Huawei AppGallery

Huawei AppGallery

Huawei AppGallery logo
Developer(s)	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Initial release	2011; 13 years ago (2011), in China[1] 2018; 6 years ago (2018) worldwide[2]
Platform	HarmonyOS, Android (open-source)
Included with	Huawei and Honor devices[2]
Available in	Available in 80 languages
Type	App store, Digital distribution, Mobile game store
Website	appgallery.huawei.com

AppGallery badge with 'Explore it on AppGallery' text

Huawei AppGallery is a package manager and application distribution platform, or marketplace 'app store', developed by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. It serves as the official app store for the devices running on Huawei HarmonyOS, and is also available for Huawei EMUI and Microsoft Windows via the Mobile Engine emulator.^[2][3]

As of 2022, AppGallery had 580 million monthly active users.^[4]

History

Huawei AppGallery was launched in 2011 in China and in 2018 internationally.^[2]

In May 2019, Huawei was added to the Entity List by the US Department of Commerce, effectively banning the company's software products from gaining access to Google Mobile Services (GMS), Google Play Store and other such applications.^[5] As a result, Huawei began releasing its new devices with its own AppGallery, in which the apps were programmed with its own proprietary Huawei Mobile Services (HMS).

On 9 August 2019, soon after the US ban, Huawei launched HarmonyOS, first on smart TVs for Honor Vision and Vision S. In 2019 there were 45,000 Android apps using HMS on AppGallery.

During the third quarter of 2020, AppGallery had reached 350 billion app downloads.^[2][6] In 2020, AppGallery had 490 million users in over 170 countries and regions,^[2][7] On 1 March 2021, AppGallery had over 530 million active users.

Then, on 2 June 2021, Huawei launched HarmonyOS 2.0 with AppGallery pre-installed on its own smartphones and tablets. About a week later, Huawei launched a separate HarmonyOS section on its AppGallery to recommend HarmonyOS apps and compatible Android apps. Apps specifically made for HarmonyOS carried a small "HMOS" badge in the right hand corner of the app icon.^[8]

On 27 July 2022, during the HarmonyOS 3 event, Huawei revealed that the HMS ecosystem had 5.4 million global developers,^[9] up from roughly 1.6 million developers in 2020.^[10] In October 2022, AppGallery had 580 million monthly active users.^[11]

On 18 January 2024, during HarmonyOS Ecosystem development event, Huawei's President of Device Cloud announced that the HarmonyOS NEXT software system marks the second stage of development for HarmonyOS. By the end of 2024, the company expects an additional 5,000 native apps to hit on HarmonyOS AppGallery and hopes to exceed 500,000 native apps for HarmonyOS in the near future.^[12]

On 7 March 2024, it was reported that more than 4,000 apps have joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem on native .APP format apps for pre-released HarmonyOS NEXT Galaxy Edition version system on the incoming HarmonyOS 5 version, since the end of the first quarter of 2024.^[13][14]

On 17 April 2024, it was reported more than 5,000 native HarmonyOS apps have been built for HarmonyOS NEXT at Huawei Analyst Summit 2024 after rotating chairman confirms HarmonyOS NEXT stable version release later in the year.^[15][16]

On 22 April 2024, it is reported that Huawei has 1,000 apps in negotiations, alongside it's 5,000 apps in total planned to be updated by planned September launch announced at HarmonyOS Developer Day HDD 2024 on 17 May 2024.^[17]

On 21 June 2024, at HDC 2024 over 1,500 native apps have already completed the HarmonyOS NEXT-based version and are available on the AppGallery for China's initial market for developer beta testers and the native app development mark reached 5000 apps for the HarmonyOS platform.^[18]

Number of apps

In 2020, AppGallery had more than 96,000 apps and over 50,000 HMS-enabled apps.^[19][20] During Huawei's "Apps Up" event in 2021 the company announced that 134,000 apps were building on the Harmony platform (using Huawei Mobile Services).^[21] By October 2022, AppGallery had established itself as one of the world’s top app markets, with over 220,000 HMS-based Android apps.^[11][22][23]

As of 19 September 2024, it has been reported by Huawei that more than 10,000 apps and meta-services launched on HarmonyOS Next before commercial release in Q4.^[24]

See also

• Google Play Store
• App Store (iOS/iPadOS)
• EMUI
• HarmonyOS
• List of Android app stores
• List of mobile app distribution platforms

References

1. "AppGallery is Huawei's alternative to Google's Play Store on Android". XDA Developers. 22 September 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
2. "AppGallery is Huawei's alternative to Google's Play Store on Android". www.XDA-Developers.com. XDA Developers. 22 September 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
3. Amit (5 June 2021). "HarmonyOS applications launched: More icons with HMOS corners". Huawei Update. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
4. "Huawei: MAUs of Huawei AppGallery 2022". Statista. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
5. "What are the US restrictions placed on Huawei?". South China Morning Post. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
6. "The best announcements from Huawei Developer Conference 2020". www.XDA-Developers.com. XDA Developers. 13 September 2020.
7. "How Huawei AppGallery is welcoming more big name global and local apps". www.Pocket-lint.com. Pocket-lint. 10 September 2020.
8. Sarkar, Amy (10 June 2021). "HarmonyOS Apps and Games section launched on Huawei AppGallery". Huawei Central. Huawei Central. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
9. Amit (27 July 2022). "HMS ecosystem: 5.4 million developers, 203,000 HMS Core Apps". Huawei Update. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
10. "Huawei AppGallery 700 milyon kullanıcıya ulaştı" [Huawei AppGallery reaches 700 million users]. www.Hurriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 31 July 2020. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
11. Astle, Aaron. "Huawei AppGallery surpasses 220,000 HMS apps and 580 million user milestones". Pocketgamer.biz. Pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
12. Ro. "Huawei says about 5,000 native HarmonyOS apps coming this year". GSMArena. HC Newsroom. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
13. Rajesh. "Huawei achieves big milestone, number of native apps on HarmonyOS reaches 4000". GIZMOCHINA. GIZMOCHINA. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
14. Sarkar, Amy (7 April 2024). "Native HarmonyOS apps exceed 4000 mark reveals Huawei". Huawei Central. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
15. "Huawei has revealed that it now has over 5,000 native apps adapted for HarmonyOS NEXT ahead of Q4 launch -". harmonyoshub.com. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
16. "Huawei Doubles Down on Native HarmonyOS Apps in 2024, Rotating Chairman Says". www.yicaiglobal.com. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
17. Kaur, Gagandeep (22 April 2024). "Huawei intensifies development of HarmonyOS app ecosystem". www.fierce-network.com. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
18. Matsui, Emiko (22 June 2024). "All TOP 5000 apps began HarmonyOS native app development: Huawei". Huawei Central. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
19. Ford, Thomas. "Know the Apps and Services in the HMS". AppsGalery. AppsGalery. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
20. "Huawei AppGallery now has over 530 million monthly active users". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
21. "Huawei's HarmonyOS already has 134,000 apps, over 4 million developers have signed on". GSMArena. Huawei. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
22. Matsui, Emiko (5 November 2022). "Huawei AppGallery crossed 580 million users with over 220,000 HMS apps". Huawei Central. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
23. Huawei. "HMS Core: Create Outstanding Apps and Elevate User Experience". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
24. Benjamin (21 September 2024). "More than 10,000 apps and meta-services launched on HarmonyOS Next before commercial release". HarmonyOSHub. Retrieved 21 September 2024.

External links

• Official website
• AppGallery Connect — official Huawei mobile app services portal, at Huawei Developer