Prominent navigation app HERE WeGo debuts on Huawei’s AppGallery

Without Google, Huawei has to try its hand at the next best thing.

What you need to know

• HERE WeGo is now in the Huawei AppGallery.
• The mapping app will serve as an alternative for Google Maps on Huawei’s growing platform.
• Huawei remains unable to use any of Google’s apps and services on its devices.

Huawei’s AppGallery now has its first big navigation app with the addition of the HERE WeGo mapping app. The app recently made its way to Huawei’s AppGallery and will fill in a functionality gap left by the absence of more conventionally popular mapping apps. For buyers who want to use Huawei’s newer products like the P40 P40 Pro or Mate 30 Pro, the presence of something like HERE WeGo makes the hardware-excellent but software-deficient handsets more useful.

Once praised as a credible Google Maps competitor while exclusive to Windows-powered phones in the past, the formerly Nokia-owned HERE didn’t quite pick up as much steam on Android thanks to the 800-pound Google Maps gorilla in the room. Despite, that, it still remains an excellent mapping app with fully functional offline navigation support. In comparison to Google Maps which lets you cache local areas and do some limited navigation, HERE goes a bit further and retains all the same navigation features offline as it does online. How much of a draw this is to you depends on how often you find yourself without weak or no connectivity.

It goes without saying that Huawei would likely have preferred Google’s Maps (and its other apps) as in the past, the current ban on trading with the Chinese firm has become less and less likely to lift by the day. For HERE, access to Huawei’s fairly large installed base without Google to steal away their thunder is probably a draw.

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