There is a way to run Android apps on Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT operating system after all. A Huawei beta tester found a way to do that, despite the fact that HarmonyOS NEXT is Huawei’s custom OS, which is not based on Android.
Someone found a way to run Android app on Huawei’s Android-free HarmonyOS NEXT OS
HarmonyOS NEXT relies on self-developed elements like Harmony kernel, Pangu AI model, Cangjie programming language, and so on. With that in mind, there is a way to run Android apps on HarmonyOS NEXT, it seems.
A beta tester shared the details on Reddit, as he found an emulator that can do just that. That emulator is called ‘EzsyAbroad’, and can be found on Huawei’s AppGallery app store. The name of that app translates to ‘Easy Abroad’, actually.
The whole purpose of this app seems to be travel abroad, so that HarmonyOS NEXT users can use Android apps while they’re out of China. This emulator seemingly comes with a separate container for Android apps.
This is done via an emulator which compartmentalizes Android apps
Once installed, this emulator will compartmentalize Android apps into a folder. You won’t be able to drag them out of it to the home screen or anything else, you’ll need to access them via the emulator, it seems.
The beta bester managed to download a bunch of apps by using this tool, including some Google ones like YouTube, Google Maps, and so on. He also says that the apps were running smoothly, and even worked in the background.
Now, considering that this is just an emulator, you could run into issues with notifications, app performance, and so on. Also, we’re not sure how safe it is to use this app, of course. Not that global users have to worry about this, as HaromnyOS NEXT devices are not on sale outside of China just yet.