Ever since the U.S. government put Huawei on the Entity List and prohibited Google from issuing the GMS license, the Chinese tech giant has been busy developing its own operating system. Harmony OS was announced last year and now, it has finally been made available for smartphones. It is still in the beta stage and only for select devices but the first step has been taken.
The keynote was mainly aimed at Android app developers to attract them towards Harmony OS 2.0. Huawei says there are more than 15,000 APIs to facilitate development for smartphones, wearables, cars, and large displays among many other device categories. The software experience can be tested virtually through an emulator as well as by installing it on any of the compatible supported smartphones.
Supported Huawei smartphones
- Huawei P40
- Huawei P40 Pro
- Huawei Mate 30
- Huawei Mate 30 5G
- Huawei Mate 30 Pro
- Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
- Huawei MatePad Pro
- Huawei MatePad Pro 5G
- Huawei MatePad Pro WiFi
It should be noted that beta testing is an invite-based process at the moment. It means even if you have the device and you submit an application to become a beta tester, it is not guaranteed that you will be selected. Those who do get selected will receive an email from Huawei detailing steps to install the custom operating system.
The good thing is that Harmony OS 2.0 beta testers will be able to roll back to EMUI 11 anytime they want. However, this will lead to the deletion of all the data stored on the phone. This is the reason we would suggest you proceed with beta testing only if you are comfortable with all these conditions.