Why does HarmonyOS implement such strict security controls? What exactly is it aiming for? Ten common misconceptions are clarified all at once.

I believe many people judge whether a smartphone is secure not by certificates or architecture diagrams at launch events, but by several everyday moments.

Right after you chat with a friend about a product, related recommendations pop up on your phone; when an AI suddenly sends a suggestion, you start wondering if it has been listening all the time; an app with seemingly extremely simple functions immediately requests access to your photo album, contacts, and location. Even with features like AI privacy protection, password synchronization, and cloud backup on HarmonyOS, the more a system claims to be "smart", the more likely people will ask: Could my data be stolen?

These questions are not unnecessary.

The deeper security features are integrated into the system, the harder it is for ordinary users to see exactly how they work. When HarmonyOS tightens app reviews and permissions, it may indeed increase adaptation costs for developers and change usage habits that some people have grown accustomed to. The problem is not whether users have the right to question, but whether these questions can be broken down to see exactly who each mechanism truly restricts and who it protects.

Therefore, this article will not draw a simple conclusion of "secure" or "insecure". We have selected ten of the most common and easily misunderstood questions, covering everything from app reviews and permission access to Xiaoyi, AI anti-fraud, and the password vault.

After reading this, you may still not agree with every single security choice HarmonyOS has made, but at least you will have a clearer picture of what unique changes HarmonyOS has brought to operating system security.

Misunderstanding 1: HarmonyOS's secure access mechanism is nothing more than a rebranded version of Android's permission management

This is one of the most common misunderstandings, and also the easiest one to refute with data.

The permission management logic of traditional Android is "grant or deny" — once users grant permission, entire categories of data such as photo albums and contacts may be opened to applications. HarmonyOS's secure access mechanism is different: users actively select specific photos, files, or contacts, and the system only provides the data specified by the user to the application, while all other data remains inaccessible.

Conclusion: Android gives you a "key", while HarmonyOS gives you "only the exact item you choose to hand over". This is not a name change, but a complete logic overhaul.

Misunderstanding 2: StarShield Anti-Fraud is just an upgraded version of spam call blocking

Traditional anti-fraud solutions focus on "phone numbers", while StarShield Anti-Fraud focuses on "scams". This difference lies in the gap between simple blocking and full-scenario recognition.

From AI script fraud detection, AI face-swapping detection, and AI voice-changing detection, to overseas forged number identification, risky web page recognition, and risky QR code recognition — StarShield Anti-Fraud no longer only identifies incoming calls, but the entire fraud behavior chain. It also supports helping family members hang up scam calls, with marked scam numbers automatically synchronized to the blacklist on family members' phones. One person marks, the whole family benefits.

Conclusion: It is not an upgraded version of spam blocking, but an architecture-level reconstruction of fraud protection.

Misunderstanding 3: The StarShield Security Architecture sounds impressive, but feels no different from other phones in actual use

"Feeling the same" is itself an interesting signal — when privacy protection is done well, users do remain largely "unaware" of it. However, there are essential differences between HarmonyOS's StarShield Architecture and the privacy protection methods of traditional Android systems.

Privacy protection on most other smartphones is mostly enhanced permission control at the application layer. HarmonyOS's StarShield Security Architecture is built on the collaboration of software, hardware, chips, and cloud, encompassing four major architectures: purifying governance, privacy protection, data security, and distributed security. The StarShield Anti-Fraud platform on HarmonyOS 7 has partnered with platforms including Douyin, Alipay, and JD.com to proactively warn of risks. This is not just a "name change", but a fundamental upgrade to the entire security protection logic.

Conclusion: The "similar feeling" precisely proves that the system is doing its job well — but the underlying logic is completely different.

Misunderstanding 4: HarmonyOS's ban on 9 types of unreasonable permissions will affect the normal functionality of apps

HarmonyOS's ban on 9 types of unreasonable permissions does not mean that app functions will be weakened. Through new capabilities such as the secure access mechanism, HarmonyOS provides developers with more secure alternative solutions.

For example, in scenarios such as uploading photos, downloading images, and sharing contacts, apps no longer need to obtain full access to the entire photo album or contacts. Instead, the system securely provides the user-specified data to the app on demand. For properly developed applications, normal functionality will not be affected at all — what is truly restricted are those apps that rely on excessive collection of user data.

Conclusion: Well-behaved apps will not be affected, only those "with bad intentions" will face restrictions.

Misunderstanding 5: HarmonyOS's app review is too strict, making it impossible for developers to build a healthy ecosystem

Strict review is a double-edged sword. It does increase the time cost for developers to launch their apps. But from another perspective: HarmonyOS system-level restrictions on 9 types of unreasonable permissions (such as a flashlight app being unable to access the contacts) — on Android this is only constrained by review rules, while on HarmonyOS it is a hard system-level restriction, where apps simply do not have the permission to make such requests.

As of June 2026, HarmonyOS has access to more than 400,000 apps and services. Huawei has also launched developer empowerment programs and pre-review tools to reduce communication costs.

Misunderstanding 6: HarmonyOS is full of ads everywhere, so how can it claim to be secure and reliable

Embedding ads in system apps is a common practice in the smartphone industry, and one of the important business models for manufacturers. iOS has it, Android has it, and HarmonyOS has it too.

But we need to distinguish two concepts: system security and system purity are not the same thing. In terms of security mechanisms — microkernel, StarShield Architecture, app review, and AI anti-fraud — HarmonyOS is at the industry's top level. However, security does not mean ad-free, just as iOS has system ads, no one would claim that iOS is insecure because of this.

