{"slug": "harmonyos", "name": "HarmonyOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 3.868, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-12-15", "latest": "2026-10-12", "why": "I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 3, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "wikipedia.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.harmonyos.com/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["HarmonyOS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800835840, "item_id": 50052240, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052240", "by": "hamsterbase", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good", "excerpt": "There are already 100 million HarmonyOS devices in China, so you could say it's now a three-way rivalry. The apps I use every day basically all have native HarmonyOS versions, including even foreign apps like Tesla and Sam's Club. I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good \u2014 the notifications and system smoothness are on par with iOS. The reason I don't use an iPhone is that I ne", "context": "User in China who needs NFC access control", "use_case": "phone operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?"}, {"id": 767511024, "item_id": 47969439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969439", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-04-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Take a look at what Harmony OS is capable of", "excerpt": "Because nothing lasts forever. Take a look at what Harmony OS is capable of if you want to see what a modern take on an OS and ecoystem looks like. It sure isn't the pinnacle either.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reports second quarter results"}, {"id": 740564834, "item_id": 46285302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46285302", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Reads all very impressive and sexy, TBH.", "excerpt": "Respect! But have you ever considered using https://genode.org/ instead of Qubes? At least conceptually? Or even more crazy, because of 'chinesium': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_NEXT /https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenHarmony / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EulerOS / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HongMeng_Kernel At least by reading all of the above, it seems they h", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Former CIA spy: agency's tools can takeover your phone, TV, and even your car"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "hamsterbase", "context": "User in China who needs NFC access control", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052240", "date": "2026-10-12"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["phone operating system"], "compared": [{"slug": "android", "name": "Android", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ios", "name": "iOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50051530", "title": "Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916805", "title": "RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47967863", "title": "Apple reports second quarter results", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47580297", "title": "Android Developer Verification", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051852", "title": "Show HN: AsteroidOS 2.0 \u2013 Nobody asked, we shipped anyway", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46559266", "title": "Why Real Life is better than IRC (2000)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"compare": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800899376, "item_id": 50056211, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50056211", "by": "Fargren", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "So there's already a viable alternative to the duopoly, but it's not necessarily Linux?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?"}, {"id": 800835840, "item_id": 50052240, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052240", "by": "hamsterbase", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good", "excerpt": "There are already 100 million HarmonyOS devices in China, so you could say it's now a three-way rivalry. The apps I use every day basically all have native HarmonyOS versions, including even foreign apps like Tesla and Sam's Club. I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good \u2014 the notifications and system smoothness are on par with iOS. The reason I don't use an iPhone is that I ne", "context": "User in China who needs NFC access control", "use_case": "phone operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?"}, {"id": 782687569, "item_id": 48917973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48917973", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OSes like HarmonyOS and HarmonyOS NEXT aren't even that relevant outside China.", "excerpt": "It still requires Android to care about RISC-V, plenty of NDK stuff. https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis Then OSes like HarmonyOS and HarmonyOS NEXT aren't even that relevant outside China. Finally the chips have to deliver in performance, to actually provide good mobile devices.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues"}, {"id": 767511024, "item_id": 47969439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969439", "by": "fartfeatures", "date": "2026-04-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Take a look at what Harmony OS is capable of", "excerpt": "Because nothing lasts forever. Take a look at what Harmony OS is capable of if you want to see what a modern take on an OS and ecoystem looks like. It sure isn't the pinnacle either.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reports second quarter results"}, {"id": 761457250, "item_id": 47591078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591078", "by": "throwawayk7h", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "compare", "quote": "iOS and Android (and HarmonyOS) all allow you to \"install software\".", "excerpt": "\"Being able to install software is why was why I switched to Android\" This doesn't make sense to me. iOS and Android (and HarmonyOS) all allow you to \"install software\".", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android Developer Verification"}, {"id": 752900528, "item_id": 47056283, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47056283", "by": "ulfw", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am running HarmonyOS on my watch", "excerpt": "I am running HarmonyOS on my watch (moved from Apple Watch to Huawei GT-6 41mm) now. Turns out it doesn't matter as third party apps on watches generally suck anyway (low functionality, mostly just companions to iOS/Android app, bad/not many options for UI).", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: AsteroidOS 2.0 \u2013 Nobody asked, we shipped anyway"}, {"id": 746852481, "item_id": 46678280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46678280", "by": "6510", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "compare", "quote": "the new HarmonyOS is still running most android apps", "excerpt": "The war isn't over tho. Warning people is the domain of influences, hipsters, propagandists and marketeers. Programmers cant really compete there but money does talk in the domain. Our world is such that if we want something we have to pay for it. What we can do however is write code. Solving it in code makes the problem orders of magnitude more complicated to solve but [say] an Iphone is now merely a decent camera w", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Real Life is better than IRC (2000)"}, {"id": 740564834, "item_id": 46285302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46285302", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Reads all very impressive and sexy, TBH.", "excerpt": "Respect! But have you ever considered using https://genode.org/ instead of Qubes? At least conceptually? Or even more crazy, because of 'chinesium': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_NEXT /https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenHarmony / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EulerOS / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HongMeng_Kernel At least by reading all of the above, it seems they h", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Former CIA spy: agency's tools can takeover your phone, TV, and even your car"}]}