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HarmonyOS
HarmonyOS (HMOS) (Chinese: 鸿蒙; pinyin: Hóngméng; trans. "Vast Mist") is a distributed operating system developed by Huawei for smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, smart watches, personal computers and other smart devices. It has a microkernel design with a single framework: the operating system selects suitable kernels from the abstraction layer in the case of devices that use diverse resources. From 2019 to 2024, versions 1 to 4 of the operating system were based on code from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and the Linux kernel; many Android apps could be sideloaded on HarmonyOS. The next iteration of HarmonyOS became known as HarmonyOS NEXT. HarmonyOS NEXT was announced on August 4, 2023, and officially launched on October 22, 2024. It replaced the OpenHarmony multi-kernel system with its own HarmonyOS microkernel at its core and removed all Android code. Since version 5, HarmonyOS only supports apps in its native "App" format.
HarmonyOS was officially launched by Huawei, and first used in Honor smart TVs, in August 2019. It was later used in Huawei wireless routers, IoT in 2020, followed by smartphones, tablets and smartwatches from June 2021.
In May 2025, the first notebook with the HarmonyOS operating system was launched by Huawei, featuring "HarmonyOS PC", i.e. HarmonyOS 5 for the personal computer form factor.
In 2015, Huawei launched a research and development strategy for self-developed core technologies including operating systems and databases. At that time, its own operating system did not have a name, and there was only a group of engineers designing the architecture, writing code, and designing core technologies.
In 2019, Huawei applied for a trademark called "华为鸿蒙" for the kernel of its own operating system. At that time, when the company was still struggling with what to name its operating system, the public mistakenly thought the trademark of the system kernel was the name of an operating system. Finally, the official named the operating system "Hongmeng" (Chinese: 鸿蒙; lit. 'Vast Mist'). The name "Hongmeng" represents "the vitality of all things at the beginning of their creation". The English name chosen was "HarmonyOS", symbolizing "the interconnection of all things and harmonious coexistence."
Reports surrounding an in-house operating system being developed by Huawei date back as far as 2012 in R&D stages with HarmonyOS NEXT system stack going back as early as 2015. These reports intensified during the Sino-American trade war, after the United States Department of Commerce added Huawei to its Entity List in May 2019 under an indictment that it knowingly exported goods, technology and services of U.S. origin to Iran in violation of sanctions. This prohibited U.S.-based companies from doing business with Huawei without first obtaining a license from the government. Huawei executive Yu Chengdong described an in-house platform as a "plan B" in case it is prevented from using Android on future smartphone products due to the sanctions.
Prior to its unveiling, it was originally speculated to be a mobile operating system that could replace Android on future Huawei devices. In June 2019, an Huawei executive told Reuters that the OS was under testing in China, and could be ready "in months", but by July 2019, some Huawei executives described the OS as being an embedded operating system designed for IoT hardware, discarding the previous statements for it to be a mobile operating system.
Some media outlets reported that this OS, referred to as "Hongmeng", could be released in China in either August or September 2019, with a worldwide release in the second quarter of 2020. On 24 May 2019, Huawei registered "Hongmeng" as a trademark in China. The name "Hongmeng" came from Chinese mythology that symbolizes primordial chaos or the world before creation. The same day, Huawei registered trademarks surrounding "Ark OS" and variants with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In July 2019, it was reported that Huawei had also registered trademarks surrounding the word "Harmony" for desktop and mobile operating system software, indicating either a different name or a component of the OS.
HarmonyOS
HarmonyOS (HMOS) (Chinese: 鸿蒙; pinyin: Hóngméng; trans. "Vast Mist") is a distributed operating system developed by Huawei for smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, smart watches, personal computers and other smart devices. It has a microkernel design with a single framework: the operating system selects suitable kernels from the abstraction layer in the case of devices that use diverse resources. From 2019 to 2024, versions 1 to 4 of the operating system were based on code from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and the Linux kernel; many Android apps could be sideloaded on HarmonyOS. The next iteration of HarmonyOS became known as HarmonyOS NEXT. HarmonyOS NEXT was announced on August 4, 2023, and officially launched on October 22, 2024. It replaced the OpenHarmony multi-kernel system with its own HarmonyOS microkernel at its core and removed all Android code. Since version 5, HarmonyOS only supports apps in its native "App" format.
HarmonyOS was officially launched by Huawei, and first used in Honor smart TVs, in August 2019. It was later used in Huawei wireless routers, IoT in 2020, followed by smartphones, tablets and smartwatches from June 2021.
In May 2025, the first notebook with the HarmonyOS operating system was launched by Huawei, featuring "HarmonyOS PC", i.e. HarmonyOS 5 for the personal computer form factor.
In 2015, Huawei launched a research and development strategy for self-developed core technologies including operating systems and databases. At that time, its own operating system did not have a name, and there was only a group of engineers designing the architecture, writing code, and designing core technologies.
In 2019, Huawei applied for a trademark called "华为鸿蒙" for the kernel of its own operating system. At that time, when the company was still struggling with what to name its operating system, the public mistakenly thought the trademark of the system kernel was the name of an operating system. Finally, the official named the operating system "Hongmeng" (Chinese: 鸿蒙; lit. 'Vast Mist'). The name "Hongmeng" represents "the vitality of all things at the beginning of their creation". The English name chosen was "HarmonyOS", symbolizing "the interconnection of all things and harmonious coexistence."
Reports surrounding an in-house operating system being developed by Huawei date back as far as 2012 in R&D stages with HarmonyOS NEXT system stack going back as early as 2015. These reports intensified during the Sino-American trade war, after the United States Department of Commerce added Huawei to its Entity List in May 2019 under an indictment that it knowingly exported goods, technology and services of U.S. origin to Iran in violation of sanctions. This prohibited U.S.-based companies from doing business with Huawei without first obtaining a license from the government. Huawei executive Yu Chengdong described an in-house platform as a "plan B" in case it is prevented from using Android on future smartphone products due to the sanctions.
Prior to its unveiling, it was originally speculated to be a mobile operating system that could replace Android on future Huawei devices. In June 2019, an Huawei executive told Reuters that the OS was under testing in China, and could be ready "in months", but by July 2019, some Huawei executives described the OS as being an embedded operating system designed for IoT hardware, discarding the previous statements for it to be a mobile operating system.
Some media outlets reported that this OS, referred to as "Hongmeng", could be released in China in either August or September 2019, with a worldwide release in the second quarter of 2020. On 24 May 2019, Huawei registered "Hongmeng" as a trademark in China. The name "Hongmeng" came from Chinese mythology that symbolizes primordial chaos or the world before creation. The same day, Huawei registered trademarks surrounding "Ark OS" and variants with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In July 2019, it was reported that Huawei had also registered trademarks surrounding the word "Harmony" for desktop and mobile operating system software, indicating either a different name or a component of the OS.