From the experience adaptation period to the co-construction acceleration period, HarmonyOS 6 is speeding on the path of ecological evolution.

The inflection point of an operating system is often not a major update but a daily evolution.

A minor adjustment to the interface makes the interaction more natural; an improvement in response speed shortens the waiting time; and seamless collaboration among multiple devices enables all things to start communicating. These seemingly insignificant changes accumulate over time in users' daily use, forming a "collection of evolution."

What it brings is a sense of certainty at the psychological level. Especially in an era when AI is penetrating into the underlying layer of the operating system, when the system can understand the context and the interface changes are no longer rigid, users begin to believe that technology is working for them, rather than them accommodating technology.

Today, after more than a decade of entanglement between the mobile Internet and smartphones, we have entered a "post-breakthrough era."

The evolution of the system no longer relies on a breakthrough technology to shock the world but on the system's understanding and experience accumulation to subtly change people's lives. It is hidden in a more convenient operation or may be hidden in a feedback that is silently understood.

Against this background, as a new-generation operating system born in the digital soil, HarmonyOS, with its new architecture and distributed capabilities, is ready for the next digital era - a new stage where AI is the underlying language and the interconnection of all things is the norm.

After the number of HarmonyOS 5 terminal devices exceeded 23 million, HarmonyOS 6 was officially released on October 22, achieving a new evolution of the operating system with a more fun, beautiful, intelligent, secure, and smooth experience.

When the presence of an operating system is no longer limited to historical technological breakthroughs but deeply penetrates into daily life to polish users' usage habits and enables ecological partners and users to form a positive feedback loop, it truly begins to move towards maturity.

The release of HarmonyOS 6 is a manifestation of this process. A question worth answering is: As the Harmony operating system continuously seeks self-improvement, how will it achieve a leap in experience upgrading during the continuous improvement of the ecosystem?

The Arrival of HarmonyOS 6: A Reconstruction of the Experience of New-Era Underlying Technologies

Since its inception, the goal of HarmonyOS has been to create a full-scenario operating system for the interconnection of all things.

Traditional operating systems often focus on a single device, such as a computer or a mobile phone. However, HarmonyOS abandoned the evolutionary thinking centered on terminals from the very beginning. Based on the distributed soft bus technology, the HarmonyOS can enable different terminal devices to work together using the same system language.

We can see that tablets or foldable screens become the second screen of mobile phones, smartwatches are upgraded to sensing nodes of the health system, smart TVs are promoted to the center of home interaction, and in-vehicle infotainment systems become an extension of the travel space. By connecting multiple devices and scenarios, HarmonyOS has established a connection philosophy of "born for all things."

Looking back at the development of HarmonyOS, from the HarmonyOS with a distributed architecture proposed in 2019 to HarmonyOS 2 that enables multi-device collaboration; from HarmonyOS 3 and 4 to HarmonyOS 5, which was completely renewed inside and out in 2024 - each generation of the HarmonyOS has carried different missions and has followed a development path different from that of the world's mainstream operating systems around the goal of a "full-scenario intelligent operating system."

Now, as the "first version" of the new Harmony operating system, HarmonyOS 6 has achieved a further evolution of the experience based on the code architecture and system features of HarmonyOS 5. If HarmonyOS 5 laid the "foundation" for the new Harmony operating system, then the experience reconstruction achieved by HarmonyOS 6 makes this building truly "livable."

This experience reconstruction is first reflected in the fact that HarmonyOS 6 begins to have temperature and soul. In the iterative process of operating systems, "useful" often means efficiency and stability, while HarmonyOS 6 goes a step further. It begins to endow the system with the ability of "emotion" and "empathy."

The intelligent light-sensing visual effect makes the interactive interface no longer a cold pixel but a light language that can naturally breathe with the environment and scenarios; the energetic mood theme turns the lock screen into an emotional expression space through clickable and touchable interactive designs; and the lock screen art signature, based on AI capabilities, allows users to inject personality into their screens with handwritten or generated fonts.

When an operating system begins to learn to express, empathize, and accompany, it naturally achieves a value upgrade at the emotional level.

This experience reconstruction also benefits from the new Xiaoyi, which has evolved from "being able to do things" to "understanding people's hearts."

Now, Xiaoyi is no longer just a voice assistant that listens to instructions and executes tasks but a smart partner that can truly understand the context and perceive users' needs. Based on the Harmony intelligent agent framework, more than 80 application intelligent agents have been launched, covering scenarios such as travel, health, and office work.

"Xiaoyi Help" can automatically execute multi-step tasks, eliminating cumbersome operations; "Xiaoyi In-depth Research" acts like a knowledge assistant, capable of organizing materials and generating reports; "Xiaoyi Sees the World" enables visually impaired users to perceive the environment through voice. Moreover, supporting 16 dialects allows users to complete everything in a natural dialogue with the system without being restricted by the boundaries of applications.

From being able to understand instructions to understanding people's hearts, the growth of Xiaoyi marks the full awakening of the "understanding ability" of HarmonyOS 6.

This experience reconstruction also comes from security, which is an unnoticeable but always-present companion.

Based on the upgraded Star Shield security architecture and the AI active protection system, HarmonyOS 6 integrates privacy protection into every use: when a strange call carries risks, the AI anti-fraud function can instantly identify fraudulent words and pop up a reminder; when someone is looking at the screen, the AI anti-peeping function can actively hide sensitive information; in file transfer, the encrypted sharing mechanism ensures that photos, videos, and files can only be viewed once, preventing them from being copied or spread.

