The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T are both capable of Qualcomm’s aptX audio, but you need to follow these steps to actually enable it.
When most people think about Qualcomm, they only think about the CPUs and GPUs they design for their Snapdragon SoCs. However, the company works on a ton of other features that are embedded in these Snapdragon chips. These features tend to enhance the experience of our smartphones even if we don’t know it.
One of these extra features is something Qualcomm calls aptX audio and it enhances the audio experience over Bluetooth devices.
Since the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T don’t have paid licenses from OnePlus for this aptX technology, this feature is disabled. But in fact, the feature is included right in the Bluetooth stack. We only need the proprietary drivers installed in order to take advantage of this functionality. Thankfully, an XDA member has been able to find these drivers and has packaged them in a nice little .ZIP file for us to easily install within TWRP.
Note – You will need to unlock the bootloader of the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T in order to install this mod. You’ll also need to have TWRP installed one the OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T so that you can flash the mod onto your device. You should also create a Nandroid backup of the OnePlus 3 before installing this mod just in case it isn’t compatible with your device.
Enable the OnePlus 3 aptX Codec
- Download the aptX .ZIP file to your OnePlus 3
- Boot the OnePlus 3 into Recovery Mode
- Tap on the Install button
- Browse to and tap on the aptx .ZIP file you downoaded (from step 1)
- Swipe the white arrows to the right to confirm the installation
- Wait for the install to be completed
- Tap on the Reboot System button to reboot back into Android
Explanation
So again, if you listen to any type of audio through any Bluetooth device, this mod that enables the aptX codec has the ability to enhance that experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re listening through Bluetooth headphones, an external speaker, or even your car’s stereo system. It just isn’t enabled by default because it’s not something that OnePlus paid to use the license for. It seems this feature could be coming without this mod in a future 7.1.1 update though.
This whole guide is very straight forward and you’ll feel right at home if you have ever installed anything in TWRP before. So to start, you simply need to download the .ZIP file that I linked in step 1 of the guide. From here, you should boot the OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T into Recovery Mode. Once you get to the TWRP main menu, you can tap on the Install button at the top left of the screen. This will bring you to a file browser and you’ll want to locate and tap on the aptX .ZIP file we just downloaded.
You will then need to swipe the white arrows to the right to confirm the installation and simply wait for it to be fully installed. You should see a Reboot System button appear (and no errors in the log) once everything has been done correctly. So go ahead and tap the Reboot System button and that will take you out of Recovery Mode and boot you back into the Android OS. Assuming everything went through properly, the boot cycle should be as quick as normal.
Now you can test your Bluetooth devices and see if you hear any differences in audio when compared to before. The XDA thread shows that you can scour your logcat file and see the aptX codec has been initialized properly for those who want to double check and make sure it worked properly. I’m reading that this mod works on the OnePlus 3 with OxygenOS 4.0.x, LineageOS 14.1 and Resurrection Remix 7.1.1. It’s also been confirmed that it works on the OnePlus 3T with OxygenOS 4.0.x.
Again, just be sure you have a recent Nandroid backup ahead of time in case the mod isn’t compatible with your device and you’ll be free to experiment with it.
It doens’t work with me. I got a Oneplus 3T. I saw on other blogs that you need to have a custom rom, is that correct?
Not that I am aware of. The source XDA linked in this article say it’s been tested and works on OxygenOS
Hi,
At first thank you for this nice tutorial.
One question: How can I check that my headset is now connected via aptx?
Do you know any app to confirm this?
As someone pointed out in the comments of the YouTube video, you’ll need to have headphones/earbuds that are compatible with aptX. Assuming you do, you can check this post to see if it has been enabled
– https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=70143898&postcount=3
They say to look through your logcat (which can be generated with an application like SysLog – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tortel.syslog)
and then look for an entry that looks something like “Selected Codec aptX”
I’m not familiar with an application that will specifically tell you if the headphones you’re using have aptX enabled. If the hardware supports it, and the mod has been installed, then it should just automagically work.
well yes, the headphones should support aptx (Sennheiser pxc 550).
on the oneplus by using logcat I cannot find there any aptx log.
But unfortunately it seems that this app is not working properly. Compared to my tablet there are much less logs shown – for example on the tablet I can see touch events which I cant find on the oneplus.
Thank You!
Well, the size of the logcat will be different for each device depending on what has been done on the device since the logcat was last cleared. If you think it’s the application though, you could try this ADB command. . .
adb logcat -d > Name_of_Log_File.txt
do dump the raw contents into a text file. I would imagine this is what the app is doing though
Sry for my late answer – I was very busy these days. Below, you can find a snippet of that output:
05-26 11:55:44.761 764 13311 I bthost_ipc: a2dp_command: A2DP COMMAND A2DP_CTRL_CMD_START
05-26 11:55:44.762 1868 2392 D bt_btif : A2DP-CTRL-CHANNEL EVENT UIPC_RX_DATA_READY_EVT
05-26 11:55:44.762 1868 2392 D bt_btif : a2dp-ctrl-cmd : A2DP_CTRL_CMD_START
05-26 11:55:44.763 1868 2392 D bt_btif : btif_dispatch_sm_event: event: 27, len: 0
05-26 11:55:44.763 1868 1986 D bt_btif : btif_av_state_opened_handler event:BTIF_AV_START_STREAM_REQ_EVT flags 0 and index = 0
05-26 11:55:44.763 1868 1986 I bt_btif_media: btif_a2dp_encoder_init SCMS_T DISABLED
05-26 11:55:44.763 1868 1986 E bt_btif : bta_av_select_codec hdl = 65
05-26 11:55:44.763 1868 1986 I bt_btif_media: btif_a2dp_encoder_init Selected Codec SBC
05-26 11:55:44.764 1868 2391 D bt_btif : btif_media_thread_handle_cmd : 5 BTIF_MEDIA_SBC_ENC_INIT
05-26 11:55:44.764 2343 2368 E WCNSS_FILTER: do_ioctl,tty_clock_flag=USERIAL_OP_CLK_ON,clock=USERIAL_OP_CLK_OFF
05-26 11:55:44.764 1868 2391 D bt_btif : btif_media_thread_handle_cmd: BTIF_MEDIA_SBC_ENC_INIT DONE
05-26 11:55:44.764 1868 2391 D bt_btif : btif_media_thread_handle_cmd : 11 BTIF_MEDIA_AUDIO_FEEDING_INIT
…did not find “aptx” or “apt-x” string there. But it seems, that SBC is selected
Are you on the Open Beta by chance?
I don´t think so…
I started at stock and followed your tutorial (well, I believe I did…)
But since that I have some problems by contact synchronization with outlook contacts too. So I consider to make all that undone anyway…
what do you think?
You have to manually flash the open beta, so you would know you’re on if you were. I’m not familiar with any sync issues with outlook, and this mod certainly wouldn’t effect that. It’s literally just a driver that gets installed.
The developer didn’t include an uninstall zip, so if you want to undo any changes you’ll need to restore from a Nandroid backup
Hello
Unfortunately isn’t working on 4.1.3 rom 🙁
There is some updates for this version ?
You’ll have to check around in the developer’s thread on XDA – https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3/themes/mod-aptx-codec-t3521228
Do we need to root the phone first and then install this mod? Or will it work without the root enabled?
You need TWRP installed (which requires an unlocked bootloader). Root is not needed though.
Will this work if running OS 4.5 as they didn’t enable aptX in that version yet apparently?