One of the most common questions I get whenever I talk about the new devices from Huawei is “How would you use your phone without access to Google apps?”. Admittedly, this was a huge concern when I first heard about Huawei making the switch from Google Mobile Services(GMS) over to Huawei Mobile Services(HMS) so when the Huawei Mate 30 Pro showed up at my door it gave me the perfect opportunity to experience HMS, and truly understand Huawei’s future plans for their devices.
My current cellphone is the Huawei P30 Pro which was released in Canada around the middle of 2019. It was the last series of Huawei devices to use GMS (Google Mobile Services). From what I have been reading, Huawei will continue to use Open Source Android, for their future devices, but will now have more control over the full end-to-end user experience for their customers with HMS (Huawei Mobile Services). Still the question remains, can you get access to all of your favourite apps? The short answer is yes! For the long answer, keep reading.
1. Huawei Phone Clone
As the name implies, the Huawei Phone Clone app basically clones almost everything from your old device to your new one. The app is available from Huawei’s AppGallery, as well as Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Both your new and your old phone must have the app installed. This is what I initially used to set up the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. For the upcoming Huawei P40 series, Phone Clone comes pre-installed.
Once the app was installed on both devices I opened it and chose which one was the new device and which was the old one. Once they connected I selected what I wanted to move. Huawei’s Phone Clone app then began moving all of my photos, music, messages, videos, contacts, settings and apps from my current phone (Huawei P30 Pro) to the new device (Huawei Mate 30 Pro).
The great thing about this app is that your old phone doesn’t have to be a Huawei device. The Huawei Phone Clone app can be used to transfer your apps and data from any Android or iOS-based phone. When sending apps from your old phone to your new phone you’re also sending all of the data along with it. For example, when you transfer your favorite messaging app, all of your past messages will also be sent so when opened on the new phone it’ll look just like the old one.
One thing to keep in mind when using Phone Clone is that while apps can be transferred they may not receive future updates. Don’t fret, Huawei has a solution for that.
2. Huawei’s AppGallery
Huawei’s App Gallery was first launched in China in 2014, expanded globally in 2018, made its Canadian debut in 2020 and is now in 170 countries making it the third largest app store in the world. Huawei’s AppGallery is part of a whole ecosystem using HMS. Since Huawei has a full suite of devices it makes sense to have their own operating system so that all of their devices can seamlessy “talk” to each other much like Apple’s iOS.
An important thing that users should keep in mind is that currently Huaiwei’s AppGallery doesn’t have the same number of apps or level of support as the Google Play store but Huawei is rapidly building it up at a rate of around 4000 apps per week. You’ll easily find widely used apps like Tik Tok and Snapchat but others such as Facebook and Twitter are missing. Again, Huawei has a solution for that.
Huawei AppGallery
Downloading apps from the AppGallery is very easy. Simply find the app you want then click on the ‘Install’ button, nice and simple.
The Huawei AppGallery has various tabs on the bottom: Featured, Categories, Top, Manager, and Me. The first three tabs are pretty self-explanatory. Manager is where you would go to see statuses of apps that are installed, perform app updates, see remaining space, or cleanup unwanted/unused data files. The ‘Me’ tab is basically your account. Here you’ll find your gifts, reviews, purchase history, settings and a few other options to help manage your account.
3. Huawei Petal Search
The third way to get your apps onto your new Huawei device is to use Huawei’s Petal Search or the Petal Search Widget. This app features over 1 million of the most popular apps worldwide and will come pre-installed on Huawei P40 series devices. It can also be found in Huawei’s App Gallery for any Huawei device.
As I mentioned earlier, new apps are constantly being added to the Huawei AppGallery but on those occasions where you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can find them using Petal Search.
According to the description in Huawei’s AppGallery, “Petal Search offers app searches, weather forecasts, live sports scores, searches for video, images and music, and, financial news”, basically it’s a one stop shop.
Finding apps via Petal Search is much like finding them in the AppGallery. You simply enter the name of the app you’re looking for and Petal Search will show what can be downloaded from the Huawei AppGallery, installed via an official link, used via the web version, or installed from another 3rd party source. One important thing to keep in mind is that unlike Phone Clone, installing an app via Petal Search also allows updates. The ‘Me’ tab in Petal Search allows you to see what you’ve searched, downloaded, feedback and a few settings.
I used Petal Serarch to install Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and a few others.
Conclusion
A great camera on a smartphone is paramount for most consumers – and Huawei has always set the bar high with their hardware and its camera capabilities, but the operating system is of equal if not greater importance. I now have the confidence that through the three methods listed above, I’ll easily have access to everything I need and this has definitely made me more excited for what’s to come from Huawei!
I finally got my Huawei P40 Pro in the mail last week – it’ll officially be available in Canada from July 10th. Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing my thoughts on it as soon as I can!
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this article but Huawei Canada did lend me a Mate 30 Pro for a couple of weeks.
