What you need to know
- Honor is rolling out a massive April update for the Magic 8 Pro this week, bringing 200x focal length to its telephoto and Honor Connect.
- Users can send files through Connected Files to their Mac from their phones; however, you will need Honor WorkStation on your Mac for this to work.
- Several home and lock screen updates come through, making it easy to manage folders and one-tap actions for widgets.
Honor’s latest flagship phone, which boasts major features for mobile photography, is receiving a major MagicOS patch.
Late this week, Android Central’s Nicholas Sutrich spotted an April 2026 security update rolling out for the Honor Magic 8 Pro. Sutrich has provided a changelog of the incoming changes, and they are plentiful. Honor states the update is 1.2GB, and leads off with a few camera refinements. While in PHOTO mode, the Magic 8 Pro’s telephoto focal length has been extended to 200x. Additionally, the “shooting effect” for the camera has been optimized.
Honor Connect is another area that’s getting focused on in this patch. Users can access Connected Files to “view and download images, videos, and other files from your phone directly to Mac.” Users will need to install Honor WorkStation on their Mac and follow the on-screen procedures to link up. Elsewhere, if you’ve linked your Honor and iPhone together, Easy Hotspot turns the latter into a hotspot for the former.
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The home screen gets a quick dismiss option for folders and the ability to uninstall multiple apps at once. For the lock screen, Honor details customized one-tap actions for widgets for frequently used features. Users can now set their preferred fingerprint icon and animation.
The remainder of the changelog is as follows:
- AI button enables one-touch access to a variety of features, including quick services, sound modes, and flashlight.
- After lighting up the lock screen, you can swipe down to access the Control Center. This provides quick access to frequently used features without unlocking the phone.
- Screenshot editing now features AI edit, allowing you to add text and perform Magic ReTouch with a single tap.
- Notification center allows you to pin notifications to the top.
Making it magic
The patch notes end with system stability improvements, fixes for occasional stuttering, and optimizations for the phone’s battery life.
Photography is a major part of the Honor Magic 8 Pro, which was a key talking point for the brand during Snapdragon Summit 2025. Honor introduced the world to its Dual Engine approach for on-device AI. Magic Color is the company’s new path ahead, an AI engine that helps users in their day-to-day when taking photos and making edits. Honor also deployed a photography kit for the Magic 8 Pro, which makes it feel like you’re holding a traditional mirrorless camera (but it’s a phone).
Android Central’s Take
Aside from the useful camera updates, I think it’s interesting to see Honor furthering its collaboration with Apple for Android to iPhone (or Mac) file transfers. This is a trend going on in the industry, with other OEMs doing the same for their devices. It feels like this all started when RCS finally hit iPhones. Jokes aside, Honor’s latest flagship Pro model also debuted in the U.K. earlier this year, bringing stronger AI and photography to our friends across the pond.