The Google ban imposed on Huawei by the U.S. government has led to the Chinese tech giant's once burgeoning phone business falling off a cliff, because as great as Huawei's smartphone hardware may be, not having access to core Google Mobile Services apps such as YouTube and Google Drive makes the phone's software very hard to use for many people outside of mainland China.

But there are still enthusiasts out there interested in owning a Huawei phone. Just check out XDA's forums, for example, and there are people interested in paying over $3,000 to import a Huawei Mate X2.

While there are a couple of ways to install GMS on Huawei devices, all the methods that have been published so far are too complicated for the average user and consequently have a varied success rate. This is where the Googlefier app comes in.

Googlefier is essentially an unofficial GMS installer from XDA Senior Member bender_007, known previously for his work on the AutoRec project for LG phones. It provides an easy to follow step-by-step instructions for installing GMS and Google apps on your Huawei devices without the need to connect to the device to a PC -- provided the device is running on EMUI 10.

However, Huawei has pushed EMUI 11 updates to its devices recently, so if your Huawei device has already updated, you must roll back to EMUI 10 in order to use Googlefier. You will need to have a Windows PC to roll back, but the process itself is not complicated. We will guide you in the next couple of paragraphs.

If your Huawei device is still running EMUI 10, then simply download the APK from the forum thread linked below and install it on your Huawei device. Once it's installed, grant the app all the required permissions and then follow the outlined steps to get GMS on your phone.

Roll Back to EMUI 10 from EMUI 11

The first thing you need to do is backup your phone because rolling back to EMUI 10 will wipe everything from it. Once you've done that, follow the steps below. Also note that this method does not work with the Huawei Mate X2, whose software cannot be rolled back.

  • Download the Huawei HiSuite software for your Windows PC from Huawei's website. (Even though HiSuite is available on the Mac, this version does not allow software rollback)
  • Allow USB connections via HDB, to do so, go to Settings > Security > More settings > then turn on the toggle for HDB
  • Connect your Huawei device to your computer via USB cable
  • Select "Transfer files"
  • Give the okay to requested permissions
  • HiSuite will ask for a verification code to confirm syncing, which will be shown on your Huawei device's screen shortly after you've plugged in the phone
  • On the HiSuite homescreen, tap on the "Update" button
  • Then tap on "Switch to other version" button
  • Tap "Restore"
  • Tap "Roll Back"
  • Depending on your internet connection and the time of day, the process of rolling back could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. Once finished, your Huawei device will restart, and once rebooted, you'll be back on EMUI 10

Using Googlefier with EMUI 10

During the installation process, Googlefier will first replace your existing backup app and restore LZPlay, which is the GMS installation app/method that was widely circulated after the launch of the Mate 30. Once that's done, Googlefier will install basic services on your device. For this, you'll need to follow the instructions displayed on the screen. After you complete all five steps, you'll then be able to install the Google Play Store and other Google apps on your device and then log into your Google account. The entire process takes about 5-7 minutes and if you follow the instructions correctly, you shouldn't get any errors.

Download Googlefier from the XDA Forums

We tested Googlefier on a Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei MatePad Pro running EMUI 10. The video embedded below shows the installation process on one of our XDA's P40 Pro.

In case you have already tried installing Google Apps on your device using a different method, we suggest resetting the device and starting afresh with Googlefier. This will ensure that you don't encounter any errors during the installation process. It's worth noting that the app also includes a feature that will easily let you undo all of these changes and restore your Huawei device to its pre-GMS state.