The version history of the HarmonyOSdistributed operating system began with the public release of the HarmonyOS 1.0 for Honor Vision smart TVs on August 9, 2019. The first expanded commercial version of the Embedded, IoTAI, Edge computing based operating system, HarmonyOS 2.0, was released on June 2, 2021, for phones, tablets, smartwatches, smart speakers, routers, and internet of things. Beforehand, DevEco Studio, the HarmonyOS app development IDE, was released in September 2020 together with the HarmonyOS 2.0 Beta. HarmonyOS is developed by Huawei. New major releases are announced at the Huawei Developers Conference (HDC) in the fourth quarter of each year together with the first public beta version of the operating system's next major version. The next major stable version is then released in the third to fourth quarter of the following year.
The first public release of HarmonyOS 1.0 with LiteOS and Linux kernel space with AOSP compatibility layer occurred with the release of Huawei's former brand Honor Vision smart TVs on August 15, 2019, after it was announced on August 10, 2019, as the first HarmonyOS powered commercial product in Huawei's domestic market, China alongside smart IoT devices on LiteOS kernel.[1][2]
HarmonyOS 2.0 with Linux kernel that carried AOSP dual-framework base mobile telephony with OpenHarmony L3-L5 source code branch with EMUI fork was released on June 2, 2021, commercially in Huawei's domestic Chinese market, as de facto Beta testers for Chinese users, and was quickly adopted by 10 million users within a week.[3] It was gradually rolled out globally to tablets, smartwatches and bands in Huawei's product lines between the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. Followed by HarmonyOS 3.0 API 8 iteration with the introduction of declarative programming and stronger Super Device connectivity with terminal devices in July 2022.
HarmonyOS 3.1 with API 9 and an enhanced feature built for Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets set was released March 30, 2023 that was first preinstalled on the latest Huawei flagship smartphones Huawei P60 series.[4]
The current release HarmonyOS 4.0 was released on August 4, 2023, with OpenHarmony 3.2 API 9 that saw reduction of AOSP codebase on some started and small Linux kernel mode devices in transition with OpenHarmony L3-L5 codebase expansion, followed by OpenHarmony 4.0 API 10 October 26, 2023 where both versions are in line with earlier HarmonyOS NEXT builds that is the unified modular OS software stack, closed distro branch from OpenHarmony L0-L2 codebase branch with main kernels of Linux kernel standard, small and LiteOS kernel with M small and A mini systems conglomerated, which carries Linux syscalls on POSIX components for standard, small and mini devices on Zephyr kernel in user mode of HarmonyOS NEXT system that carries the new retrofitted real-time, Microkernel architecture of HarmonyOS kernel on kernel mode in latest builds.[citation needed]
On 18 January 2024, Huawei released its core software operating system, custom OpenHarmony based HarmonyOS NEXT Developer Preview 1 for all registered public developers in China that will be integrated into the next HarmonyOS Galaxy Edition (Star River) version of HarmonyOS NEXT, folded into consumer HarmonyOS 5 version, the successor of current HarmonyOS which was announced at HarmonyOS Developers event held in China that is due for commercial release on November 26, 2024 that aims to replace the current dual-framework closed L3-L5 OpenHarmony source code version of HarmonyOS that contains Linux, AOSP and LiteOS compatibilities next to native HarmonyOS APIs which versioning are now streamlined with OpenHarmony L0-L2 branch open source code as single framework.[5][6]
First Generation: Original initial version with LiteOS kernel and Linux kernel with AOSP (standard)
The following tables show the release dates and key features of all HarmonyOS operating system updates to date, listed chronologically by their official application programming interface (API) versions.
