How to Add an Android App to Huawei AppGallery?
If you want to strengthen your position in the mobile app market, adding your mobile application to the Huawei AppGallery might be a wise choice. The Huawei marketplace is constantly growing and is set to become a prospective competition for giants like the App Store and Google Play. Given that the AppGallery is a global app store accessible in more than 170 countries, you may reach more prospective users by releasing your app there.
Making sure that your product is sufficiently accessible to all clients is essential for the prosperity of your business. Therefore, releasing your app in other marketplaces, like Huawei AppGallery, might be a great strategy to expand the app’s market coverage and increase the number of visitors.
But the question remains, how can you upload your app on the AppGallery without expending too much time and energy on building from scratch? This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to add an Android app to the Huawei AppGallery.
Why Is It Good for a Business to Be in the Huawei AppGallery?
Huawei puts a lot of effort into developing its mobile services and providing users with the best functionalities. According to Wang Yanmin, the President of Global Partnerships and Eco-Development at Huawei, the company intends to constantly develop its ecosystem in compliance with clients’ feedback to ensure stable growth and expansion of their businesses. Here are some of the features Huawei AppGallery offers that make this marketplace worth considering for your business.
Fast-growing Environment
Since the implementation of HMS into Huawei’s devices, AppGallery has been growing quickly as an alternative to Google Play. According to Statista, the number of monthly active users has increased from 300 million in 2019 to 580 million in the last quarter of 2023. This implies that the leading app stores (Google Play and App Store) may soon face real competition from AppGallery, especially in Asian markets.
The company asserts that the number of developers and end-users is still growing, thanks to investments made in the development of the store. Publishing your application in Huawei’s marketplace may boost its exposure to the platform’s fast-growing user base with the possibility of more downloads from a large portion of your target audience in the long run.
Secure Marketplace
AppGallery uses Huawei’s hardware and software capabilities to secure users and devs. Huawei encrypts personal information and passwords, storing them in compliance with regional laws. This is a basic requirement on other app stores as well as evidenced by the App Store’s strict guidelines on iOS mobile app development.
Yet, AppGallery took a step further by incorporating a dedicated security system into its platform. This includes verification of the developer’s name to trace them in case of some unexpected difficulties. Additionally, the marketplace introduced a four-step review process, involving screening, monitoring, certification, and re-inspection of the newly launched app package to ensure it is free of malware.
Such an intricate verification procedure guarantees that applications available in AppGallery are quality-assured, which builds trust for your brand.
Glocal Approach
In order to provide users with the most relevant applications, AppGallery has adopted the ‘glocal’ approach. In other words, the company focuses on partnering with developers both locally and globally, bringing customers a wider selection of apps adjusted to their needs.
The system suggests appropriate apps with download links based on the user’s location. With the help of this function, the user can quickly choose the best option without having to search through a plethora of unrelated apps. This will also enable businesses to easily reach customers who might be interested in their product.
AppGallery Connect
Huawei provides developers with AppGallery Connect, a tool kit of all services necessary for the creation of an app package. The platform allows devs to build apps, improve their quality, and adjust their functionality using in-built testing and analytical tools. And that’s not all. App Gallery Connect offers a number of other features that might be useful in getting your app published.
Thanks to the services available on the platform, you improve your app’s performance, which may increase its value and the number of prospective users.
Huawei Mobile Services and HarmonyOS
In May 2019, the China-United States trade war made it impossible for Huawei users to use Google Play and other services on their new smartphones. To compensate for this loss, the company started selling devices supplied with its exclusive Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) instead of GMS.
By introducing HMS, Huawei intended to provide users and developers with the same services as those available in the Android environment. The company introduced HMS Core which includes AppGallery, Huawei ID, Cloud, Themes, Huawei Video, Browser, and Assistant meant to substitute Google products. Although these applications are quite functional, it is not an easy task to substitute for well-known and fully-featured GMS services such as Google Maps or YouTube.
The switch from GMS to HMS led to another significant change in the Huawei brand, as the company decided to develop its own operating system – HarmonyOS. Since 2021, all new Huawei smartphones and tablets run on HarmonyOS with access to the AppGallery, which comes with pre-installed Harmony Apps and Android apps compatible with Huawei’s system.
Although Huawei’s mobile market share (2,6%) may seem insignificant in comparison to other app stores, including Samsung (23%), Apple (28%), and Xiaomi (11%), the statistics for AppGallery are quite impressive. According to Statista’s reports, in 2020 Huawei AppGallery noted about 384 billion app installs and updates. In the same year, the app marketplace reported 2.3 million registered app developers.
Companies not only choose to integrate their existing applications with Huawei AppGallery but also develop brand-new apps for the platform.
How to Adjust Your Android App to HarmonyOS?
