Huawei HarmonyOS 5 to oust Android apps

Huawei’s self-developed operating system, HarmonyOS may leave the Android app support system with its HarmonyOS 5 version.

The latest information from Chinese media reveals that HarmonyOS 5 would only focus on a complete HarmonyOS user experience. It will cut all of the app frameworks from the Android open-source project.

The company added these project libraries in order to run Android apps in HarmonyOS. The early OS version lacked its own app ecosystem, and the EMUI application designed for Android-based software came into play.

For the past three years, Huawei has been partnering with local internet companies and industry giants in order to upgrade their apps for the HarmonyOS platform. To boost the adaption process, Huawei is also providing assistance and even resources to its partners.

Recently, major Chinese internet companies such as JD.com and Meituan also started recruiting HarmonyOS developers to build HarmonyOS native applications.

The latest development in the HarmonyOS app ecosystem came after Huawei’s announcement regarding HarmonyOS NEXT. Unveiled at the annual developer conference this year, HarmonyOS NEXT is assumed as a pure HarmonyOS user experience.

Huawei revealed at the conference that the company has reduced the weight of unnecessary libraries from this new version to make the user experience fast and efficient.

Later on, a screenshot of the operating system went viral on China’s social media site, Weibo. It showed that HarmonyOS NEXT is not compatible with Android app formats and only supports native HAP (HarmonyOS application package) files.

The company further notes that HarmonyOS NEXT will replace the current mixed version of HarmonyOS in smartphones and other devices. On September 25, Huawei confirmed that this new software is ready to launch and its first developer beta preview will start in the first half of 2024.

For now, the software is only available for developers under internal beta and soon it will come to the public. Usually, Huawei reveals new HarmonyOS versions at the annual developer summit and this time may not be different.

However, HDC 2024 is still far away and we could see more of the information about HarmonyOS 5 before that.