Google tells owners of new Huawei phones not to sideload Google’s apps on the devices

Google also made it clear that Huawei phones launched before May 16th, 2019, but now getting released in other areas of the world, are considered new handsets and cannot be licensed to use Google Mobile Services. Explaining why its apps and services cannot be preloaded or sideloaded on new Huawei devices, Google pointed out that “To protect user data privacy, security, and safeguard the overall experience, the Google Play Store, Google Play Protect, and Google’s core apps (including Gmail, YouTube, Maps, and others) are only available on Play Protect certified devices. Play Protect certified devices go through a rigorous security review and compatibility testing process, performed by Google, to ensure user data and app information are kept safe. They also come from the factory with our Google Play Protect software, which provides protection against the device being compromised.”

The problem is, the U.S. placement of Huawei on the entity list prevents the latter’s phones from going through Google’s security process; they also do not have Google’s malware scanning Play Protect feature. As a result, these handsets are considered uncertified and cannot use Google’s apps. Additionally, sideloaded Google apps won’t work on Huawei devices because Google doesn’t allow these apps to run on uncertified phones where security might be compromised. “Sideloading Google’s apps also carries a high risk of installing an app that has been altered or tampered with in ways that can compromise user security,” the company said. You can check to see if your Android phone is certified by opening the Google Play Store and heading to Menu > Settings. Simply look under Play Protect certification.

Despite the ban, Huawei still managed to ship 240 million handsets last year. That wasn’t enough for it to top Samsung to take over the title of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, but it did manage to finish ahead of Apple in second place. That’s because patriotic Chinese consumers considered Huawei to be the victim of American bullying and turned out in large numbers to buy Huawei’s handsets. In China, most of Google’s apps are banned anyway which means that the company’s international models were the ones impacted by the ban.