How the New Way to Install Google Apps Affects HarmonyOS

New Way to Install Google Apps Affects HarmonyOS

It’s been just over a month since Google announced one of the biggest changes to its operating system, Android. The Internet giant revealed that the APK format for manually installing apps on our phones is dead. Well, more than removed, replaced by Android App Bundles (AAB).

Starting next month, all new applications sent to the Play Store will have to use the new format and share space with the APK files present in the Android application store.

This leads us directly, to think about HarmonyOS , an operating system that has been created with the installation of APKs, via Petal Search, in mind. What does this mean for Huawei and its platform that is now beginning to reach the first phones, Harmony OS? The brand has spoken.

Huawei vs harmonyOS

For now, everything remains the same

It is unclear whether the HarmonyOS platforms and Huawei’s HMS support Android app bundles, although the documentation seems to suggest that the App Gallery supports the format. For this reason, Huawei Wang Chenglu, one of the “bosses” of the Chinese manufacturer, has explained that these AAB apps will not affect the development of the brand’s operating system. In a statement to the Global Times , the executive notes that the new format would not affect the user experience of the Harmony operating system or hinder development.

The AAB format is essentially similar to the HarmonyOS Atomic Service

The Atomic Service of the Huawei operating system is identified as “future-oriented user applications that are free to install and provide a specific function.” This, in more mundane words, would mean that the Chinese brand would be working on supporting AAB packages, if they are not supported, just under another name. It is evident that the brand cannot ignore this new way of installing apps on its mobiles as this would further widen the range of applications between Huawei’s and Google’s catalogs .

Keep in mind that alternative app stores are already facing the problem that developers will have to manually export their application packages as APKs if they want their application to appear in them, which is twice the work. Luckily, it seems that Huawei, being the main company in China, has enough corporate strength to support it and make HarmonyOS a system compatible with the main apps on the market, regardless of how they are installed.