In case you didn’t know, you need to enable a special (somewhat hidden) option within the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T that will fix OTG devices in OxygenOS.
OTG cables and devices actually do work on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T, but for some reason OnePlus has disabled this feature by default on OxygenOS 3.x. I’m not exactly sure why they would do this as it is not a common practice among Android smartphones and tablets.
There was a lot of drama from a Google employee about this specific feature, and while he was technically in the wrong, OnePlus has still not made a statement about the hidden feature.
Sadly, connecting devices to the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T via an OTG cable will not work by default. Just like Benson, GTrusted, and many other OnePlus 3 customers, unless you know the feature exists then it will be very hard to find. I’m not really sure that OnePlus could have put this feature in a better spot to make it easier to find either though. Either way, today I want to show you that the OnePlus 3 does support OTG and this is how to turn it on.
Note – This toggle was removed in OxygenOS 4.0, but the feature should be enabled by default. I can connect my thumb drive to the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T and it will instantly light up.
OnePlus 3 OTG
- Launch the Settings application
- Scroll down and tap on the ‘Storage & USB’ Option
- Tap the 3-dot button at the top right of the screen
- Then tap on the ‘Enable OTG’ option within the Overflow Menu
Explanation
So even though OnePlus did put the toggle for the OnePlus 3 OTG feature in a logical spot, it still confused people. It confused people because OTG devices generally work on Android by default. Again, I wish OnePlus made a statement about this (if they did and I missed it, please let me know in the comments section below). Either way, the existence of this feature is something that all OnePlus 3 OTG users should know about.
To start, we need to launch the Settings application and then scroll down to tap on the Storage & USB option. From here, you’ll need to look up at the top right of the screen and tap on the 3-dot button in the corner. This will reveal the Overflow Menu with the option labeled Enable OTG. Simply tap on this option and now OTG devices should work properly on the OnePlus 3.
As you can see from the video above, my USB thumb drive went from not being lit to lighting up. This really is all there is to it and like many of the features within OxygenOS, it’s just a matter of knowing it exists and where to find it. This OTG feature will stay enabled even after a reboot. So again, I’m not sure why OnePlus didn’t enable this by default. If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with Dash Charging.
But I haven’t seen a considerable decrease in charge speed (~3.5A) with OTG enabled. . .so maybe OnePlus will come out and say why they opted to go down this route.
