OxygenOS: Good news if you own a OnePlus Nord 4 or Nord 5 — OnePlus has started pushing the stable OxygenOS 16.0.1 update to both phones. I updated two units side-by-side and tested everything so you don’t have to. Below is a clear, user-friendly walkthrough of the new features, UI changes, AI additions, and a few things that differ between the Nord 4 and Nord 5.
Which builds are shipping and how to get them
Both phones receive Android 16 with the November 1, 2025 security patch. In my test:
- Nord 4: OxygenOS 16.0.1.xxx (update ~3.56 GB)
- Nord 5: OxygenOS 16.0.1.xxx (update ~3.47 GB)
If you haven’t seen the update yet, go to Settings → About → three dots → Beta program / Release Candidate — OnePlus sometimes releases RC builds to a limited audience before wider rollout. RC in this context is a stable-style release distributed earlier to catch last-minute issues.
First impressions: animations, welcome screen & charging
A few small but visible things stand out immediately after installing:
- The Nord 5 shows the new OxygenOS 16 welcome screen; the Nord 4 I tested did not.
- Charging animations are not identical to OnePlus flagship phones. You’ll get the new fingerprint ring animation on both devices, but the full flagship charging animation is missing on both Nord models.
- Overall system animations are very smooth — scrolling, opening/closing folders, widgets and settings feel buttery even on the Nord series.
New preinstalled apps & UI touches
After upgrading you’ll notice a couple of added apps and updated system apps:
- Compass and an updated Calculator (with frosted-glass look, glow effects and a small Easter egg when you type “=”).
- Gaming Assistant gets a refreshed UI.
- Frosted-glass visual elements now appear across the lock screen, widgets and some home-screen surfaces for a more premium feel.
Customization: themes, wallpaper colors, fonts and icons
OxygenOS 16 brings a richer theme engine to the Nord series:
- Flux theme and multiple live wallpapers are available by default. You can resize clock size on the lock screen and add widgets like weather, steps and quick controls.
- Full-screen AOD exists, but currently it only shows for 10 seconds (you can’t keep it on all day).
- A neat addition: you can add custom text over wallpapers — or use the AI to auto-generate text that fits your wallpaper (requires installing an AI plug-in).
- New font: OnePlus Sheriff is included.
- Icon pack (Flux) now lets third-party apps adapt to the wallpaper color — app icons will match your theme automatically.
- You can resize app icons, add app shortcuts, and rename folders. Folder layouts also have multiple grid options so you can show one large app with smaller app tiles around it.
Widgets & stacks: more flexibility
A useful tweak — you can now stack widgets (stacked widgets) using third-party widgets as well, creating compact, swipeable widget stacks. The widget picker is better organized and the widgets area has improved categorization and search.
Control center, quick tiles & notification panel
Biggest control center changes:
- A fresh split control center layout is available with easier tile editing.
- Tiles support multicolor by default; you can switch to follow system color or pick single-color tiles.
- Tiles are now draggable into larger tile slots for quick reorganization.
- Notification panel and media player styling got tweaks and improved smart sidebar animation (it pops from top-to-bottom now, smoother than before).
Photos, Camera and Video tools
The camera and gallery apps received meaningful updates:
- Document scanner now supports downloadable plugins with features like unblur, remove flare, and remove shadows.
- The Photos app UI is overhauled — bottom navigation with Albums / Photos and a richer edit workflow.
- From Live Photos you can export stills or convert to slow motion.
- AI editor with AI Relight (reduces shadows) is available on the Nord 5 — this specific AI relight was not present on my Nord 4 test unit.
- Auto-straighten crop is present on both devices — the AI will straighten tilted photos automatically.
- Built-in video editor inside Photos allows trimming, adding music, filters and export settings. Important: Nord 5 supports up to 4K @ 120 fps export, while Nord 4 maxes out at 4K @ 60 fps.
AI features, Mindspace & Gemini
OnePlus brings several AI tools to the Nord lineup:
- Mindspace app improvements (ask questions, pull up relevant info). However, Google Gemini integration is not available on either Nord 4 or Nord 5 at this time.
- AI Search now works inside Settings — you can type natural questions like “my eyes are hurting” and get contextual suggestions.
- AI Writer is included (plugin-based): it can rewrite your posts, change tone, adjust length, and add emojis once you install the required plug-ins.
- AI translate and voice tools continue to be available, plus a variety of assistant features hidden under the “Show more” apps folder on first-run.
Live Alert, Recorder & Transcription
- Live Alert now supports multiple apps, including YouTube Music and other streaming services — you’ll get improved on-screen alerts for playing media.
- Recorder receives better noise reduction — the recorder will try to reduce background noise automatically for clearer human voice.
- Live transcription is not supported in real-time on these Nord models, but you can transcribe recordings later.
System tweaks: gestures, smart network & device sharing
- New predictive back gesture (swipe animation) provides a smoother “peek” of the previous app during back swipes.
- Smart Network Engine appears in network settings (promises browsing/gaming lag optimizations on some OnePlus models). It may not be fully active on Nord series yet.
- Device connection has been upgraded: you can now share files more easily between OnePlus devices and even with iPhones using O Connect (iPhone needs the companion app).
- Dark mode behavior remains largely the same (enhanced/medium/light options still available).
Battery & Gaming Dashboard
- Battery page is redesigned — it now focuses on the last 24 hours usage stats rather than “since last full charge.”
- Gaming Dashboard adds pro-gamer options (hyper frame rate, resolution, touch response) and a new Footstep Sound Booster to amplify subtle in-game audio cues — but this booster is present on the Nord 5 test unit and missing on Nord 4 in my tests.
- Bypass charging (protects battery health during certain scenarios) is available.
What’s missing or device-dependent?
- Gemini integration: not present on either Nord 4 or Nord 5.
- AI Relight: available on Nord 5, not on Nord 4.
- Footstep Sound Booster: Nord 5 has it, Nord 4 does not.
- Export video higher frame rates: Nord 5 (4K120) vs Nord 4 (4K60).
Final thoughts — should you update?
Yes — OxygenOS 16.0.1 brings a polished visual refresh, lots of customization, improved widgets, useful photo/video tools, and meaningful AI features to the Nord 4 and Nord 5. Performance and animations feel smoother across the UI. Keep in mind a few features are hardware-dependent, so Nord 5 gets slightly more AI/camera export options than Nord 4.
If you have questions about any specific feature or want a short video walkthrough of one of these changes, drop your question in the comments and I’ll test it live. This is Ashoke — signing off. See you in the next one!