How to Manually Install Oxygen OS 4.0 on the OnePlus 3 with Root

You can follow these steps to install the Oxygen OS 4.0 update on the OnePlus 3 (with root) without losing any of your personal data.

OnePlus recently launched the first stable build of Oxygen OS 4.0 (also known as OxygenOS 4.0) for both the OnePlus 3 as well as the OnePlus 3T. They’ve been beta testing this update for at least a month, and now a stable version is ready for prime time. I installed this update over the holiday weekend and haven’t had any issues with it whatsoever.

The introductory sentence here says this guide is for those who are rooted, but you don’t have to have root access in order to do this.

You will, however, have to have TWRP as your custom recovery installed. I don’t know many who are running TWRP without root access, but I imagine there are at least some out there. This is similar to what I have described in the past, and it is also known as the ‘dirty flash’ method. Since we are flashing the full ROM .ZIP file with this method, you can be on any other stable version of Oxygen OS that you want to be on (and you will not lose any of your data).

If you don’t have TWRP or root installed, and you just want to install the regular OTA update, you can follow this guide to manually sideload the Oxygen OS 4.0 OTA update to your device.

Note – I’m seeing reports from some people who are saying their password doesn’t work in TWRP, or that they’ve never used one, but are now asked to enter one. If this is the case for you, try using the password “default_password” (without the quotation marks).

Install Oxygen OS 4.0 on the OnePlus 3

1. Create a Nandroid backup of the OnePlus 3
2. Download the full Oxygen OS 4.0 ROM to the OnePlus 3
3. Download the latest beta of SuperSU to the OnePlus 3
4. Download the modified version of TWRP to the OnePlus 3
5. Boot the OnePlus 3 into Recovery Mode
6. Tap on the Install button
7. Tap on the Install Image button
8. Browse to and tap on the modified TWRP .IMG file
9. Tap on the Recovery option
10. Swipe the white arrows to the right to install
11. Tap on the Home button after it has installed
12. Tap on the Reboot button
13. Tap on the Recovery button
14. Wait until the OnePlus 3 boots back into TWRP
15. Tap on the Install button
16. Tap on the 1.4GB Oxygen OS 4.0 .ZIP file
17. Tap on the Add More Zips button (optional)
18. Tap on the SuperSU .ZIP file (optional)
19. Swipe the white arrows to the right to install
20. Tap on the Reboot System button after they are installed

Explanation

As always, anytime you made a major change to your phone, I feel it’s best that you create Nandroid backup ahead of time. If you have a recent one already, or don’t mind restoring from the latest one you have, then you can skip this step if you would like to. You’ll then want to download the Oxygen OS 4.0 ZIP file, the SuperSU ZIP file, and the TWRP IMG file to your OnePlus 3 ahead of time as well.

From here, go ahead and boot into Recovery Mode (which should be TWRP), and install the modified version of TWRP. To do this, tap on the Install button and then tap on the Install Image button that you see toward the bottom right. You’ll want to make sure you tap on the Recovery option here, and then you can swipe the white arrows to the right to install. From here, tap on the Home button to go back to the main menu, and then tap on Reboot so that you can tap on Recovery.

This will reboot the OnePlus 3 and take you back into TWRP, except this time you’ll be using the modified version of TWRP. Now you can tap on the Install button and browse to where you have the ROM and SuperSU ZIP files located. Tap on the Oxygen OS 4.0 ROM first, then tap on the Add More Zips button. You can then tap on the SuperSU ZIP file and that will create a queue to install Oxygen OS 4.0 first, and then root the firmware.

It can take a minute or two to complete the installation, so just be patient. Once done, tap on the Reboot System button that appears toward the bottom right of the screen. This will reboot the OnePlus 3 and you should start to go through the boot sequence. During this first boot, you’ll notice the OnePlus 3 reboots and it starts to go through the boot sequence again. This is normal since you have just rooted the firmware.

Just be patient again and you should make it back into Android during the second boot cycle. If you see the phone is rebooting 3+ times here, or that it is stuck at a boot animation screen for 10+ minutes, then something may have gone wrong and you should restore from your Nandroid backup.