Download GBox 2025: Google Apps on EMUI/HarmonyOS Devices 2025!

Now, you can install all the stock Google apps, including the Play Store, on new Huawei devices using the latest GBox app (v1.6.5.2). If you’re not aware, Huawei smartphones were once a major competitor to other OEMs. However, since the US ban on Chinese companies, Huawei has experienced a significant loss in market share, which began nearly four years ago in 2019.

In fact, the company didn’t stop there. It fought back fiercely through this crisis by launching AppGallery, which was designed to be a competitor to the Play Store. Personally, I think it’s a solid app store. Additionally, Huawei developed a complete operating system called HarmonyOS, aiming to break free from Google’s influence once and for all.

But the problem here is that as users of Android we have become accustomed to using the phone in a certain way with some necessary tools, all of which happened to be developed by Google. These tools include but are not limited to important apps such as YouTube, Maps, Gmail, apps that also require the presence of Google services or “GMS” such as Uber.

Therefore, with the distinction of the Chinese company’s phones in terms of internal hardware, wonderful design, and even the low price, so that it can compensate its users for the absence of these services, the user who buys a phone from Huawei always searches for a way to obtain the usual services on his new phone.

Over the past years, many methods and apps have appeared, such as GSpace, Chat Partner, and another method via Dual Space. While these methods may still work today, there is a new way to get Google services, which is by using an app called GBox.

What is GBox?

GBox “abbreviation for Google Box” is a free app that allows user to install and “run” official Google apps such as: Play Store, Gmail, and also YouTube, and some other. This is other than downloading these apps as apk files and installing them directly on your phone from Huawei, which is unfortunately will not work because these apps require the so-called GMS package or official Google services on your device.

And here appears the role of the GBox, which creates a suitable environment to run these apps so that it deceives the Play tore that these apps are used on a different phone, not from Huawei, and the result here is that you can log in to your Google accounts as usual.

GBox APK Download

Supported Devices

• Nova Flip
• Mate XT Ultimate
• MatePad 12 X
• Pura 70 series
• Nova 12i
• Nova 12 SE
• Nova 12s
• Nova 12 Ultra
• Nova 12 Pro
• Nova 12
• Nova 12i
• Enjoy 70
• Nova 11 SE
• Nova 11i
• Nova Y91
• Nova 11
• Nova 11 Pro
• Mate 60
• Huawei P60
• Huawei P50
• Nova 8 Pro 4G/5G
• Nova 11 Ultra
• Huawei Mate X3
• Huawei Mate 50
• Nova 8
• Mate 40E
• Mate 40 Pro
• Mate 40 Pro Plus
• Huawei P40 4G/5G
• Huawei P40 Lite 5G
• Mate X2 (foldable)
• Nova 7 SE 5G
• Huawei Y7a
• Huawei Y9a
• Huawei Y8p
• Huawei Y8s
• Huawei Y6p
• Huawei Y5p
• Nova 7 Pro 5G
• Nova 7 5G
• Huawei Y7p
• Nova 7i
• Huawei Y6s 2019
• Nova 6 4G/5G
• Huawei Y9s
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
• Huawei Mate 30
• Nova 5i Pro
• Nova 5T

Installation steps and how to use

1. From the previous links, download the app on your Huawei phone and install it.
2. Allow access to the permissions it needs.
   
3. From the app’s main menu, open Play Store.
4. Now sign in with your Google account.
   
5. Here you will see a notice from the app that it has “tricked” Google into thinking your phone is from Xiaomi, not Huawei.
   
6. Now try searching for any app from Google, let’s say Google Photos and install it.
   
7. Once the download is finished, a notification will appear below to add this app to your home screen, tap Add.
   
8. Finally, you will find that the new app is now within the contents of your GBox apps.

Once installed and running, you will notice that GBox suggests you to download some necessary Google apps with it. But from our experience, what we only downloaded through it is the Play Store, and then through the Android Store itself we downloaded all the apps that we wanted to try later.

Once you download any app from the Play Store, you will have the option to place a shortcut to it on the main phone screen, meaning that you will not need to run GBox every time you want to launch an app from Google – but you should know that it will work in background constantly, which means that you may notice more battery drain than usual, especially since the phone asks you to “not put it” in the phone’s power optimization, and I strongly advise you to agree to this request!

And to prevent distraction, any app that you have downloaded via GBox will have its own icon in the lower left pane showing small green icon.

If you want to delete an app that you have downloaded, simply open GBox, on the home page long press on the app you want to remove, and select Delete .

Google Apps on EMUI 12 & 13 and Harmony OS!

As for performance, after testing everything on the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, we encountered no issues with freezing, lag, or crashes—everything ran smoothly since it operates constantly in the background. All we needed to do was sign into a Google account within the Play Store app, which then automatically synced across all other Google apps as usual. YouTube worked perfectly, and Google Maps was able to pinpoint the phone’s location with great accuracy, without any errors.

The only issue we faced was with the Gmail app, which wasn’t receiving new emails quickly and sometimes had delays. Additionally, it failed to show notifications when new mail arrived. We also had trouble setting Google Messages as the default messaging app because EMUI 13 didn’t recognize it—it was running inside the GBox environment and not as a regular app on the phone. Other than these two issues, everything else worked as expected.

As a Huawei user, I’m actually enjoying using the GBox app right now. The issues I mentioned are understandable, considering this is a new workaround for running Google apps on Huawei phones. But overall, I’m really happy to be able to use all my essential apps on EMUI without having to go through the complex steps of previous methods.