On May 16, 2019, the US government placed Huawei on an export blacklist that prohibits all US companies, including Google, from collaborating with Huawei. The 5G battle between the US and Huawei has become more a political fight and a battle of authority than anything technical.

Google has advised not to sideload Google’s apps and services like Gmail, Maps, YouTube, the Play Store and others as these were not available for preload or sideload on new Huawei device models.

“Our focus has been protecting the security of Google users on the millions of existing Huawei devices around the world. We have continued to work with Huawei, in compliance with government regulations, to provide security updates and updates to Google’s apps and services on existing devices, and we will continue to do so as long as it is permitted,” Tristan Ostrowski, Android and Play Legal Director, said. “US law currently allows Google to only work with Huawei on-device models available to the public on or before May 16, 2019.”

Google explains that devices that are Play Protect certified to protect user data privacy, security, and safeguard the overall experience, go through a rigorous security review and compatibility testing process to secure user data and app information are kept safe. Devices come from the factory with Google Play Protect software which protects the device being compromised.

“Because of the government restrictions, new Huawei device models made available to the public after May 16, 2019, have not been able to go through the security process nor will they have Play Protect preloaded. As a result, they are considered ‘uncertified’ and will not be able to utilize Google’s apps and services,” Mr Ostrowski said in a statement on Friday.

The main motive Huawei does not want to go back to Google Mobile Services even after the ban is lifted is that there is no assurance such a ban would not be imposed again, Huawei Executive Fred Wangfei said.

As a replacement to the Google Mobile Services, the Huawei is making the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and has developed its operating system called HarmonyOS.

Google guides that “to check if your device is certified, open the Google Play Store app on your Android phone, tap ‘Menu’ and look for ‘Settings.’ You will see if your device is certified under ‘Play Protect certification’.” Or users can learn more on android.com/certified.