Official HarmonyOS NEXT App

[hzonz]

Describe your request

Body:
Hello Home Assistant Team,

We formally request the development of an official HarmonyOS NEXT application exclusively for Huawei devices. With Huawei's complete migration to its pure HarmonyOS kernel (no Android compatibility layer), over 200 million active Huawei devices (e.g., Pura 70, Mate 60/X5 series) are projected to run HarmonyOS NEXT by 2025. Native support is now critical for this closed ecosystem.

Technical Imperatives:

Zero Android Compatibility:

HarmonyOS NEXT devices block Android APK execution (confirmed on Pura 70/Mate 60), invalidating all current workarounds.

Huawei-Specific Hardware Integration:

Direct access to Kirin chipset-optimized sensors (BLE/NFC via HiSilicon SDK).

Native HarmonyOS Push Kit for battery-efficient notifications (no persistent background processes).

Strategic Ecosystem Alignment:

Targets Huawei’s 800M+ device base – the world’s third-largest mobile OS by active devices.

Enhances HA’s "local-first" principle via on-device data processing (e.g., distributed sensors).

Core Feature Proposal:

📱 Huawei Service Widgets: Real-time device control from home screens (using Atomic Service API).

🔔 HarmonyOS Push Kit: Guaranteed notification delivery even when app is inactive.

⚡ Distributed Device Sync: Automation handoff across Huawei devices (e.g., tablet → phone continuity).

📦 AppGallery Integration: Seamless publishing/updates via Huawei’s official store.

This addresses a mandatory need for Huawei HarmonyOS NEXT users. We appreciate your technical evaluation!

Why the uncertainty?

No response

Use cases

Use the Home Assistant mobile app in HarmonyOS NEXT

What areas might this affect?

No response

Anything else?

No response

[xiasi0]

Any updates?

[xiasi0]

@frenck @mib1185

Hi, thanks for raising this. We have been working on an early community prototype for a native HarmonyOS NEXT Home Assistant companion app: HA Companion For HarmonyOS.

Preview video:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV17FdGBTECc/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=76e70a89201fd39248b018c90a8495aa

This is not an official Home Assistant project at the moment. It is still very early and not production-ready, but the goal is to explore whether a real native HarmonyOS NEXT companion app can become viable instead of only relying on an Android-compatible path or a simple WebView wrapper.

What we have implemented or started so far:

Home Assistant integration

• Server onboarding, manual server setup, and local network discovery.
• mDNS discovery for _home-assistant._tcp.
• Home Assistant authentication flow.
• Mobile app registration through /api/mobile_app/registrations.
• REST API support for config, states, lights, media players, and entity catalog parsing.
• WebSocket support for authenticated Home Assistant commands and registry fetching.
• Assist API prototype integration.

Native HarmonyOS app experience

• Built with ArkTS / ArkUI for HarmonyOS NEXT.
• Dashboard loading through HarmonyOS WebView, with a JavaScript bridge for external auth and external bus messages.
• Native settings surfaces for server, security, sensors, notifications, cards/widgets, gestures, companion preferences, and diagnostics.
• Multi-server instance management, including stored server records, active server switching, and per-server runtime state.

Device and companion features

• Local notification support with permission handling, test notifications, recent notification history, unread count, and badge updates.
• Sensor webhook integration for battery level, charging state, charger type, network type, last update trigger, background location, zone, and accurate location.
• Location support with foreground/background permissions, current location, location watching, zone matching, and geofence registration.
• Background connection / continuous task prototype.
• Assist-related speech recognition and text-to-speech prototype using HarmonyOS speech APIs.

Data, persistence, cards, and security

• Local persistence for server instances, session/account data, app settings, notification history, sensor preferences, mobile app identity, card snapshots, and runtime preferences.
• Separation between app runtime state, persisted storage, server account data, mobile app identity, and card/widget data.
• HarmonyOS service cards/widgets using FormKit, with independent card runtime, card data storage, form snapshots, event handling, and refresh coordination.
• Prototype light and media service cards that can operate outside the main app surface.
• App lock / unlock prototype using HarmonyOS user authentication APIs.

Some HarmonyOS APIs and frameworks currently used include ArkTS, ArkUI, AbilityKit, NetworkKit, WebView, NotificationKit, FormKit, BackgroundTasksKit, ArkData, UserAuthenticationKit, CoreSpeechKit, location APIs, permission APIs, device info, battery info, bundle manager, window APIs, and hilog.

The project is still experimental. Some flows are incomplete, some features need more real-device validation, and HarmonyOS NEXT platform behavior may still change. Huawei Push Kit and AppGallery production distribution are not implemented yet, but they are important next steps if this direction is accepted.

If the Home Assistant team is interested, we would be happy to align the project with Home Assistant’s expectations and contribute it to the Home Assistant organization. Ideally, once it reaches the required quality, review, security, and maintenance standards, the Home Assistant organization could own the official Huawei AppGallery release so users can install it from a trusted source.

