The arrival of HarmonyOs is about to drop and is creating a lot of expectation in China, the country where there are the most Huawei terminals. This is due to the restrictions that the United States imposed on the Chinese company a few years ago, a restriction that does not allow the installation of Google services on Huawei. But this seems to be about to change with the new HarmonyOS NEXT. Let's see how to install Google apps on Huawei y what can we expect from the new HarmonyOS.
The incident that separated Google and Huawei
As you know, Huawei has not been allowed to collaborate in any way with Google for years because The United States imposed strong restrictions on Huawei in the American country. In fact, it was in 2019 when they prohibited access to the Play Store and other Google applications such as Maps or YouTube.
From that moment until now, users of Huawei devices have had to do juggling to be able to install Google applications on their devices if these apps worked. This has been the case for years until recently, with the arrival of the HarmonyOS operating system, we have been able to see how Some Huawei users have been able to install Google apps directly from the Huawei application gallery.
Specifically, they have been the users of the new HUAWEI Mate60 Pro, but we still do not know if the rest of the models in the Huawei family will have access to Google services.
Currently it is not possible to install the Play Store and other Google applications on any Huawei device, as I say it does not include them due to the absence of Google services. For now, what we can do if we have a Huawei mobile and want to test Google services on the terminal is download microG apps.
Download microG from your Huawei mobile and configure your Gmail
Although the use of Gmail on Chinese Huawei brand mobile phones is currently prohibited, there is a Linux-based solution that allows us to install Google apps on Huawei. The name of these apps are micro G Companion and microG Services.
Both can be downloaded from the official microG website and I would not be doing anything illegal since microG does not use Google apps but rather create a framework to make them work. Now, this modification may be illegal in your country. If you do not know if it is legal or not, you should check the legality that governs your area. For your peace of mind, using microG in Spain is not persecuted.
Once you have downloaded the applications, you can install them on your device. If you have any questions, you can consult the installation guide that comes with the download file. Besides You must pay attention that your mobile device has a ROM compatible with Micro G. You can find a list of compatible ROMs on the Micro G website.
If you have installed the mentioned applications on your device, you can now configure your Gmail account.
Configure Gmail on a Huawei mobile
To install Google apps on your Huawei device you have to configure your Gmail account on your Huawei mobile, simply follow these steps.
- Open the Huawei Mail app.
- Select the option to add a new account and choose “Gmail”.
- Follow the instructions for complete setup from your Gmail account within the application.
- Once configured, voila, you now have your Gmail installed on your mobile.
Keep in mind that you can send and receive emails and manage your Gmail account directly from the Huawei email application without any further problems because, as I say, microG allows you a framework so that you can use the apps normally.
However, there are rumors that all this will no longer be necessary in the coming months when they launch the next version of HarmonyOS.
Harmony NEXT can bring Google back to Huawei
Harmony OS NEXT, the next version of Huawei's operating system, has raised expectations about the possibility that Huawei could return to using Google applications and services natively on its devices. For now at least we can install WhatsApp on Huawei phones.
It may be a little premature to say with certainty that HarmonyOS NEXT will allow Huawei to use Google apps and services natively. However, the arrival of HarmonyOS NEXT opens the door to new possibilities and strategies for Huawei, such as the use of third-party tools such as microG.
It is also expected that in the coming months we will have more official information about the future of this confrontation between the giants Google and Huawei. We will have to wait to find out more.