Chinese smartphone maker Huawei launched the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro smartphones in Berlin last month. The phones come with top of the line hardware and improved cameras compared to the predecessor, but one core thing was missing. The smartphones do not come with Google Apps and Services. And while a backdoor was present to easily install Google Apps on Huawei Mate 30 Pro, the same is no longer available.
Huawei Mate 30 Pro backdoor explained
LZPlay, the app that allowed installing Google Apps and Services has been taken down. This comes after John Wu, a leading Android security researcher and creator of Magisk module released his preliminary research. He said, “LZPlay uses some specialized Android permissions found only in Huawei phones, including the permission to install other apps as “system” apps. This was necessary because some Google apps are required to be system apps and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro was not allowed to have the usual “stubs” of Google apps.”
According to a report on 9To5Mac, the permissions can only be granted by apps that are digitally signed by Huawei. For other apps, the code needs to go through the review process. The special permissions granted aren’t even documented, which is even more suspicious.
Hours after John Wu shared his research findings, the website LZPlay.net was also taken offline. Also, all previously downloaded copies of the APK no longer work as expected. In fact, Alex Dobie from Android Central has noted Google apps installed using LZPlay no longer pass SafetyNet tests. In case you own a Mate 30 Pro and used the backdoor to install Google Apps, it will be a good idea to uninstall them, just to be on the safer side.
| Features | Huawei Mate 30 Pro |
|---|---|
| Price | – |
| Chipset | Kirin 990 SoC |
| OS | Android 10 |
| Display | 6.53-inch OLED |
| Internal Memory | 8GB RAM + 256GB storage |
| Rear Camera | Quad – 40MP + 40MP + 8MP + 3D TOF camera |
| Front Camera | 32MP |
| Battery | 4,500mAh |
