OnePlus offers an Open Beta program for both the OnePlus 5 as well as the OnePlus 5T and since these require special steps to switch to, you can follow this detailed tutorial below to install it with the stock recovery.
I had planned on writing a guide for those who are curious to learn how to sideload an open beta on the OnePlus 5. Before I could get to that though, the company released the OnePlus 5T and since then I’ve had to do some organizing and renaming to get things in place for both devices.
Some tutorials work out the same way no matter if you’re using the OnePlus 5 or the OnePlus 5T, but others are different and all use different files depending on the device you have.
Just before the New Years holiday kicked off, OnePlus announced the first open beta for the OnePlus 5T. The regular OnePlus 5 has had three different open betas so far but this is the first for the OnePlus 5T. Both bring our devices up to Android 8.0 Oreo (as of writing this) but again, this will continue to work even when the open beta is for Android P. OnePlus has made this process quite simple as long as you know where to look so lets get started.
Again, this will work on both the OnePlus 5 as well as the OnePlus 5T, just make sure you download the open beta ZIP file for your specific version.
OnePlus 5 Sideload Open Beta
- Download the Open Beta ZIP file you want to install (OnePlus 5 – OnePlus 5T)
- Move or copy that ZIP file onto the OnePlus 5
- Power off the device
- Boot the OnePlus 5 into Recovery Mode
- Tap your preferred language
- Tap the Install From Internal Storage option
- Browse to where you moved or copied the Open Beta ZIP file
- Tap the filename when you find it
- Wait for the OnePlus 5 to sideload the open beta
- Tap the Reboot option when it appears
- Wait for the OnePlus 5 to reboot back into OxygenOS
Explanation
If you have ever sideloaded an OTA update or switched to the Open Beta channel on a OnePlus device before then this will be familiar. There isn’t anything different from the OnePlus 3 and 3T and I would assume the process is the same with the OnePlus 2 as well. We need to start by downloading the OnePlus 5 Open Beta ZIP file that you want to install. In step 1 of the guide above I have linked to the download page for the OnePlus 5 as well as the OnePlus 5T.
It can take a few days after an Open Beta is announced before it gets listed on the downloads page. If you want, you can locate the announcement thread in the OnePlus forums as they have a download link right there. Once that has been downloaded, move or copy it to anywhere on the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T and then power down the device. When it is completely off we can then go through the steps to boot the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T into Recovery Mode.
As mentioned, this method works only if you are on the stock OnePlus recovery image but you can also install one of these updates via TWRP. However, you can’t sideload it (and keep your current data) so you will instead need to do a clean install if you’re using TWRP. When you’re at the recovery menu, tap your preferred language and then tap the Instal. From Internal Storage option. This will bring up a minimalistic file explorer that you can browse through.
Go through and find where you put the OnePlus 5 Open Beta ZIP file and then tap on the file itself. Once you tap this file name it will immediately start to install the Open Beta update on the OnePlus 5 or the OnePlus 5T. The process should only take a couple of minutes at most and when it is done you’ll be taken to a different screen on the device. You’re asked if you want to reboot the device or not so tapping on the Reboot option will power off the OnePlus 5 and take you back into OxygenOS.
When you’re booted back into Android you can launch the Settings application and check the version of Android you’re on to make sure it installed properly.
