OxygenOS 11 bug on OnePlus 6/6T makes WhatsApp unusable

OnePlus 6 and 6T users are not able to download any media on WhatsApp or access existing photos and video.

What you need to know

• An OxygenOS 11 bug is affecting WhatsApp on the OnePlus 6 and 6T.
• The bug blocks media from being downloaded, and a reset doesn't solve the issue.
• OnePlus hasn't detailed when a fix will be available.

The Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 stable build launched nearly a year ago, and it made its way to the best OnePlus phones, including the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 7, and the Nord series. OnePlus also said it would roll out the update to the OnePlus 6 and 6T, making Android 11 the third platform update for these phones.

It took a long time as OnePlus had to work through a litany of issues, but the OxygenOS 11 stable build is now making its way to the OnePlus 6 and 6T. While that's welcome news, the build has a particular bug that makes WhatsApp unusable. After switching to OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 6T, a family member was unable to download any media from WhatsApp — including older photos and videos that are already stored on the phone — so I asked them to back up to Google Drive, uninstall the app, and start over.

But that wasn't possible; when they tried to get the chat history backed up to Drive, it failed. So I suggested they reset anyway and use the last local backup from three days ago. This didn't solve the issue, as they're unable to download media even after starting from scratch. Turns out this is a known issue in OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 6 and 6T, and based on several forums threads, the issue started a few weeks ago as more and more devices switched over to the OxygenOS 11 stable channel.

The fact that a core feature of WhatsApp has been broken on these devices for such a long time is incredulous, and OnePlus needs to address this issue. There's no timeline for a fix at the moment, but I reached out to OnePlus and will update the post once I know more.