Right after the launch of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, it was revealed how easy it was to install Google apps on the device despite how Huawei was overruled for Google app installation in the first place. However, thanks to the app LZPlay, downloading android apps on Huawei Mate 30 Pro became remarkably simple. Unfortunately, the app has now been taken down because of security reasons.
Here’s What’s Happening in the Huawei World
If you aren’t aware of what’s happening in the Huawei world, then let us give you a brief insight into the developments. A few months ago, Google stripped Huawei from its Android license because of a move taken by the US government to list the Chinese tech giant Huawei among firms which are banned by the US to conduct any business with. President Trump indicated that he was a bit afraid that Huawei claims certain ties from the state of China and is not anymore a standalone firm. There was a strong chance that the company might have opened backdoors for the Chinese to spy on them.
As the ban was placed on Huawei, they were left with little choice but to ban all Android apps on their OS in order to stop themselves from a violation. However, the ban has not affected the current Huawei smartphones and devices as this ban was quickly bypassed by Huawei users as they installed and run a single application sourced from a Chinese website. Today, John Wu, a leading research specialist at the Android security and the creator of Magisk published preliminary research on how the LZPlay app was able to install Google apps on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
Wu states that LZPlay uses a certain specialized Android permission which is only available in the Huawei phones which allow Huawei users to install third-party Android apps as “system” apps. It was highly important because certain Google apps are required to be system apps and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro wouldn’t function correctly on Android OS if those apps weren’t part of the system.
Particularly, these permissions were only granted by apps that are digitally signed by Huawei. An app that required a digital signature has to go through a typically long code process of rigorous reviewing. Wu identified that the special permission granted was not even documented which created suspicion.
Soon after the research was published, LZPlay.net was left with little choice than to turn the app offline. All previously downloaded copies ceased to function and the APKs were no longer relevant.
Android Central’s LZPlay Test on Google Apps
Furthermore, Alex Dobie of the Android Central further indicated that the moment LZPlay stopped functioning, the Google apps installed were no longer able to pass the SafetyNet tests. For those of you who don’t know the validity of SafetyNet, it is Google’s way of making sure a device is not rooted.
If your phone passes SafetyNet tests, it means that the phone is eligible to use Google Services. Damien Wilde demonstrated a few days earlier that Google Pay was working on Mate 30 Pro powered by LZPlay. It indicates that something has changed in SafetyNet process or Mate 30 Pro which are becoming a cause for the tests to fail. But with the LZPlay shutdown, the Google Pay is no longer working on the new Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
However, the main takeaway of the entire article is that if you haven’t downloaded Google apps on your Huawei Mate 30 Pro yet, you just might have to sit this one down and wait for US and China to settle their dispute. Seeing that the Mate 30 Pro hasn’t made its way out of the Chinese market yet, the only people who are about to wait for the dispute settlement are tech reviewers who purchased the phone.
Stay tuned for more interesting information on the development of US and China relationships with us. We bring to you the best and only the latest from the world of technology.