Huawei’s app distribution platform AppGallery has been around for a while. It was launched many years ago, long before even the relationship between the tech company and the US started deteriorating.
So far, the app store has been growing, and it still has some popular titles. However, there are a ton of apps it does not have, most of them Google-affiliated.
Others cannot work on the current batch of Huawei phones because they need a Google framework to run.
A couple of months ago, we were glad to learn that AppGallery was equipped with some of Kenya’s most useful apps, such as KCB and Eazzy Banking financial apps. These are two of Kenya’s top banking institutions, and it made sense that the lenders worked with Huawei to provide for customers using modern Huawei devices.
However, we were kind of sad when we noticed that another popular app, namely mySafaricom was not supported.
Nonetheless, this is a story of the past because AppGallery has Safaricom’s utility app now, and it runs as advertised.
Those who have interacted with mySafaricom know it is a very important tool thanks to its bundled services, including accessing basic features, M-PESA or your Home Fibre account management.
AppGallery has also received support from loan apps, which is a good thing for groups that use their services (just be wary of loan apps you use, because some of them will give you money even when you have been listed by the CRB, and that itself should spell disaster).
Whether Huawei will continue working with local developers is a development we are looking forward to. It should be growing, actually, but Kenya is a country whose customers are deeply invested in Google services. It also does not help that the existing ban will stick around for a while, and that hurts Huawei because more and more customers are becoming aware of the hurdles they have to jump before making their non-Google services phones work like others.
