If you often make use of sideloaded Google Apps, think twice before buying a Huawei’s Mate 30 and 30 Pro. Undoubtedly, these 2 flagship devices of Huawei don’t allow users to download sideloaded Google Apps. Huawei didn’t allow users to use Google Apps on these devices but the last hope of downloading sideloading Apps is also taken away.
Google has banned all its services including Chrome, Gmail, and other Google Apps. This has made access to Huawei very limited in China. Huawei has therefore decided to launch a Google-free Android phone. Although Android is Google’s native operating system, Google services are banned on all Huawei devices. That’s the reason that Huawei is using the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in its mobile phones.
LZPlay is an App that opens a backdoor for Huawei Mate 30 and Pro users to install any Google App easily. In this behalf, Magisk fame, John Wu wrote on his blog post about the risks involved in using this App. The method adopted by LZPlay is based on “undocumented Huawei specific MDM APIs”.
What John wrote on the Medium Post is “Although this “backdoor” requires user interaction to be enabled, the installer app, which is signed with a special certificate from Huawei, was granted privileges nowhere to be found on standard Android systems.”
LZPlay.net was the official site address for downloading this App but it’s no longer working now. It has gone down. It’s also not possible to install the mirror of the Apk because to gain access it demands “Special certificate”. SafetyNet test will fail on devices on which Google services are already sideloaded.
Trying to pass the SafetyNet is a big risk. You can do that only if you can compromise the functionality of Google Apps and services.
Mr. Wu discloses his perspective from the point of view of a security researcher, “This undocumented API is not the “OMG Huawei is spying on us OMG” kind of backdoor many media might wish to exist. It is protected behind rigorous verification on Huawei’s side and requires user interaction to allow the permission to be granted. Nevertheless, only Huawei knows the intent to create such API and allow the existence of “LZPlay”, and it is up to anyone’s imagination.”
LZPlay was nothing less than a blessing for Huawei users outside China for using Google services. The only thing Huawei users can do is sit and wait for the comeback of Google services on Huawei devices.
