How to Install Play Store Apps Easily on Huawei Mate 40 Pro, P40 Pro and Other Huawei, Honor Phones

Ever since Huawei was listed as a US entity, Huawei and its sister brand Honor have been prevented from using the ecosystem of Google apps and services on their smartphones. While its phones are still based on Android, they no longer ship with Google services, and as a result, the all-important Google Play store is no longer available on Huawei and Honor phones.

Instead, you get Huawei Mobile Services, which comes with Huawei’s own suite of apps and services. This, however, is unlikely to be enough if you want to use a smartphone like the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, P40 Pro, or other Huawei or Honor phones – outside of the walled garden that is Chinese cyberspace.

Fortunately, for Huawei and Honor phones, there is still at least one workaround that can help you install Google mobile services on Huawei or Honor smartphones. In turn, this ensures that you get the Google app ecosystem on these devices, allowing you to get the most out of the high-end hardware that phones like the Huawei Mate 40 Pro offer.

* Note. The process described here is an unofficial way to download Google services on a Huawei or Honor smartphone. Attempting to do so may result in data loss or void your warranty. Proceed with caution and at your own risk.

Using Googlefire on Huawei P40 Pro, Huawei Mate 40 Pro and more

Created by XDA member Forumsbender_007, the Googlefier app is a companion app that helps prepare your Huawei or Honor smartphone to launch Google services and the Play Store app ecosystem. It is by far one of the easiest ways to get Google services on Huawei devices without having to root your phone or connect to a PC and back up. The only catch? Googlefire will not work if you have already updated your phone to EMUI 11.

To use Googlefier and receive Google services, follow these steps:

• Reset your Huawei or Honor phone. This will help you undo any failed attempts to access Google services on your phone.
• Post it, download the Googlefier APK from here, download it to your phone and install. Once installed, grant all requested permissions.
• Once installed, follow the on-screen instructions to complete all five steps mentioned. The steps include:
  – Installing core services such as Google Apps Manager, Google Service Framework, Google Play Store, etc.
  – Signing in to Google accounts
  – Resuming the Google initialization process
  – Checking and checking for
  error notifications – Checking for errors and removing previously failed installation attempts
• The whole process is said to take 5 to 7 minutes maximum. Devices running Googlefier include Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei Mate 30 Pro. However, Huawei Mate 40 Pro will not be able to run this service as it comes pre-installed with EMUI 11.

Other alternatives

While a number of other processes have also been mentioned on XDA, Huawei and other user and developer forums, most of them seem to have stopped working. Overall, Huawei seems to be struggling with the unofficial Google Play Store launch process, and the EMUI 11 update appears to be breaking the process to enable Google services. We are also not sure if the Google Play Store will stop working if you update your Huawei and Honor phone after enabling Google services on them.