Not too long ago, OnePlus released the third open beta for the 8 and 8 Pro, making various bug fixes for Ambient Display and Zen Mode and making Canvas compatible with the new Always-On Ambient Display. Now a bug has appeared which removes user data from some people who have joined the beta program. It seems that some owners of 8 and 8 Pro received the stable version of Oxygen OS instead of Open Beta 3 resulting in data loss.

If you see the Oxygen OS 11.0.1.1 update pending instead of the open beta but haven’t restarted your phone yet to install it, there is a workaround: you can get a KeepData app specially developed that prevents you from losing your files, available on the OnePlus Forum and Mirror APK. Install it, run the application and click on the “KEEP DATA” button. Even after you have followed this procedure, OnePlus still recommends that you back up essential data to another device or to the cloud before rebooting to update. A full backup via OnePlus Switch is also strongly encouraged.

If you are already using a beta version, verify that it is the open beta that you receive via OTA and not the stable version of Oxygen OS 11.0.1.1. If you want to switch from stable to beta despite this stroke of luck, you can follow the instructions here. Open Beta 3 downloads are also available on the OnePlus website for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.