Huawei gets WeChat on board with HarmonyOS, a key step to challenge Android, iOS in China

South China Morning Post

10 January 2025 at 4:30 am·2-min read

Tencent Holdings' ubiquitous super app WeChat officially launched on HarmonyOS Next in China, giving Huawei Technologies a vital ally, as it expands the reach of the home-grown mobile operating system and Android replacement.

The HarmonyOS version of WeChat has been available for download since Wednesday, three months after Tencent began beta testing the app. The latest version supports key WeChat functions such as payments, short videos, live streaming and mini programs, in addition to messaging, audio and video calls, and social media page Moments - functions that already existed in the beta version.

With 1.38 billion monthly active users, WeChat has become a must-have digital tool for mainland Chinese users, making it indispensable for Huawei's goal to break the dominance of Google's Android and Apple's iOS in its home market.

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Tencent last March assigned an experienced team to lead the development of WeChat's HarmonyOS version, the company said on Wednesday. The team has been in charge of building various versions of WeChat through the years, including for Nokia's Symbian mobile operating system.

Getting WeChat on board with HarmonOS is a key win for Huawei. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Getting WeChat on board with HarmonOS is a key win for Huawei. Photo: Shutterstock>

Huawei has been rebuilding its consumer device business after US sanctions decimated sales of its smartphones. Barred from accessing US-origin technologies, the Chinese tech giant has doubled down on efforts to reduce reliance on both foreign software and hardware.

Its Mate 70 flagship smartphones, which were unveiled in November and feature an in-house designed processor, employ HarmonyOS Next, the latest iteration of the Huawei platform that no longer supports Android apps.

The Shenzhen-based company has set a 2025 target for all of its smartphones and tabletsto run on HarmonyOS Next.

Besides WeChat, Huawei also brought in other major Chinese apps, including TikTok's Chinese sibling Douyin and Alipay from Ant Group, a financial technology affiliate of South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding.

The HarmonyOS Next ecosystem, with over 15,000 native apps and services as of October, was "basically usable", Huawei's rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhijun said in November. The company expects the operating system to reach "maturity" by achieving 100,000 apps in the next six months to a year, he added.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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