The first release of HarmonyOS was on August 9, 2019, for the Honor-branded smart TV series, followed by Huawei Vision S-branded smart TV series during (HDC) Huawei Developer Conference of 2019 alongside Wireless Wi-Fi routers and IoT systems in 2020. The system incorporated the HarmonyOS microkernel for Trusted execution environment with hardware and user authentication for security, alongside system for Linux kernel and LiteOS kernel space. Introduced with in-house development using Ark Compiler with LiteOS Studio IDE for third-party apps in LiteOS kernel and Linux kernel environment with Ark Compiler Android apps support on AOSP libraries with comprehensive programming languages support as well as Huawei Quick App IDE for Quick Apps for Vision TVs on screen and screenless devices, this version incorporates the key modules based on the open-source framework with the following features:[14][15]
On September 9, 2020, Huawei opened up HAP app development for HarmonyOS 1.0 Vision TV with the new DevEco Studio IDE alongside HarmonyOS 2 Beta with the newer HarmonyOS SDK. Huawei donated HarmonyOS 1.0 L0-L2 branch source code to the OpenAtom Foundation, and launched the first version of the open source variant operating system called OpenHarmony 1.0 on September 10, 2020. The final minor update for Honor and Huawei Vision TVs, HarmonyOS 1.0.1.66 SP3 was released October 20, 2020.[16]
HarmonyOS 2.0.0
HarmonyOS 2.0 [2.0.0 - OpenHarmony 2.2.0] (API version 6).
OpenHarmony information of HarmonyOS via App & Device Info Android app for HMOS phones
HarmonyOS 2 was launched at the Huawei Developer Conference on 10 September 2020 as a public beta for smart home applications, smartwatches, and head-on-displays and Vision TVs only.[17] Huawei announced it intended to ship the operating system on its smartphones in 2021.[18] The first developer beta of HarmonyOS 2.0 was released on December 16, 2020, for the Chinese domestic market on older Huawei smartphone models which include developer features to build HAP apps and SDK tools for developers. Huawei also released the DevEco Studio 1.0 IDE, which is based on IntelliJ IDEA, and a cloud emulator for developers in early access on September 9, 2020.[19] An updated DevEco Studio 2.0 IDE Developer Beta version for HarmonyOS app development with HarmonyOS 2.0 beta on smartphones on December 16, 2020[20] with subsequent beta releases of 2.1 beta releases in the early first half of 2021.[21] The system was able to run native HarmonyOS apps built on HarmonyOS Ability Package (HAP) with a new app package .app across the whole ecosystem of devices.[22][23]
Released as public beta on June 2, 2021, HarmonyOS 2 includes in-house development for the teeOS kernel and app framework for the general public in the Chinese domestic market of smartphones, tablets, HiCar systems, wearables, IoT systems and Vision TVs with an updated DevEco Studio 2.1 IDE[24] alongside subsequent DevEco Studio 2.2 beta releases afterwards.
On August 5, 2021, stable official release of HarmonyOS 2 was launched on 65 Huawei devices in China.[25][26]
This version includes a new Harmony OS 2.0 home screen based on EMUI design, new control panel design layout with Super Device, Service Center, Service Cards, and App Snippets for the atomic services platform exclusive to native HarmonyOS apps. It has shared multitasking known as Task Center for Huawei devices between phone and tablets as well as running more than one app on tablet and phone screens. The new OS is also optimized for Huawei Super Device, connecting Huawei computers, tablets and smartphones with on-screen gestures and multi-screen collaboration.[27]
HarmonyOS 3.0.0
HarmonyOS 3.0 [3.0.0 - OpenHarmony 3.1] (API version 8), HarmonyOS 3 was announced on Huawei Developers Conference 2021 on October 22, 2021.[28] and launched on July 27, 2022 as beta with stable release on October 26, 2022 in China.[29][30]
The Harmony OS 3 version was reported to bring more stability and increased performance of the system's kernel for better user experience and low power consumption. The new release also aims to bring more power to the Super Device feature, which allows connectivity between smart devices with a single super device such as a smartphone. It includes Huawei services such as Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) for Harmony Ability Packages (HAP) native HarmonyOS apps, Celia Assistant and Service Center in global markets.
Java language support dropped on HMOS 3.0 for main full support of eTS, JS programming languages in the new version of the operating system with an updated DevEco Studio 3.0 IDE released afterwards on September 17, 2022.[31] Since API Level 8, .hap apps can run on both HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony simultaneously in one unified development environment as one project.
