Huawei Slashes HarmonyOS App Incentives by 70% as the Subsidy Era Winds Down

Let me briefly introduce myself: I am Frontend Dream Factory, a programmer who has been doing frontend development for many years. Last December, my HarmonyOS application uViewPro was finally listed on the Huawei AppGallery, and I also received Huawei's HarmonyOS incentive bonus.

The first payment was 5000 yuan, the second was 3000 yuan, both arrived smoothly. After tax, the two payments totaled nearly 7000 yuan in hand. For an individual developer, this amount isn't huge, but it carries significant meaning.

See this: After listing a uni-app developed HarmonyOS app, it actually earned over 4000+ per month

But the story isn't over yet—the third payment of 2000 yuan, gone.

Why? Let me explain in detail...

My HarmonyOS App Development Journey

To be honest, there were several reasons why I chose to develop a HarmonyOS app in the first place.

The first was to complete the cross-platform landscape for uView Pro. uView Pro is an open-source UI component library I maintain, based on Vue3 + TypeScript. It already has over 80 components, supporting multiple themes and languages. It previously supported App, H5, and WeChat Mini Programs. HarmonyOS was the last mainstream platform, and it had to be conquered.

The second was to verify the feasibility of uni-app + HarmonyOS. uni-app claims "develop once, run on multiple ends," but HarmonyOS is a new platform after all. Whether it actually works and is easy to use had to be tested personally.

The tech stack is nothing special: uni-app + Vue3 + TypeScript + uView Pro, a combination I'm already very familiar with. The development process was fairly smooth, but the listing process was really torturous—rejected nearly 10 times, revising back and forth, almost gave up. Fortunately, it passed in the end.

If your phone runs on pure HarmonyOS, you can go experience it: Go Experience

What does the uViewPro app do? Simply put, it's a component library demo application. Inside, there are interactive demos of over 80 components, API documentation, sample code, plus over 20 utility libraries and more than 10 business templates. Users can directly experience component effects in the app and download source code with one click.

After listing, the data was decent, and the number of active users reached the incentive standard. That's why I was able to get those two incentive payments.

Why Was the Third 2000 Yuan Payment Gone?

Huawei's HarmonyOS incentive plan works like this: after a new app is listed, incentives are distributed in stages based on the number of active users. Last year's standard was:

• Monthly active users reach 50, reward 5000 yuan
• Monthly active users reach 100, reward 3000 yuan
• Monthly active users reach 200, reward 2000 yuan

The three payments total 10000 yuan. My app's monthly active users had long exceeded the threshold, so logically I should have received all three.

The first two indeed arrived. But for the third, Huawei officially stated: "Based on the total activity incentive pool, verification is conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. The current incentive verification has fully concluded."

To translate: the money ran out, you were too late.

Really infuriating.

I only listed in December, which is considered a relatively late batch. But with so many people signing up, everyone's data met the standard, the incentive pool was only so big, first-come, first-served, until it was gone. My third payment was just intercepted like that.

Honestly, quite helpless. Individual developers have limited information channels and don't know how much is left in the pool, they can only wait passively. By the time I found out, it was already gone.

The 2026 New Plan, Why Don't I Want to Participate?

In 2026, Huawei launched a new incentive plan, running from March 12 to September 30. But after reading the rules, I decided not to participate.

The reason is simple: the incentive standard has decreased, but the threshold has increased.

Last year's phased incentives: 50 MAU could get 5000, 100 got 3000, 200 got 2000, the threshold increased step by step. This year? It directly requires MAU to reach 400, and only a one-time 3000 yuan, no more phases.

Compare:

Year	Total Incentive Amount	MAU Threshold	Incentive Method
2025	New app up to 10000 yuan	50/100/200	Phased distribution
2026	New app 3000 yuan, popular app 10000 yuan	400+	One-time distribution

The incentive amount dropped from 10000 to 3000, a 70% shrinkage. The threshold jumped from 50 MAU directly to 400 MAU, an 8-fold increase. This input-output ratio, no matter how you calculate it, isn't worth it.

And this year there's also a rating requirement, the app rating must reach a certain standard. This means not only pursuing user volume but also user satisfaction, adding another level of difficulty.

So I decided, for the 2026 incentive plan, I'm still not participating.

If any interested friends want to try it themselves, you can find the relevant info on the Huawei Developer official website.

The Future of uView Pro

Not participating in the incentive plan doesn't mean giving up on HarmonyOS. uView Pro will continue to iterate, just no longer for the sake of incentive money.

Honestly, as an open-source project, uView Pro's value isn't in how much incentive money it can get, but in how many developers it can help. Since its launch, many developers have quickly built their own HarmonyOS apps using uView Pro, and that's what gives me a sense of achievement.

Additionally, in my spare time, I'm also developing the uni-app X version of uView Pro. uni-app X is the next generation of uni-app, with better performance and a smoother experience. It's currently under intense development and expected to be released soon.

If you are also developing HarmonyOS apps using uni-app, you can keep an eye on it; it currently has 500 stars.

The official website is https://uviewpro.cn

The GitHub open-source address is https://github.com/anyup/uView-Pro (Star expected)

If you are doing mobile multi-end (Android, iOS, HarmonyOS, Mini Programs, etc.) development, come and try it~

Some Heartfelt Words

Finally, some personal thoughts.

Regarding Huawei's incentive plan, I understand their approach. Burning money in the early stage to attract developers, building up the ecosystem, then tightening the budget later—this is standard practice for commercial companies. It's just that as an individual developer, it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed—after all, that third payment of 2000 yuan was also a significant income for me.

Incentive money should originally be treated as a "surprise windfall," not the goal of development. If you make an app purely for the money, once the incentive is gone, the motivation is gone too. Such an app is hard to sustain.

All complaints aside, if you focus on the product itself, solving real problems, even without incentive money, the app can survive. uView Pro is like that; it solves the pain point of developers "not knowing how to use components." This pain point has always existed, so the app has value.

Regarding the HarmonyOS ecosystem, my view is: short-term depends on incentives, long-term depends on the market. Right now, Huawei is still in the vigorous promotion stage, with various incentive policies continuously rolling out. But when the ecosystem matures, it will ultimately have to be decided by the market—whether the app is good to use and can solve user problems is the key to success or failure.

Conclusion

I was already very happy to receive the incentive money for making the app, so I still want to thank Huawei and hope they can also increase the reward intensity. More importantly, through this experience, I verified the feasibility of uni-app + HarmonyOS, and uView Pro also completed the last piece of its cross-platform puzzle.

In 2026, stabilize the mindset, focus on making the product well, that's the real business.

If you are also doing HarmonyOS development, or have questions related to uni-app, feel free to communicate. Let's work hard together!

Official website: https://uviewpro.cn