Huawei HMS FAQs frequently asked questions answered

The most frequently asked questions around the Huawei HMS are answered in this article. Click here for more! In case your question is not covered, kindly leave a comment to get it answered or added into this HMS FAQs.

Question: What is HMS?

Answer: HMS is short for Huawei Mobile service. It is a platform from Huawei aiming at replacing popular Google Apps and services like Gmail, Facebook, Maps, cloud storage, and many more on both Huawei and HONOR smartphones. HMS consists of four different parts, including HMS connect, HMS core, HMS capabilities, and Tools. To help you better understand it, that's a user-facing component and a developer-facing component. In another word, a platform to help developers to offer more high-quality apps and services to normal users.

An image of the Huawei HMS core

Question: What does HMS Core do?

Answer: HMS Core is a part of HMS, Huawei Mobile Service. This component faces developers and is made up of various APIs, SDKs, Tools, and services to help developers to create and improve apps.

Question: What's the difference between HMS phones and other normal android phones?

Answer: HMS phone means those smartphones from both Huawei and HONOR without GMS, google mobile service.

The main difference is from where to obtain apps. On normal android phones, the user could directly search and install the app from the Google play store. While on the HMS phones, users search for apps from the Huawei AppGallery or from Petal Search after they download that from the Huawei AppGallery first. Another difference is, it's unable to use Gmail and google services like google map for example. And some apps which work on a GMS phone, may not work on the HMS phone.

And it's worth mentioning that HMS develops really fast. Except for launching Petal Search in the Huawei AppGallery for users to find required apps easier, Huawei also creates a bunch of online courses for the developers and users to better understand HMS.

An image of the structure of HMS, source: Huawei online course

Question: Where to get frequently used apps for HMS phones?

Answer: There are two options to get a frequently used app for HMS phones. Option one, search and download the app from the Huawei AppGallery. Option two, if that is not possible, then you can install the Petal search from the Huawei AppGallery then search for the wanted app in Petal Search.

Question: What are the advantages of HMS core 5.0 over google?

Answer: According to Huawei Consumer Business CEO Yu Chengdong, the HMS core has better machine learning service capabilities than GMS core. One example offered is that HMS core features high accuracy and low latency.

Secondly, HMS Core supports a lot of functions that are not covered by GMS core, for example, multiple face detection.

Thirdly, it's said that the accuracy of the Huawei Map exceed 25% of that of Google Map while less storage is required. And it supports more than 50 languages. So availability is never an issue.

Fourthly, the performance of scanning QR codes is better than google. Real-time security scanning of QR codes is supported.

From the perspective of developers, the GMS core is relatively mature already, with tons of frequently used apps and services available, so the competition is fiercer. While at the same time, it means double benefits for the developers if they launch their apps on both. More than that, the occurrence of HMS core seems to be a perfect solution to the monopoly of one ecosystem.

Question: What are the HMS phones from HONOR?

Answer: The HMS phones from HONOR include HONOR 9A, HONOR 9X pro, and HONOR 30 Series currently.

Question: What's the difference between HMS and harmony OS?

Answer: Harmony OS and the HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) are both aiming at replacing Google's app and services. From where we stand, Harmony OS is far more than HMS. Harmony OS is a platform designed for a variety of IoT devices such as smart TV or other smart home appliance.

An image of HarmonyOS 2.0 launching on 10th September 2020

Question: How does HMS Core 5.0 ensure apps security globally?

Answer: Firstly HMS core 5.0 provides security testing services and opens security capabilities for developers to work in a secure environment. Secondly, safety detect can quickly build safety detection capabilities and ensure the security of the apps. What's more, safety detects further enhance the security of fingerprint and 3D face verification. Thirdly, local data security storage and local face authentification capabilities are provided to further ensure the security.

Question: Which apps make up the HMS system?

Answer: The HMS system is made up of various apps, including Huawei AppGallery, Huawei Browser, Huawei Mobile Cloud, Huawei Themes, Huawei Music, Huawei Video, Huawei Reader, and Huawei Assistant.

Thanks for your time. If your question around the HMS is not answered, remember to leave us a comment.