Huawei aims to release the new version of the operating system globally to older models gradually and release new smartphone and tablet models in two months after the release.[32]
HarmonyOS 3.1.0
HarmonyOS 3.1 [3.1.0 - OpenHarmony 3.2] (API version 9) was announced on Huawei Developers Conference 2022 on November 4, 2022 as closed beta and launched on March 30, 2023, as public beta with stable release on May 16, 2023 in Chinese domestic market.[33]
The Harmony OS 3.1 version was reported being a more evolution of version 3.0, that brings more stability at API level and increased system animation fluidness improvements as well as visually refined on the user interface side for better user experiences and also API improvements for app developers with a following release of an updated DevEco Studio 3.1 IDE on April 8, 2023.[34][35]
HarmonyOS 4.0.0
HarmonyOS 4.0 [4.0.0 - OpenHarmony 3.2] (API version 9), HarmonyOS 4 was announced and launched at Huawei Developers Conference 2023 on August 4, 2023, as public beta. HarmonyOS 4.0 stable version rolled out to various 34 smartphone and tablet model devices between August 18 and August 29, 2023, on .111, .112 and .113 stable builds in China.[36][37]
The Harmony OS 4.0 version brings more advanced features set at API level and increased system animation fluidness improvements as well as visually refined on the user interface side for better user experiences and also API improvements for app developers.
On April 26, 2024 stable versions of HarmonyOS 4.2 was released on 21 Huawei devices, including Mate 60 series in Chinese domestic market.[41]
Preparing AOT compilation codebase shifting from L3-L5 on OpenHarmony with HarmonyOS 4.x/EMUI 14.x versioning to pure L0-L2 OpenHarmony codebase with pure blooded Hongmeng Galaxy Edition with HarmonyOS NEXT system stack for HarmonyOS 5.0 OS codebase.
HarmonyOS 4.5.0
HarmonyOS 4.5 [4.5.0 - OpenHarmony 3.2] (API version 9) was revealed at Huawei's domestic event in China on September 24, 2024, with sale activity on Huawei Smart TV V5 110-inch marking the last version of HarmonyOS 4. Preparing AOT compilation codebase shifting from L3-L5 on OpenHarmony with HarmonyOS 4.x/EMUI 14.x versioning to pure L0-L2 OpenHarmony codebase with pure blooded Hongmeng Galaxy Edition with HarmonyOS NEXT system stack for HarmonyOS 5.0 OS codebase for TV systems.[42]
HarmonyOS 5 [5.0.0 - OpenHarmony 5.0.0] (API version 12) August 4, 2023 (API 9) Developer Preview 1 for HarmonyOS NEXT internal cooperative developers, for native software development switched from L3-L5 dual framework to pure unified, single L0-L2 source code branch codebase of full fledged OpenHarmony base. January 2024 Developer Preview 1 Beta for public registered developers (API 10), Q2 Developer Preview 2 (API 11–12), Public Beta (API 12) builds and Commercial (API 12) stable builds:
On January 18, 2024, at the HarmonyOS Developer event in China, Huawei announced that the third generation HarmonyOS operating system with an internal version called HarmonyOS Galaxy Edition on HarmonyOS NEXT system. The developer preview version is open for application development, alongside the release of Beta version for enterprise developers ahead of HarmonyOS 5. The HarmonyOS NEXT version of HarmonyOS Galaxy Edition developer beta version of the program is due for Q2 launch for all unregistered public developers as HarmonyOS NEXT system is integrated into the operating system of HarmonyOS 5 general release version as planned.
A commercial system version for all users is to be released in Q4 on the commercial HarmonyOS 5.0.0 baseline preview version, from the previous HarmonyOS 4.0 versioning requirement baseline OTA rollout on specific devices, alongside new factory devices shipped with the new OS.[43]
The first batch of devices tested on HarmonyOS NEXT Developer Preview 1 are the Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro, and Mate X5 phones.[44]
On April 2, 2024, External beta expansion of Developer Preview 2 rolled out on more registered developers' handsets with latest pre-release canary build.[45]
On April 11, 2024, the company announced its incoming HarmonyOS 5.0.0 operating system version of Galaxy Edition version under HarmonyOS NEXT system that will first be released as open beta program for developers and users at its annual Huawei Developer Conference in June 2024 before Q4 commercial consumer release with upcoming Mate 70 flagship, among other ecosystem devices.[46]
On June 21, 2024, at the Huawei Developer Conference of 2024, the company announced its Developer Beta 1 program for registered developers introducing Developer wide program in China outside Huawei partners oriented Developer Preview builds. It included key features such as Harmony Intelligence embedded in the OS AI system stack of PanGu 5.0 upgraded LLM with Embedded variant, MindSpore with Neural Network Runtime API kit that includes the new smarter Celia (Xiaoyi) AI body Feed with further finalised UI overhaul enhancements across the system.[47]
On September 19, 2024, at Huawei consumer event in Barcelona, the company announced Huawei Watch GT 5 series line that ships with transitional early builds of HarmonyOS 5 NEXT Lite system software, marking it the first devices out of the box.[48][49][50]
