive OS for OnePlus devices. Nevertheless, it’s good to see OnePlus taking steps to improve updates with both testing community builds beforehand and also merging its two not so same Operating Systems.