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ColorOS

Android-based mobile operating system by Oppo

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

ColorOS is a user interface created by Oppo based on Android. Initially, Realme phones used ColorOS until it was replaced by Realme UI in 2020. Realme UI uses some of ColorOS's apps. Starting from the OnePlus 9 series, OnePlus will preinstall ColorOS on all smartphones that are sold in mainland China instead of HydrogenOS (Chinese version of OxygenOS).

In September 2026, Oppo announced that ColorOS has 770 million active users worldwide, spanning more than 90 countries and regions.

01History

The first version of ColorOS was launched in September 2013. Oppo had released plenty of Android smartphones before then. It was not stock Android, but Oppo did not label it as ColorOS. Over the years, Oppo launched new official versions of the operating system. Major version 4 was skipped due to the superstitious nature of the number. To make things less confusing, in 2020 the company revealed that it would adopt the same numbering scheme as mainline Android, and as such, ColorOS jumped from ColorOS 7 to ColorOS 11 with the launch of Android 11.

It was announced that ColorOS, OnePlus' Oxygen OS, and Realme's Realme UI will merge to form a single Android skin that will appear on all OnePlus, Oppo and Realme phones. However these plans were cancelled as the three UI's are being developed on the same codebase, but they are separate.

02Version history

Overview of ColorOS versions
Version Initial release date Latest version Latest release date Android version(s)
ColorOS 1 September 23, 2013 Unsupported: 1.4.3i August 11, 2014 Android 4.1 , 4.3
ColorOS 2 October 20, 2014 Unsupported: 2.1.5i October 31, 2015 Android 4.4 , 5.1
ColorOS 3 March 17, 2016 Unsupported: 3.2 October 26, 2017 Android 5.1 , 7.1.1
ColorOS 5 March 26, 2018 Unsupported: 5.2.1 October 16, 2018 Android 7.1.1 - 8.1
ColorOS 6 March 17, 2019 Unsupported: 6.1.2 December 20, 2019 Android 9
Unsupported: 6.7 November 6, 2019 Android 10
ColorOS 7 November 26, 2019 Unsupported: 7.2 June 5, 2020
ColorOS 11 September 14, 2020 Unsupported: 11.3 May 27, 2021 Android 11
ColorOS 12 September 16, 2021 Unsupported: 12.1 February 24, 2022 Android 11 , 12
ColorOS 13 September 19, 2022 Unsupported: 13.2 September 29, 2023 Android 13
ColorOS 14 November 16, 2023 Supported: 14.1 May 23, 2024 Android 14
ColorOS 15 October 17, 2024 Supported: 15.0.2 May 23, 2025 Android 15
ColorOS 16 October 28, 2025 Latest version: 16.1 (16.0.10) August 14, 2026 Android 16
Legend: Unsupported Supported Latest version Preview version Future version
Watch videos about ColorOSExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article ColorOS, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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