In HarmonyOS 6, security is no longer a cold technical barrier but an intelligent and active warm guardian. As of September 2025, 99% of Harmony applications support the secure access mechanism, and the system has intercepted more than 24 billion unreasonable permission requests.

Deeper security also comes from the underlying support of the HPIC Personal Intelligent Computing Platform - data is processed locally first, desensitized and encrypted before being uploaded to the cloud, and deleted immediately after calculation, ensuring that users always have control over their personal privacy. This unnoticeable security makes HarmonyOS 6 take a crucial step towards the concept of "security is experience": it doesn't disturb but is always present; it doesn't give warnings but silently guards.

Finally, there is a more fluent, convenient, and integrated deterministic experience to complete the closed loop of this experience reconstruction.

The underlying determinacy comes from the continuous evolution of the Ark Engine. Based on the integrated optimization of hardware, software, chips, and cloud, the performance of multi-category devices running HarmonyOS 6 has been improved by about 15%, the battery life has been extended by more than 35 minutes, and it brings a response experience of "instant startup, instant opening, and instant loading."

The determinacy of operations is reflected in every more convenient interaction. Gestures such as air control and knuckle selection continue to be upgraded; the QR code scanning ability has been comprehensively improved, enabling accurate recognition of damaged, reflective, and curved QR codes; and the live window integrates information display and operations - users can view real-time statuses such as takeout orders, flights, orders, and navigation at any time without repeatedly switching applications.

The determinacy of connection is supported by the new Star River Interconnection architecture. Mobile phones, tablets, computers, smart TVs, and in-vehicle infotainment systems are inherently integrated in the Harmony ecosystem: you can share files, photos, and music by simply touching the devices together, supporting one-touch multi-device grouping and one-touch multi-device sharing, and even enabling two-way dragging between mobile phones and computers. More than 60 applications have accessed this capability, making cross-device collaboration truly unnoticeable.

In HarmonyOS 6, fluency, convenience, and interconnection are no longer separate dimensions of experience but the result of the integrated evolution of the system. It makes the experience no longer rely on momentary surprises but be consistent and stable throughout every interaction detail.

It can be seen that with the support of underlying technologies, HarmonyOS is gradually moving from "usable" to "easy to use." This "easy to use" is not just about surface fluency and speed but a sense of order from the inside out - from the underlying architecture to the interaction logic, from AI intelligence to ecological collaboration, all are evolving in the same direction.

True system evolution has never been an overnight innovation but a gradual accumulation of subtle experiences like those in HarmonyOS 6. Gradually transforming from "usable" to "easy to use" through daily refinement is its most simple and valuable asset in the entire intelligent era.

Getting Better with Use: It's Not Only an Evolution of Experience but Also an Ecological Consensus

As the number of HarmonyOS terminal devices has exceeded 23 million, the "getting better with use" of HarmonyOS 6 is no longer limited to a single device but belongs to the entire ecosystem.

When users can seamlessly switch between mobile phones, tablets, earphones, in-vehicle infotainment systems, and smart TVs, and when ecological partners and developers collaborate and innovate under the same system logic, "getting better with use" is no longer the end of the experience evolution but the starting point of an ecological community.

In other words, the "getting better with use" of HarmonyOS 6 is not the result of technological bravado but the manifestation of ecological synergy. The system and the ecosystem are two sides of the same coin. It has never been a single technology company's solo fight but a collective leap of the entire industrial chain.

As Yu Chengdong said at the press conference, "There is no end to the construction of the Harmony ecosystem."

A good system experience is important because it is the ultimate outlet for all developers' innovation and the interface through which the system and the ecosystem can be truly understood by users. A minor improvement in experience often means a breath and growth at the ecological level.

Now, the Harmony ecosystem has also achieved full adaptation of leading Internet applications. Internet giants including Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance, Meituan, and JD.com have gathered on this vibrant and young system platform, initiating a revolution from experience reconstruction to ecological co-creation.

Their in-depth participation is enabling the Harmony ecosystem to move from "system connection" to "service co-creation."

Tencent has launched more than 60 products on HarmonyOS - WeChat maintains a monthly version update, and its core functions have been fully adapted; QQ has optimized album creation and privacy settings; QQ Browser was the first to achieve landscape mode on HarmonyOS foldable screens; applications such as Tencent News, Tencent Maps, AI Workbench ima, and QQ Music have also simultaneously launched new functions on HarmonyOS 6, making the multi-terminal experience more consistent.

Taobao has launched functions such as national subsidies, previewing shopping cart prices in advance, order combining, and convenient purchasing, bringing a more efficient shopping experience; Alipay, through joint innovation with Huawei, has improved the smoothness of the "tap to pay" function on HarmonyOS devices by more than 30%, making the payment experience smoother.

It is worth mentioning that the HarmonyOS version of Alipay has been comprehensively upgraded around wealth management services, not only bringing rich membership rights and fingerprint unlocking but also launching the AQ Ant Health Manager, allowing users to complete medical consultations and appointments through Xiaoyi's voice.

Since the launch of the HarmonyOS version of Meituan Takeout in June 2024, it has adhered to a monthly update rhythm and fully utilized the system features: from the live window that displays the real-time order status to interactive designs such as the coupon center, exclusive second floor, and red envelope.