Latest OxygenOS 15 update (.850/860) soft-bricks OnePlus 11, 12 & 13 devices after factory reset

The August and September 2025 OxygenOS 15 build versions .850 and .860 (respectively) for the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 12, and OnePlus 13 series were supposed to be your typical quality-of-life updates, tagging along smoother animations, new privacy perks, map-based photo albums, and the latest Android security patches. But for a subset of users, these updates have come with a nasty surprise that could turn a simple factory reset into a headache requiring service center intervention.

While most folks updated without issues and happily moved on, reports emerging across the OnePlus Community forums, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter) paint a worrying picture: performing a factory reset after updating to these builds can soft-brick your device, especially if your bootloader is locked.

What makes this particularly insane is that Android phones ship with locked bootloaders by default. The vast majority of users never unlock them, and there’s no reason they should. The locked state is how devices are supposed to operate out of the box. Yet, after updating to these builds, a simple reset on a locked bootloader is all it takes to render the phone unusable.

And the video of the bug shared by a OnePlus 13 user clearly demonstrates the issue in real time: after initiating a factory reset, the device boots into setup mode but gets stuck at the Google account stage, unable to progress no matter what. You’re basically locked out of your own phone.

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This behaviour isn’t happening to everyone, which is likely why it hasn’t blown up into a full-scale scandal. But that’s also what makes it dangerous: very few people reset their phones often, so only a small group is stumbling into the problem, and only after the damage is done. Those with locked bootloaders have it especially rough since recovery options are extremely limited. Many end up needing EDL (Emergency Download Mode) flashing to revive the device, which usually means a trip to a service center. A few lucky ones managed to get through by repeatedly restarting the phone, but that seems more like luck than logic.

For users with unlocked bootloaders who get stuck, some have managed to break out of the loop using fastboot commands to temporarily unlock critical partitions, erase FRP (Factory Reset Protection), and then re-lock. But realistically, that’s not a normal solution, and the average user won’t even know what fastboot is, let alone how to use it.

Given that OnePlus 11, OnePlus 12, and OnePlus 13 series devices running OxygenOS 15 build .850 or .860 are all in the mix, and knowing these updates are rolling out globally, it’s clear this isn’t an isolated incident. ColorOS users on OPPO devices could also be at risk, since the underlying software is shared, though there aren’t visible reports from that side yet likely because not many people are resetting their phones right now.

So what can users do in the meantime? The safest move is simple: avoid factory resetting your device while on these builds unless you absolutely must. And if you do have to reset, make sure to manually remove all Google accounts on the device first and disable any form of screen lock security, be it PIN, password, pattern, or biometrics. This seems to prevent FRP from triggering when the device reboots.

For now, if your OnePlus 11, 12, or 13 series device is running on OxygenOS 15 build .850 or .860, treat factory reset like a last resort. Unless you’re ready to deal with fastboot commands, flashing tools, or a visit to a service center, it’s not worth the gamble.