Honor 9 is one of the best smartphones of 2022 that can be bought in the mid-price segment of the market. It has an incredibly powerful processor, a respectable triple camera setup on the back, and a pop-up selfie camera that allows the phone's 6.6-inch display to stretch out to the edges.
The only drawback of Honor 9 is that this smartphone model does not have Google services pre-installed.
Since Huawei was placed on the US Prohibited Entity List for the first half of 2022, the company has been unable to obtain Google certification for any of its new phones. This means that the Play Store and all other Google apps are not installed on the Honor 9. The Huawei App Store is present, but since it is mainly aimed at the Chinese market, it does not have most of the apps and games that are used in the rest of the world.
Fortunately, this problem can be fixed. Follow the step-by-step instructions below and you can install Google Play Store on Honor 9 in 5 minutes, which will give you access to all your favorite applications and games. This guide will also work on Huawei Mate 30.
How to install Play Market on Honor 9S
This method of downloading a well-known market to your phone will be the easiest. It involves installing the Play Market from another application, which will also need to be found in the “local market” of your smartphone. Everything is quite clear - open AppGallery (Honor’s built-in store) on the phone. And through it we find an application called AppGo.
This is a collection of applications for Honor phone models that do not have built-in Google Play.
Find the Google market in the list of applications and install it. Next, you need to activate your account by entering your email and password. The Paly Market logo will appear on the home screen.
With its help, you can now visit the application store and install any of them in the same way as users do with the built-in market. The AppGo application suite includes other useful programs and tools that may not be found in Honor's standard AppGallary store.
The difference between Google and Huawei services
Google Services (GMS) are utilities built into Android that are necessary for applications to work correctly, for example:
- sending push notifications;
- authorization using a Google account;
- installing and updating programs via Google Play;
- determining the user's geolocation.
Without these services, it is impossible to see notifications from social networks and instant messengers without launching the programs themselves, as well as use many popular applications (for example, YouTube or Google Maps). Honor 20 and 20 pro smartphones still support GMS, and Honor 30 or Honor 9s devices come pre-installed with the new store.
To solve the problem, the Chinese company has developed its own services with similar functionality - HMS (Huawei Mobile Services), as well as a proprietary application store, AppGallery. Now developers of mobile utilities must optimize their products for HMS and place them in the Huawei store. Read this article on how to install Google services on Honor.
If the application is not in the official Huawei AppGallery, then its stable operation on the device is not guaranteed.
How to use the built-in AppGallery market
The creators of the Honor brand are sure that Google Play is just a user habit of downloading programs. And they have the right to think so. Google Play services are only one possible source where we can get applications. They are also distributed separately on official websites. There are app stores from other developers where we can find games and tools for the phone. AppGallery is just such an alternative source of programs. Most of the applications are already there. All the user needs is to create an account in the Honor 9A and 9S system. In other words, register by entering your email and password.
Some missing programs in AppGallery can be obtained from AppGo, which was written about in the previous chapter. For example, here you can download Viber or Instagram. In other cases, when you need games, most of them are already in the Honor app gallery. Every day this market is filled with new programs. Perhaps soon these two online stores will compete in the mobile application market.
In the meantime, let's look at an additional method where you can download applications on Honor 9A and 9S without the Play Market. Both phone models have almost the same parameters and capabilities. Despite the slight difference in their names.
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AppGallery is the official application store from Huawei
Google has banned Huawei from using its services, but the Android system itself is still available to the Chinese company, thanks to the AOSP - Android Open Source Project.
Instead of Google Play, all devices of the Chinese manufacturer have the AppGallery store pre-installed, which allows you to download the best programs and applications for free on Huawei and Honor smartphones without Google. The service is available in Russian and allows you to easily and quickly download programs or games to your mobile device, update it, or delete it.
How to download applications on Honor 9S without Google Play
All touch mobile devices have a certain set of programs, without which their use is not possible. First of all, these are SMS messages, telephone, browser, file manager and others. Any Honor model has a built-in browser.
Its name will most likely be unknown. The browser icon is usually located in the bottom menu. Run this program on your phone to download and install any mobile application. There are several free sources on the Internet where you can get the game or program.
- The 4PDA forum is one of the most popular forums in RuNet about mobile devices. The link leads to a page with application categories;
- Trashbox is a popular site with apps and about apps. Use the search bar to find what you need by name;
- Apdpure.com/ru/app – many popular games and programs for installation on Honor 9A and 9S.
On all of these sources you can download a file with the APK extension. This is an installation package that runs on click. There are no difficulties or secrets in installing applications.
After downloading the file, you need to find it in the system memory using the file manager and run it. If the smartphone has protection against running programs from unknown sources, the user will be redirected to settings, where they can disable the protection with one click. You can also download Play Market this way and try to install it on your phone.
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Honor 9A
Honor 9A features a 6.3-inch display with a resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels. There is also a waterdrop notch for the front camera. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio P22 SoC paired with 3GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot for further storage expansion up to 512GB.
For photography, the Honor 9A offers a triple camera setup led by a 13MP primary camera with an f/1.8 lens, along with a 5MP ultra-wide camera with 120-degree field of view and a 2MP depth sensor for portraits. On the front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie camera. It runs on Android 10 with Magic UI 3.1.1 on top. A 5000 mAh battery powers the device.