On September 27, 2024, Huawei rolled out the last internal beta version patch NEXT.0.0.70 with EROFS support.[51] On October 7, 2024, latest beta version patch NEXT.0.0.71 released alongside public beta launch on October 8 with 5.0.0 release beta soft launch by October 22, 2024.[52]
On November 3, 2024, HarmonyOS NEXT beta version 5.0.0.102 update was released added "Touch to share" and "Multiple group" functions for sharing capabilities with device interactions.[53]
On November 8, 2024, HarmonyOS NEXT beta version 5.0.0.102 SP8 update came with screen reading functionality.[54][55]
On November 18, 2024 HarmonyOS NEXT beta version 5.0.0.107 came with improved camera functionalities and optimisations.[56][57] On November 19, 2024 tablet HarmonyOS NEXT beta version 5.0.0.107 SP8 update improved file and other system functionalities of utilities.[58]
HarmonyOS 5.0.1
On November 12, 2024 the first developer beta was released as "Beta3"[59] of HarmonyOS 5.0.1 that came with finalised refinements of system, system platform stability for future updates and UI refinements across system. Also, 3rd party app ecosystem support for NearLink API Kit functionalities added[60], released for developer testing only first.[61]
The Android Package with the file extension apk is the file format used by the Android operating system, and a number of other Android-based operating systems for distribution and installation of mobile apps, mobile games and middleware. A file using this format can be built from source code written in either Java or Kotlin.
Huawei Lite OS is a discontinued lightweight real-time operating system (RTOS) developed by Huawei. It is an open source, POSIX compliant operating system for Internet of things (IoT) devices, released under a three-clause BSD license. Microcontrollers of different architectures such as ARM, x86, and RISC-V are supported by the project. Huawei LiteOS is part of Huawei's '1+8+N' Internet of Things solution, and has been featured in a number of open source development kits and industry offerings.
Firefox OS is a discontinued open-source operating system made for smartphones, tablet computers, smart TVs, and dongles designed by Mozilla and external contributors. It is based on the rendering engine of the Firefox web browser, Gecko, and on the Linux kernel. It was first commercially released in 2014.
Huawei Mate, formally Huawei Ascend Mate, is a series of high-end HarmonyOS-powered phablet smartphones produced by Huawei, and is one of their flagship products along with the Pura series.
EMUI is an interface based on Android developed by Chinese technology company Huawei, used on the company's smartphones primarily globally.
Android 10 is the tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 13, 2019, and was released publicly on September 3, 2019.
HarmonyOS (HMOS) 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 single framework: the operating system selects suitable kernels from the abstraction layer in the case of devices that use diverse resources.
Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is a collection of proprietary services and high level application programming interfaces (APIs) developed by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Its hub known as HMS Core serves as a toolkit for app development on Huawei devices. HMS is typically installed on Huawei devices on top of running HarmonyOS operating system, and on its earlier devices running the Android operating system with EMUI including devices already distributed with Google Mobile Services. Alongside, HMS Core Wear Engine for Android phones with lightweight based LiteOS wearable middleware app framework integration connectivity like notifications, status etc.
Celia is an artificially intelligent virtual assistant developed by Huawei for their latest HarmonyOS and Android-based EMUI smartphones that lack Google Services and a Google Assistant. The assistant can perform day-to-day tasks, which include making a phone call, setting a reminder and checking the weather. It was unveiled on 7 April 2020 and got publicly released on 27 April 2020 via an OTA update solely to selected devices that can update their software to EMUI 10.1.
Huawei AppGallery is a package manager and application distribution platform, or marketplace 'app store', developed by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. It serves as the official app store for the devices running on Huawei HarmonyOS, and is also available for Huawei EMUI and Microsoft Windows via the Mobile Engine emulator.
OpenHarmony (OHOS), also known as OH by shorter acronym, is a family of open-source distributed operating systems based on HarmonyOS derived from LiteOS, donated the L0-L2 branch source code by Huawei to the OpenAtom Foundation. Similar to HarmonyOS, the open-source distributed operating system is designed with a layered architecture, consisting of four layers from the bottom to the top: the kernel layer, system service layer, framework layer, and application layer. It is also an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or in parts with other operating systems via Kernel Abstraction Layer subsystems.
The HarmonyOS App Pack or the App file, identified with the file extension ".app", serves as the file format used by the HarmonyOS operating system. It functions as a native HarmonyOS app for distribution and installation through Huawei AppGallery, or for distribution through Huawei Ability Gallery in respect of installation-free apps under both former classic dual-framework and current HarmonyOS NEXT system of unified OpenHarmony app framework. The App file is also used by a number of other open source HarmonyOS-based operating systems such as OpenHarmony and Oniro OS-based operating systems for distribution and installation of applications, video games and middleware. Including non OpenHarmony-based operating systems, such as GNU Linux-based Unity Operating System that supports the app file format.
HarmonyOS NEXT is a proprietary distributed operating system and a major iteration of HarmonyOS, developed by Huawei to support only HarmonyOS native apps. The operating system is primarily aimed at software and hardware developers that deal directly with Huawei. It does not include Android's AOSP core and is incompatible with Android applications.
Huawei Ark Engine is a conglomerate of proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to system and multimedia, especially game programming and video, on HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony platform such as software graphics engine stack, ArkGraphics 2D for 2D computer graphics, 2D Drawing high-performance and ArkGraphics 3D graphics engine stack that support standard OpenGL and Vulkan backend, interactive graphics with ArkUI binding support, multimedia engine for audio and video, memory engine, scheduling engine, storage engine and low power consumption engine.
ArkGraphics 3D is an open source, 3D graphic stack developed by Huawei as a subset of Ark Engine for HarmonyOS and OpenAtom OpenHarmony. The engine layer includes two modules, such as 2D graphics library and 3D graphics engine with OpenGL with OpenGL Shading Language, WebGL and Vulkan as render service backend. The 2D graphics library provides the underlying API for 2D graphics rendering, and supports the underlying capabilities of graphics rendering and text rendering for ArkUI. AGP Engine as a component of ArkUI, it provides the 3D drawing capability of the system.
ArkUI is a declarative based user interface framework for building user interfaces on native HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony alongside Oniro OS applications developed by Huawei for the ArkTS and Cangjie programming language.
Ark Compiler, also known as ArkCompiler, is a unified compilation and runtime platform that supports joint compilation and running across programming languages and chip platforms, also operating systems of open-source OpenHarmony, Oniro OS, alongside proprietary HarmonyOS with single core system HarmonyOS NEXT included on native APP in Event-driven programming in a unified development environment and formerly built for Android-based EMUI for Huawei smartphones and tablets with HMS-enabled apk apps on AppGallery that improves app performance. It supports a variety of dynamic and static programming languages such as JS, TS, and ArkTS. It is the compilation and runtime base that enables OpenHarmony, Oniro OS alongside HarmonyOS NEXT to run on multiple device forms such as smart devices, mobile phones, PCs, tablets, TVs, automobiles, and wearables. ArkCompiler consists of two parts, compiler toolchain and runtime.
BiSheng Compiler is an open-source compiler toolchain developed by Huawei for general-purpose processor architectures, such as Kunpeng within HiSilicon domain. It is based on LLVM, and introduces and enhances multiple compilation optimization technologies and supports different programming languages, such as ArkTS, Cangjie, C, C++ and Fortran.
ArkTS is a high-level general-purpose, multi-paradigm, compiled, declarative, static type programming language developed by Huawei which is a superset of open-source TypeScript, in turn a superset of JavaScript formerly used in July 2022 HarmonyOS 3.0 version, alongside its evolved precursor, extended TypeScript (eTS) built for HarmonyOS development as a shift towards declarative programming. ArkTS compiles to machine code via its ahead-of-time compilation Ark Compiler. ArkTS was first released in September 30, 2021 on OpenHarmony, and the ArkTS toolchain has shipped in DevEco Studio since version 3.1, released in 2022. Since, OpenHarmony 4.0 release on October 26, 2023, ArkTS APIs has been added to the open source community to contribute.
HarmonyOS Kernel, sometimes referred to as the Harmony kernel, is a computer operating system (OS) kernel developed by Huawei since August 2023. It is used in the HarmonyOS 5 version of the proprietary HarmonyOS distributed operating system, replacing previous versions that utilized the AOSP compatibility layer, the Linux kernel, and the LiteOS kernel.
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