Huawei is no doubt in a very tough spot right now. The US government has banned companies like Google from working with the Chinese giant. With this, Huawei is not allowed to pre-install some Google apps and services on its new phones. This means that access to the Play Store is limited and this definitely affects those who buy Huawei phones as most people who buy and use Android phones are used to having access to the Play Store.
Huawei has always had a Play Store alternative, App Gallery, but the company hasn’t been aggressively recruiting people to use it outside China. With the state the company is in, it has been letting people outside China know about App Gallery and is actively recruiting developers to publish their apps there.
Even though the App Gallery has been out for some time, it does not have all the apps you can find on the Play Store. Some of the top applications including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not available on the store. This is in addition to some of the popular Google apps including Gmail, YouTube etc.
With these popular apps missing, it will be hard for Huawei to convince people that the App Gallery is a good alternative to the Play Store. Keep in mind that you can sideload some apps available on the Play Store by looking for their APKs from third party sources. Of course, this is risky but if the popular publishers do not bring their apps to platforms such as App Gallery, such platform will have a tough time attracting users.
Huawei knows that not having these apps is not good and the company is working to fix that. According to GadgetMatch, Huawei Mobile CEO Richard Yu said that some of the popular apps will soon be available on the App Gallery and therefore new Huawei phones. The Google apps may not be on the list but we should expect the other popular ones including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
There is no timeline as to when this is going to happen but it may be soon. Huawei is recruiting developers worldwide and you can see the evidence on this when you open App Gallery right now. You will notice some new apps that have been added recently that previously could only be downloaded through the Play Store or through third part APK providers.
Also Read: Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo Join Forces to Battle Google Play’s Dominance
