Instead of spending time and effort yourself doing chores around the house, imagine you had a team of little helpers to do them while you were asleep. Wouldn’t that be nice? It might sound far-fetched for your house, but it’s possible for your smartphone. An open-source technology called CHRE (Context Hub Runtime Environment) can offer similar benefits for Android phones by offloading tasks.

Today, OnePlus announced new Android devices, including the OnePlus 11 smartphone with CHRE technology built into Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. We’re here to explain what CHRE technology actually is, the performance benefits it can offer and its future potential for boosting the connection between all your devices.

How CHRE technology works

Modern smartphones contain multiple processors, which function similarly to the human brain to help manage tasks. While one central unit called the Applications Processor manages all applications on the phone, its size means it takes considerable battery power to run. Smaller processors can handle simple tasks much more efficiently, which is exactly where CHRE comes in.

CHRE, or Context Hub Runtime Environment, is an open-source technology that enables Android phones to efficiently use their smaller processors, so they can run simple tasks without noticeable impact to your battery life.

Android’s Fast Pair and CHRE

With Fast Pair, your Android phone discovers supported Bluetooth accessories that are nearby and lets you pair them in a single tap. Now, by making use of CHRE, new OnePlus 11 users will notice increased responsiveness with Fast Pair when they pair the phone with new devices like earbuds. This is thanks to CHRE’s power efficiency which helps prepare information for the Application Processor while it’s asleep—so it’s ready near-instantly when you need it.