After testing more than a dozen phones last yer, the OnePlus 15 ended up being my favorite — beating out thin phones like the iPhone Air and impressive foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in the process. While the new OnePlus flagship has set records in many areas, like how it has the best phone battery life of any device out there, I’m actually more impressed by all the other software features that accompany this phone.
I’m specifically referring to all of the stuff OnePlus has incorporated into its OxygenOS 16 experience, which runs on top of Android 16. As much as I continue to be astounded by how the new software reimagines multitasking on a slate device, there are way more hidden features and tools on the OnePlus 15 that continue to prove to me that it’s one of the best phones out there.
These tools are so seamlessly integrated and practical that they shouldn't just be tied down to this flagship — other Android phones need to copy them.
Share with iPhone or PC
Nothing annoys me more to this day than the hassle of transferring files from one phone to another. While it’s made somewhat easier when it’s an Android-to-Android transfer, the process is entirely different with Android-to-iPhone. Yet, the OnePlus 15 fixes this with its baked-in share with iPhone feature.
Through the quick settings menu, you can enable this feature to transfer files between the OnePlus 15 and iPhone. Now in order to do this, you’ll need to install the O+ Connect app on your iPhone. Once that's running, you just select the files you want to transfer — and it’s all done wirelessly.
Bypass Charging
If you play as many games on your phone as I do, then you know how your phone gets toasty when you’re playing and charging it at the same time. OnePlus addresses this exact issue with a feature it calls Bypass Charging, which is an option accessible under the OP Gaming Core menu.
When enabled, it stops charging the battery when it’s plugged into a power adapter — choosing instead to divert the power supply to the active game. This ensures that the game I’m playing is running at its most optimal performance, resulting in a more stable gameplay experience.
Dual Wi-Fi acceleration
Now this one’s a feature I want to see all phones offer because slow data speeds are annoying no matter what device you're using. At my home, I easily have between 30 to 50 devices connected simultaneously to my router, causing inconsistent speeds on my laptop and phones.
Under the Wi-Fi Assistant settings, I can have my OnePlus 15 tap into two Wi-Fi networks at the same time. To be fair though, not all apps support this feature, but the ones I frequently use the most on any given day — YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram — all take advantage of it. As a result, there’s less buffering whenever I’m watching videos with these apps.
Pixelate photo editing tool
I get annoyed whenever I've captured a screen shot and need to mask out something in it, like my email address or other personal information. With the OnePlus 15’s native photo editing app, there’s an option called Pixelate that makes it a breeze to mask out details I want to keep hidden. I can just select the tool and wipe away the areas I don’t want shown.
Not only are there different styles to choose from, but I especially like how the Auto function automatically scans the photo or image to see what personal information it can block out. It’s smart enough to detect names, email addresses, phone numbers, and more. And in the event the feature pixelates something it shouldn’t, a quick tap reveals it.
Tripod Mode
Even though the OnePlus 15’s camera performance is a struggle under low light conditions when compared to other best camera phones I’ve tested, there’s one setting you need to know about to improve the quality of those images. It’s called Tripod Mode and it’s only accessible under Night Mode. To use it, just tap on the tripod-looking icon in the Camera app.
Once enabled, Tripod Mode allows the OnePlus 15 to capture photos in low light condition at longer exposures. Instead of the usual 3-second exposures the camera phone normally takes, the exposure lasts 10 seconds to draw up as much light as possible from the scene — but it requires the phone to remain still, as if it’s on a tripod. The results come out a bit brighter, with noticeably sharper results than trying to capture them handheld. This is excellent for astrophotography if you don’t want to deal with customizing settings in Master mode.
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