Credit: Huawei
One of the biggest question marks regarding Huawei’s Mate 30 Pro is app support.
Since it does not officially support Google Apps, Google Services, and the Google Play Store, you will have to rely on the Huawei App Store when setting up the device and beyond.
According to Huawei, their AppGallery has more than 45,000 apps and has more than 390 million monthly active users worldwide. But what does this experience actually look like for a normal user?
We tried setting up the new Mate 30 Pro to find out. You can read our full Huawei Mate 30 Pro review here.
We will categorize each category of apps into one of three categories. Those who technically meet our requirements get a pass. Those who exceed this minimum and offer excellent options are awarded a distinction. Those who have no failure.
Credit: Google Note: Passed
Although Huawei AppGallery obviously does not support the official Gmail app, you can still use Google’s email client through the web browser. It’s also pretty easy to log into Gmail or Outlook through the official EMUI10 email app, which lacks all of Gmail’s little bells and whistles and hardware design, but is otherwise quite functional.
What alternatives are there?
In addition to the official Huawei option, we found a few other messaging apps in the Huawei app gallery. The best of them was probably Aquamail. You can find more information about it here.
Calendar
Credit: Google Note: Fail
Aside from the super basic EMUI10 calendar app, the Mate 30 Pro is sorely lacking in good calendar apps.
What alternatives are there?
There is a popular Calendar app on the Huawei AppGallery, but it is very clearly aimed at a Chinese audience and does not appear to support English. If you have a special affinity for the Calendar app of your choice and don’t want to bother loading it aside, this could be a problem.
Carpooling and transport
Credit: Uber Note: Fail
Huawei’s App Store is completely devoid of Australian ridesharing or transportation apps you might want to rely on.
There is no Uber. There is no TripView. There are no apps for airlines like Qantas or Virgin. There’s not even a 13Cabs app. To learn more about alternatives to Uber in Australia, check out our guide here.
Social media
Credit: Twitter Note: Fail
Out of the box, the Huawei AppGallery could be a great antidote to Instagram junkies. You can’t spend too much time on social media if you can’t set up social media I guess?
Does Huawei’s AppGallery have Facebook? No. Does the Huawei Mate 30 Pro have Twitter? No. Does the Huawei Mate 30 Pro have WhatsApp? No. Does the Huawei Mate 30 Pro have Instagram? Nope.
There’s Tik Tok and that’s about it.
What alternatives are there?
Side load or bust.
Diffusion
Credit: Netflix Note: Fail
Predictably enough, the Huawei App Gallery doesn’t offer any of the media streaming services you may be familiar with. He doesn’t have Netflix. He doesn’t have Youtube. It doesn’t have Amazon, Spotify, or Apple Music. He certainly doesn’t have Stan or Disney +.
What alternatives are there?
Although I couldn’t find any video streaming apps on Huawei AppGallery, I did find a music streaming service in the form of Xiami. It looked OK. Unfortunately, the app seemed to only offer options in Chinese – so I have no idea how useful it will be in practice.
Time to release that old MP3 collection, I guess?
Finance
Credit: Google Note: Fail
In terms of financial apps, the Huawei AppGallery offers plenty of options in terms of stock tracking and a few budget management apps. However, if you are looking to use NFC connectivity inside the Mate 30 Pro, you will be out of luck. Neither Google nor Samsung Pay are on the AppGallery and no Australian bank has yet put their apps on the platform.
What alternatives are there?
Very little. You could possibly use another Android device to set up contactless payments through an independent portable platform, but when it comes to things on the Huawei AppGallery, there really isn’t much here.
Productivity
Credit: Google Note: Passed
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro comes with WPS Office preinstalled. It’s nowhere near as good as stuff like Google Docs or Microsoft Office, but it’s better than nothing I guess. There’s also a dedicated Huawei Notepad app that can be used in a pinch, but lacks cloud-based features like Keep or OneNote.
What alternatives are there?
OfficeSuite is available on Huawei AppGallery, which is another acceptable alternative to word processing and productivity apps you would otherwise be familiar with.
Photography
Credit: Google Note: Passed
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro may have some of the most cutting-edge photographic hardware ever seen in a smartphone, but the software side of the equation is a bit more uncertain. As mentioned above, there is no Instagram. There is also no VSCO or Google Photos. The Huawei Gallery app offers basic post-production and editing functions, but, for anything more complicated, you’ll need to go to the AppGallery.
What alternatives are there?
While stuff like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop are out of reach here, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Canva and LightX were available on the Huawei App Gallery. MIX is another decent alternative that I have found for basic photo editing.
Credit: Epic Games Games
Note: Fail
Look, I don’t want to mince my words here. The Huawei AppGallery’s game library is appalling. It’s like taking the absolute dregs of the iOS system and Google Play and putting them center stage. Of course, there are a few official titles here like Route of the Cross, Cut the rope 2 and The walking dead. However, for the most part, this section of the App Store is full of raw fakes that seem more ready to steal your data than free time.
You don’t even get the fun stuff like this Overwatch mobile clone. It’s a bit depressing, frankly.
What alternatives are there?
The only thing I could find was an Epic games launcher app, which right now is basically just an installer for Fortnite. If you want Fortnite, It’s awesome. Otherwise, this dire situation makes it very difficult to recommend the Mate 30 Pro if you are looking for a great mobile gaming experience.
What can you do about it?
Look, so far the easiest workaround comes from a surprising source: Amazon.
Amazon runs its own app store for Fire tablets. Downloading and installing takes about five seconds. It contains much of what Huawei’s app gallery is currently missing: Twitter, Facebook, popular games like Foyer. You can download the Amazon App Store here.
Any smartphone is only as useful as the apps you can install on it, and while the Huawei AppGallery can hold 45,000 apps, one thing it doesn’t have is one thing that your experience hits a wall.
Thanks to Ausdroid for letting us know about this workaround.
You can read our full Huawei Mate 30 Pro review here.
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