Adding your new app to the AppGallery is one thing, but there are several steps that you need to take before you start the process. Fortunately, these do not include designing the whole app from the ground up, but you need to modernize certain elements to make your Android app run smoothly on Huawei devices.
Since Huawei launched its own operating system, businesses that wish to reach Huawei users have to develop HarmonyOS-compatible versions of their products. The work with Android apps will be simplified, as the Huawei operating system is based on AOSP. It means that, for instance, UI code should run properly even on devices with HarmonyOS. However, components of applications developed using certain Firebase services may cause problems.
Firebase is Google’s platform that enables devs to monitor the application, send notification messages, and track the progress of updates. It is also frequently used in building MVP apps. However, the platform is based on Google Mobile Services, which are no longer available on Huawei’s devices. Firebase features that might not run correctly in HarmonyOS devices include App Check SafetyNet provider, Firebase ML Vision, or Firebase ML Custom Model.
While these Firebase functionalities may not be available in HMS and should be substituted by third-party counterparts, many other features can be successfully replaced with services provided by Huawei in AppGallery Connect.
Integrating HMS in place of GMS services should be sufficient for your application to work on Huawei smartphones and tablets without crashing. However, you should know which Google Services were implemented in your app to be able to find their Huawei alternatives. Once you have started the project in AppGallery Connect, you should be able to carry out API integration for every feature in your app.
Step-by-step Guide on Adding an App to Huawei AppGallery
Launching a new app in the Huawei app marketplace may seem complicated at first. But the process is straightforward, especially for those who are familiar with Android app development and have uploaded apps to Google Play in the past. If you are looking for some guidelines on how to do it properly, follow our step-by-step instructions.
Register Your Profile
To modernize and add your app to AppGallery, you must first sign in to the service through the HUAWEI Developers platform and verify your identity with relevant documents.
Create a Project
If you wish to apply AppGallery services to your application, you’ll have to create a project. To do this, navigate to My projects and click Add project. Write the title of the project and choose Add app. Now, set the necessary parameters of your app, namely platform, device, app name, app type, package names, app category, and default language.
Modernize Your App
Once you have filled out the appropriate app details and set your default language, you can proceed to the development part. Go to the Manage APIs tab and enable the services you want to integrate.
Services like Auth Service, Crash, Cloud Functions, Cloud DB, Remote Configuration, App Linking, Cloud Storage, APM, or App Messaging, require SDKs integration into your development environment.
If you developed your application in Android Studio, you should upload a JSON file to AppGallery. To add a configuration file go to My projects and select your app. Proceed to Project settings, enter the General information tab, and insert the agconnect-services.json. file there. Then add the app file to the module directory in Android Studio.
Also, remember to configure these SDK addresses in your IDE. This step involves setting the Maven repository address and adding the AppGallery Connect plugin to Android Studio. Detailed instructions on how to implement those changes are available in the Guides section on the AppGallery Connect website.
Test
After setting the necessary components of your application for the Huawei environment, you should check whether it works correctly before you submit your app package. AppGallery Connect provides a variety of test services you can employ to facilitate the verification procedure and ensure the best user experience. They include cloud testing, cloud debugging, and open testing.
You can also verify whether your app package is properly integrated through an integration check. Based on these checks, you can make any necessary changes to your app before submitting it for review. These tests and configurations help to avoid issues that may cause delays. Other tests to carry out before you publish include sandbox and A/B testing.
Release
Once updated and tested, all is now set to publish your app. Yet, before it happens, you should provide crucial information concerning its specifications. In the Release App section, you will find the App Information tab. When you provide a brief introduction and details on the app type, compatible devices, as well as upload the app icon and app screenshots, you can proceed to Version information to decide on the regions you want to release your app in. Then mark whether you choose to publish your app for open testing or formal release.
Now, go to Manage packages to upload your APK and submit it for review. If the app fits the marketplace’s standards, it is approved for distribution.
Maintain
After launching your product in the Huawei marketplace, you are able to carry out basic maintenance tasks including updating its details or version, or transferring it to another user account if needed. You can also access the data concerning your application’s usage in the App Analytics section of your account. Analytical tools will provide you with detailed reports on downloads and installs of your application to give you an overview of its performance.
Huawei AppGallery – A Fine Alternative for High-profile App Marketplaces
Entering new markets is incredibly important for the prosperity of a business. Not only does it improve the visibility of a product, but it also increases the chances of reaching the target audience. Although Huawei’s market share worldwide remains smaller than Apple or Google Play, the company is gathering steam to become real competition for these two.
Therefore, adding an app to AppGallery might be a smart move that will bring you a lot of profit whether your app is free or paid. Especially if we take into account that there is no need to develop a separate version of the software. All you need to do is adjust your already existing application to HarmonyOS with the tools provided by Huawei in AppGallery Connect, which is far less demanding than creating it from scratch.
