Huawei puts its tanks onto the Apple Watch's lawn
Huawei is bringing third party apps to its range of smartwatches, in a major overhaul of its custom OS.
The Huawei Watch GT 2 (and GT 2e and GT 2 Pro) smartwatches have been hugely successful in propelling the company into the top table of wearables manufacturers.
However, despite the advantages of long battery life and a very complete set of health sensors, the experience is limited by a lack of third party apps.
But that has now changed. The company now supports third party apps via the Huawei App Gallery, which opens the door for developers to get involved.
And it would also mean other smartwatches like the Huawei Watch Fit could also gain extra functionality from third parties.
And the company has shown off its functionality with a new app from Fitify. It’s an app that’s garnered moderate success from the Google Play Store, and tracks a number of workouts from the wrist.
Like most apps, it will have been ported to Huawei App Gallery from Wear OS/watch OS, and for this reason it will be a while until the Huawei smartwatch app store is bustling with apps.
It will take time for app makers to port over – but it also remains to be seen whether many will deem the time and effort worthy.
While the Huawei Watch does have a significant install base, it’s mainly focused in China. So we will likely see a rush of smaller apps making a land grab and those that can take advantage of the Chinese audience. Bigger name apps might come later.
But the ability to run apps is a huge feature boost for Huawei, and mixed with its impressive battery life, will really give the likes of Apple, Google and Samsung pause for thought.
