HONOR has introduced MagicOS 11 in China as the latest version of its mobile operating system. The company has detailed the new version along with changes across its software and system architecture.
Next-generation YOYO
MagicOS 11 introduces a new-generation YOYO with automated execution and proactive services. YOYO can remember user instructions and wait for specified conditions, such as reaching a location, opening an app, or a change in status, before carrying out the assigned action.
The YOYO Tasks section lists 40+ sensory trigger conditions and 100+ types of execution operations. HONOR’s overview separately describes automated execution for 100+ complex tasks, with 40+ trigger conditions and 130+ execution actions.
YOYO can recognize pickup codes, meal collection numbers, and travel notifications from text messages and apps. It extracts the relevant information and presents it without requiring a manual search. Similarly, YOYO Schedule can identify ticketing services, medical appointment orders, and chat information and automatically generate calendar to-dos.
Alongside these features, Everywhere YOYO integrates AI into phone functions such as calls, schedules, files, web pages, and notifications. The functions include:
- AI Call Assistant: Provides incoming call overviews, call summaries, AI human agent assistance, and call minutes.
- Calendar: Collects schedule information from a sentence, image, or phone call.
- Notification Organization: Classifies notification messages.
- AI Search: Finds required content through natural-language searches.
The next-generation YOYO architecture includes the YOYO Harness with perception, memory, context, conversation, skills, and privacy components. HONOR MagicLM includes Smart LLM, Perception LLM, Interactive LLM, and Visual Generative LLM, while the YOYO Skills ecosystem lists more than 500 skills and supports 1,000+ proactive service scenarios.
YOYO Smart Control
YOYO Smart Control extends phone functions to supported vehicles. Users can issue a single voice command for tasks such as navigating home, turning on the home air conditioner, recording schedule tasks, or playing favorite music.
For smart homes, YOYO uses the Home Assistant ecosystem to connect smart devices from different brands. It can also use location, time, and device status as conditions to trigger home scenarios without requiring manual operation.
For example, a command can be used to:
- Turn off the bedroom light
- Turn off the electric fan
- Turn off the health pot
- Start the robot vacuum cleaner
- Switch the air purifier to sterilization mode
The demonstration shows the tasks being executed and identifies the individual device-control skills invoked for each operation.
Cross-brand connectivity
MagicOS 11 also adds HONOR Touch-to-Transfer for sharing between devices from different brands. The feature supports iPhone, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and HONOR devices, including one-touch sharing of group photos.
The feature works with more than 60 apps across entertainment, travel, social networking, and other categories. Supported actions include sharing videos, adding friends, sharing routes, and joining games.
In addition, Insta360 gimbal camera videos can be transferred to an HONOR phone with a single touch for immediate shooting and publishing.
Apple ecosystem connectivity
For Apple devices, MagicOS 11 adds connectivity features for iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iPad. HONOR phones and iPhones can answer incoming calls with two-way synchronization, while incoming iPhone calls can use the HONOR AI Call Assistant.
Notifications can also synchronize between the devices, and users can reply to messages from an HONOR phone with one click on an iPhone. iPhone photos can automatically sync to HONOR Cloud, while HONOR phone albums can be viewed and used with AI photo editing.
HONOR phones and Apple Watch can synchronize:
- Incoming calls
- Messages
- YOYO suggestions
- Sports and health data
For Mac, users can transfer phone media with a single touch for editing and view or manage pictures and videos on the Mac display. On iPad, users can connect to the HONOR phone hotspot, cast the phone screen, reply to messages, and transfer data.
HONOR Car Link and Harmony Cockpit
HONOR Car Link with Harmony Cockpit supports 140+ mainstream apps adapted for large in-car screens through Super Desktop. This brings supported phone apps to the vehicle display. Users can tap the phone to stream navigation, music, and videos to the car screen. The system also supports high-quality audio.
Dynamic Liquid Glass
MagicOS 11 introduces Dynamic Liquid Glass effects across the interface. When users scroll through the gallery, the bottom navigation bar changes according to ambient light, while the lock-screen shimmer responds to the rhythm of music.
The capsule light and shadow change with interactions, and incoming call screens provide real-time shimmer feedback. Translucent widgets also use changing light and shadow effects across the interface.
The feature includes lock-screen clock widgets and live-status details. Its shimmer translucent effect also appears in charging-status pills, media-player controls, and call-alert cards.
Premium Themes and Shimmer Architecture
MagicOS 11 includes Premium Themes such as Soaring Clouds & Peaks and Architectural Light.
HONOR Shimmer Architecture reconstructs the Android graphics underlying architecture and provides translucent visual effects across the interface. The architecture includes:
- 6 layers of atomic effects
- 40+ adjustable degrees of freedom
System-level fluency
On the system side, MagicOS 11 introduces Liquid Motion, Continuous Transition, and Parallel Response. Liquid Motion uses spring-based animation with changes in light and shadow, while Continuous Transition provides visually continuous movement between states.
Parallel Response handles high-frequency operations with parallel responses. Meanwhile, HONOR Hummingbird Architecture 2.0 combines liquid motion effects with intelligent resource scheduling, with HONOR stating that app launch response speed has increased by at least 15%.
For app launching and switching, the MagicOS 11 overview lists six indicators:
- 0 glitch drops
- 0 delay
- 0 flicker
- 0 frame drops
- 0 touch disconnection
- 0 stutter
Phone Clone and system upgrade
MagicOS 11’s Phone Clone feature highlights 10GB of space saved instantly. In the demonstration, 44GB of data is migrated in 57 minutes and 23 seconds, adding 14GB of available space.
The migration records 12 successful items, one failed item, and zero unsupported data. For system upgrades, HONOR says its file compression technology can save up to 50GB of storage.
The upgrade demonstration shows 50.6GB of additional storage, equivalent to 4,024 photos. It also lists a 12ms touch response latency and a 10% reduction in weak-signal gaming stutter.
MagicOS 11 Rollout Plan
The company says MagicOS 11 will debut in China with the HONOR Magic9 series, which is set to be introduced on September 28. It has also shared the upgrade plan for the following models:
