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Huawei announced HarmonyOS 4 during the Huawei Developer Conference 2023. Do note that it got announced in China, so this info is based on that launch, as are the images you’ll see below.
That being said, HarmonyOS 4 will likely look the same globally, but without some China-focused functionality. Therefore, covering this makes all the sense in the world.
HarmonyOS 4 has been announced with a UI overhaul, new customization options & more
HarmonyOS 4 does bring a UI refresh, along with some new customization options. By ‘UI’ refresh, we mean a major redesign, basically, as it’s quite different than HarmonyOS 3, visually.
Huawei now offers you the chance to change system fonts, colors, clock, and widget styles. You can create your own combinations, and customize them as you please, basically. The company also allows users to set emoji wallpapers.
The company also introduced something called ‘Panorama Weather’, so that you can get great-looking weather updates right on your home screen. The conditions will update in real-time.
The notification center has been changed up
Huawei also changed up the notification center, as it needed a refresh. You do have an option to divide upcoming alerts, if you want. You can now also pin your preferred app notifications to the notification center.
Those rumors regarding Huawei’s very own Dynamic Island also came to fruition, kind of. Huawei now offers something called ‘Live Window’ in HarmonyOS 4. Apps that are supported will show you real-time alerts and notifications in a pill-shaped icon in the top-left corner of the device. You can expand that window with a single tap.
The company has also added more widgets with HarmonyOS 4. HarmonyOS 4 actually comes with Ark Engine below everything, and Huawei claims it offers 20% better performance. The system should launch apps quicker, and the animations should also be nicer without an impact on the battery.
HarmonyOS is running on over 700 million devices worldwide
We’re only scratching the surface here, though. Huawei did mention that the HarmonyOS ecosystem now powers over 700 million devices. That includes smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, TVs, and more.
The HarmonyOS 4 public beta is available for a ton of smartphones as we speak, though only their Chinese variants. We’re not sure when will Huawei announce a global version of HarmonyOS 4. Perhaps with the Mate 60 launch? We’ll see.