[hzonz]

At the moment, I’m not very optimistic about the possibility of the Home Assistant team officially building and releasing a HarmonyOS‑native app. Currently, no major international developers are creating native HarmonyOS apps, and Huawei is still shipping Android‑based phones overseas. HarmonyOS is mainly used within China, and once an OS carries a “China‑only” label, its ecosystem growth naturally becomes more challenging.

I’m sure the HA developers have their own considerations regarding a HarmonyOS‑native app. For individual developers, publishing to Huawei AppGallery already requires a significant amount of effort, and implementing Push Kit involves privacy concerns and ongoing server costs, which are not easy to handle.

Recently, someone on the Hansi Bian forum successfully released a HarmonyOS‑native app on AppGallery, based on the HA for iOS project. This is a promising start, and the author has promised to open‑source it later. I truly hope that once it becomes open source, more contributors will join and help maintain the project. Thanks to everyone pushing this forward.

目前，个人对于HA官方构建和发布鸿蒙原生APP，不太乐观，现阶段没有国外知名厂商，构建鸿蒙原生APP，华为在国外还是发布基于安卓的手机。鸿蒙系统，目前只是国人在用，或许鸿蒙系统打上“中国”这个标签，本身就是坎坷。
想必大佬想HA构建和发布鸿蒙原生APP，有自己的想法，而个人上架华为 AppGallery，也是颇费精力，而且想实现Push Kit，隐私问题和服务器开支，也不容易。
翰思彼岸论坛，有人发布和上架华为 AppGallery了，基于HA for ios的鸿蒙原生app，这是一个良好的开端，作者承诺后期开源，希望有更多的人去维护这个项目。也希望大佬开源后，能有更多人投入和维护这个APP，感谢！

[mib1185]

@hzonz Please keep the communication in English, thx 👍

[C3H3-AI]

非常支持

[xiasi0]

Hi all, quick update from our side.

We have now published the early HarmonyOS NEXT native Home Assistant companion prototype as a public repository:

https://github.com/xiasi0/ha-companion-harmonyos

The project is still experimental and not production-ready, but it is intended to explore a real native HarmonyOS NEXT companion app path rather than relying on Android compatibility or a simple WebView-only wrapper.

Current scope includes:

• Home Assistant server onboarding, manual setup, and local discovery.
• Home Assistant OAuth authentication.
• mobile_app registration.
• Dashboard loading through HarmonyOS WebView.
• Native settings surfaces.
• Multi-server account/runtime handling.
• Basic sensors, location, notification, Assist, service card/widget, and app-lock related work.

One important compatibility note: Home Assistant Core does not currently define a HarmonyOS OS platform label, so the app currently uses the Android label for mobile_app registration and related requests to stay compatible with the existing Companion protocol path. The app itself is native HarmonyOS NEXT / ArkTS / ArkUI.

Also, Huawei Push Kit is not implemented at this stage. Because Push Kit and AppGallery production distribution involve platform qualification, privacy/compliance requirements, and a suitable developer or organization entity, we do not plan to publish this under an individual AppGallery account.

If the Home Assistant team is interested, we would be happy to align the project direction with Home Assistant’s expectations and improve it toward the quality, security, and maintainability standards required for a future official or community-maintained HarmonyOS companion app.

[BA4892]

Hi all, quick update from our side.

We have now published the early HarmonyOS NEXT native Home Assistant companion prototype as a public repository:

https://github.com/xiasi0/ha-companion-harmonyos

The project is still experimental and not production-ready, but it is intended to explore a real native HarmonyOS NEXT companion app path rather than relying on Android compatibility or a simple WebView-only wrapper.

Current scope includes:

* Home Assistant server onboarding, manual setup, and local discovery.

* Home Assistant OAuth authentication.

* `mobile_app` registration.

* Dashboard loading through HarmonyOS WebView.

* Native settings surfaces.

* Multi-server account/runtime handling.

* Basic sensors, location, notification, Assist, service card/widget, and app-lock related work.

One important compatibility note: Home Assistant Core does not currently define a HarmonyOS OS platform label, so the app currently uses the Android label for mobile_app registration and related requests to stay compatible with the existing Companion protocol path. The app itself is native HarmonyOS NEXT / ArkTS / ArkUI.

Also, Huawei Push Kit is not implemented at this stage. Because Push Kit and AppGallery production distribution involve platform qualification, privacy/compliance requirements, and a suitable developer or organization entity, we do not plan to publish this under an individual AppGallery account.

If the Home Assistant team is interested, we would be happy to align the project direction with Home Assistant’s expectations and improve it toward the quality, security, and maintainability standards required for a future official or community-maintained HarmonyOS companion app.

This is great news on the project, I have added this to the Oniro Research on open source applications to integrate with Oniro/OpenHarmony and HarmonyOS globally as a foundation collectively as Huawei is exploring full expansion of global HarmonyOS Next later this year, phasing in selected countries starting in late Q2 on tablets I heard from Huawei reps in Thailand
A global developer had developed a Watch version for Watch 5+ devices on HarmonyOS 5 last year
eclipse-oniro4openharmony/oniro-planning#80
https://github.com/gentslava/Home-Assistant-HarmonyOS-
PanDaily source:
https://pandaily.com/huawei-matepad-pro-max-overseas-harmonyos-43