Conclusion: Security and ads are two separate things, confusing them is a misinterpretation of the concept of security.

Misunderstanding 7: Xiaoyi is "listening" to me all the time, and all my privacy has been uploaded to the cloud

This is the most common concern in the era of AI assistants. Every time Xiaoyi "actively" pops up a suggestion or recognizes what you say and responds, users will have the doubt: Is it recording all the time?

In fact, Xiaoyi's voice wake-up mechanism is completed locally on the device — the phone's built-in AI chip continuously detects the voiceprint feature of "Xiaoyi Xiaoyi" in the audio stream. This entire process runs locally, and no audio is uploaded to the cloud. Only after you explicitly wake up the assistant and issue a command, will the data of that single command be transmitted to the cloud for processing in encrypted form, and it will be deleted immediately after use.

A more fundamental guarantee is that HarmonyOS implements a dual-track mechanism of "local priority + cloud anonymity" for data security of agents. Users' biometric data such as wake-up words and voiceprints are stored entirely locally; during cloud processing, triple anonymization technology strips identity information, so even system administrators cannot access plaintext data. In 2026, Xiaoyi Claw passed the security capability assessment by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, becoming the first terminal manufacturer's Claw-class agent to obtain a national-level certification.

Conclusion: It is not "recording all the time", but "waiting for the wake-up word only locally, and deleting data immediately after processing once woken up".

Misunderstanding 8: Could there be backdoors in HarmonyOS? Can Huawei internal staff access my data?

This question can be answered from three levels.

Technical level: The process isolation mechanism of the HarmonyOS microkernel makes it harder to create "backdoors" than on a macrokernel system; end-to-end encryption ensures that even Huawei itself cannot decrypt user cloud backup data.

Compliance level: HarmonyOS complies with both the Personal Information Protection Law of China and GDPR, with compliance requirements for the European market fully consistent with those in the domestic market.

Audit level: All permission calls are logged, and users can check them at any time in the "Access Records" section. Back in 2024, the security capabilities of HarmonyOS 5 obtained the first EAL5+ certification in the field of smart terminal full operating systems, and the HarmonyOS kernel obtained the world's first international CC EAL6+ certificate for general-purpose operating system kernels.

Conclusion: From architecture to compliance to auditing, three layers of protection leave no room for backdoors to exist.

Misunderstanding 9: The Password Vault is just storing passwords on Huawei's servers

This is a confusion between the two concepts of "local encryption" and "cloud synchronization".

The HarmonyOS Password Vault adopts system-level password management capabilities. Passwords are stored locally in encrypted form, and auto-filled with user authorization. Even when multi-device synchronization is enabled, it relies on the Huawei account and encrypted synchronization mechanism. Data uploaded to the cloud is end-to-end encrypted — no one else, including Huawei itself, can access the content in the Password Vault.

Conclusion: Passwords are stored encrypted locally, and data uploaded to the cloud is also end-to-end encrypted. Even Huawei cannot decrypt it.

Misunderstanding 10: AI Privacy Protection means the camera is constantly monitoring me

Behind this misunderstanding is the confusion between "on-device AI" and "cloud AI".

HarmonyOS's AI privacy protection sensor does not continuously shoot the user, let alone upload images to the cloud. It relies on the device's intelligent sensing capabilities to locally determine whether there is a risk of others peeking at the screen, and reminds the user or triggers protection measures when necessary. The entire processing is done locally on the device, and users can turn this feature on or off at any time in the settings.

Conclusion: Data is not uploaded to the cloud, and the sensor does not run continuously — the very premise of privacy protection is to preserve privacy.

Final Thoughts

After all this writing, is HarmonyOS secure or not?

Frankly speaking, no operating system should ever be described with the phrase "absolutely secure". Security is never a one-and-done capability, but more like an endless cat-and-mouse game: system capabilities are being upgraded, while fraud methods, data risks, and new problems brought by AI are also constantly evolving.

But to judge whether an operating system is secure, we cannot only rely on early impressions, let alone assume it has done nothing just because security mechanisms are usually invisible.

In fact, from banning 9 types of unreasonable permissions to returning the right to decide data access back to users; from on-device processing and end-to-end encryption to StarShield Anti-Fraud covering AI face-swapping, voice-changing, and the entire fraud chain; plus security certifications such as CC EAL6+, HarmonyOS's investment in security has far exceeded many people's expectations. What it is trying to do is to build security into the system's underlying layer, so that apps can only access the data they are supposed to have, and risks can be blocked before users even notice them.

This choice certainly comes with costs. Stricter permissions and review mechanisms may increase adaptation costs for developers, and may also make some users feel less free and less convenient at first. But on the other hand, when our phones store our photos, contacts, payment information, and even complete life trajectories, the system should be more cautious and stricter.

The better security is implemented, the less users will notice it. No unexplained permission requests popping up, no losses caused by suspicious calls, passwords and photos staying quietly where they should be — these seemingly taken-for-granted daily scenarios are all supported by a complete set of system capabilities behind the scenes.

HarmonyOS will continue to iterate, and it will definitely encounter new security challenges. But after going through these ten questions, at least one thing is clear: HarmonyOS's emphasis on security is not just a slogan. It has underlying architecture, specific features, and tangible protection that users can actually feel.

For a fast-growing operating system, this sense of security is well worth recognizing.

This article is from "Lei Technology", authorized for publication by 36Kr.