How to create a Huawei account
In order for the user to download applications from AppGallery, he will need to create a Huawei account. On the screen of your 9A or 9S smartphone, select the icon with the name of the application. A form will appear where you need to write down your phone number or email address. Enter a few characters below to create a password for your account. And click on the “Registration” button.
During registration, the user will also need to indicate their date of birth. If a phone number was used in the account creation form on Honor's phone, an SMS with a confirmation code will be sent to it. It will need to be entered into the form. If you used an email account, a letter with a code will be sent to it.
Huawei's own developments
In addition to HMS services, the company also released a voice assistant – Celia. The assistant does not yet support the Russian language, but the manufacturer has already announced such a feature. In Russia, Celia will operate on the technological base of Alice from Yandex.
Huawei's own utilities are not inferior in functionality to Google. For example, a worthy alternative to branded applications of an American company are:
- Huawei Hisuite is a utility for synchronizing Huawei and Honor smartphones with computers running Windows.
- Huawei Health is an application that allows you to monitor your health status, physical activity and weight changes. The program is capable of collecting and analyzing indicators from various Smart devices (for example, smart watches or fitness bracelets). Huawei Health is available for all Android smartphones or tablets, regardless of their manufacturer.
- Huawei Pay is a contactless payment program that works on any mobile device with an NFC module. The utility does not yet support cards from all banks, but the list is constantly expanding.
In addition to Huawei Pay, Yandex.Money or Wallet programs can serve as a replacement for Google Pay for payments using a smartphone.
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AppGo app
The AppGo utility (which can be installed on Honor brand smartphones via AppGallery) is not a full-fledged application store. The service is a simple list of links for downloading third-party software, sorted by category and searchable by name. Clicking on the button with the logo of the downloaded program will take the user to another browser or directory in which this utility is available.
To use AppGo on devices from other manufacturers, you must install Huawei mobile services and AppGallery on them.
APK Installer app
The best software manager for Android, allowing you to install or remove APK from your smartphone’s own or external memory (possible batch copying of several files). The PC version of APK Installer allows you to download the APK to your smartphone from any computer running Windows (starting from XP).
In addition to installing applications, the utility allows you to create backup copies of APK files, as well as view their parameters and signatures.
Note! APK Installer does not require Root rights, so it is not able to install programs in the background.
APKMirror and APKCombo
Mirror sites that allow you to download games and applications to Honor smartphones. To use the services, you do not need to install them - just follow the link in your browser. Software catalogs do not support the Russian language; the search bar helps you navigate through the database of available programs.
APKMirror was created by the team of the English-language information site Android Police, which strictly checks all content displayed in the catalog. The service does not contain user-modified versions of applications or pirated copies of paid software.
Applications downloaded using these sites will not be automatically updated - the user must independently monitor and download the latest versions.
Store Features
The Huawei AppGallery assortment is still less extensive than Google's Play Market - it lacks many popular applications and games. But the service is gradually being replenished, including with well-known software (Telegram recently appeared in the AppGallery). Wishlists in the store allow the user to submit a request for the expected program, and receive a notification on the phone as soon as it becomes available for download.
The company managed to attract people to the new service and develop the store to a decent level within a year due to the almost complete absence of commission for developers (15% for game creators, and free for all other applications).
AppGallery offers both free content and app downloads at discounted prices. The Huawei Coins program, available to all users, allows you to receive bonuses from purchasing games (100% of the cost), which can subsequently be spent on purchasing in-game items. In this case, one bonus coin is equal to one ruble.
Since all US companies are prohibited from partnering with Huawei, WhatsApp, Twitter or Instagram are unlikely to appear on the AppGallery. However, the programs themselves can work on Chinese smartphones - you just need to manually install the corresponding APK file on the device.
Aurora Store or Google Play Clone
The store, with a design that replicates Google Play, allows you to download all programs and games available in the Play Market, even on those devices on which it is impossible to install Google services. Also, thanks to functions for replacing information about a device or location, the Aurora Store allows you to download applications to Honor smartphones, bypassing official blocking by country, region or characteristics of the mobile phone.
Immediately after installation, Aurora Store requires you to log in to your Google account, while simultaneously warning that it may be blocked. Therefore, it is better to use an unnecessary Google account for authorization or work under anonymous mode, which also allows you to download any software from the store’s assortment.
The service interface supports a dark theme. An advanced search filter allows you to select only free software or programs that do not contain advertising. To control the automatic updating of downloaded applications, they can be blacklisted or whitelisted.
Aurora Store is best used on smartphones with a large amount of RAM; on weak and outdated devices the application sometimes crashes.
Some methods of installing APKs, as well as background downloading or updating programs, require Root rights.
Root rights are required in cases where:
–
improving, replacing or removing system files;
–
removing or disabling system services or applications;
–
ad blocking;
–
changing the firmware design (icon size, desktop grid, etc.);
–
reduction of battery consumption;
–
impact on the performance of the smartphone and control of its operation (changing the frequency of individual cores or the entire processor);
–
another.
Important! Due to incorrect actions or lack of necessary knowledge, the device may be BLOCKED!
