OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro users recently received the OxygenOS 11.0.1.1 update on the stable channel. The update included the new "Canvas" mode, optimizations to background process management, October 2020 security patches, and more. Shortly after the rollout started, OnePlus accidentally pushed the stable update to OnePlus 8 series devices on the beta channel, completely wiping the devices in the process.

The issue was first brought to light on OnePlus' community forums early morning on Saturday, November 7th, when OnePlus' Community Consultant dsmonteiro shared the following statement:

"It seems like some users are reporting receiving the Stable update over the Open Beta 3, leading to a full data wipe. This information was already shared with the software team so it can be checked and addressed. Meanwhile, if you receive an update OTA, please double-confirm if it's an Open Beta update. If it isn't, please DO NOT install it."

However, by the time the statement was posted, several OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro users had already lost all of their data. Due to the mishap, many users lost their on-device images, videos, messages, etc. and, in several instances, even lost access to 2-factor authentication apps like Google Authenticator. Since the affected users weren't able to transfer their 2FA keys, they were also locked out of their Gmail, Discord, LinkedIn, and GitHub, accounts. On top of that, some users were downgraded from the October 2020 security patches to the outdated August 2020 security patches.

OnePlus' community forums are chock full of OnePlus 8 series users reporting this issue, and in response, the company seems to have stopped the rollout on the beta channel. However, the update is still rolling out to users on the stable channel. For users who received the update but didn't restart their device, OnePlus has shared an APK as a temporary solution to avoid data loss. In case you've received the update on your device, you can download said APK by following this link. According to the OxygenUpdater team, the APK effectively cancels the pending update installation after a reboot, thereby preventing data loss.

OnePlus 8 Forums ||| OnePlus 8 Pro Forums

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the company accidentally pushed the wrong OTA update to one of its devices. Back in March this year, they posted incorrect links for OnePlus 7T EU and OnePlus 7T Global Open Beta updates, which led to users in India losing the region-specific features that aren't available in the EU build.