36Kr Research Institute | Innovation Practice of Service Distribution: Research Report on HarmonyOS Meta Services

As the mobile internet gradually enters the era of stock competition, the dual pressures of slowing traffic growth and high customer acquisition costs have become important bottlenecks restricting developers from improving their commercial performance. For developers in the fierce market competition, how to achieve refined user operation and solve the growth problem has become an urgent issue to be addressed. Against this backdrop, HarmonyOS Meta Services have emerged. Based on AI capabilities, it adopts a smart service distribution model to achieve lightweight and scenario - based service access, providing developers with full - process empowerment from development, user acquisition, retention to monetization.

I. The mobile internet moves towards stock competition, with both challenges and opportunities

Data from CNNIC shows that in the first half of 2025, the internet penetration rate in China has reached 79.7%, but the year - on - year growth rate has dropped to about 2%, and the growth rate of the mobile internet user scale has fallen to less than 2%, indicating a ceiling for traffic growth. The customer acquisition cost has soared simultaneously: the cumulative increase in the advertising cost of mainstream channels has reached 109% in three years.

From the perspective of both supply and demand, on the supply side, in the first half of 2025, the number of Android and iOS system applications reached 4.83 million and 3.26 million respectively, with year - on - year growth of 2.43% and 6.52%. While the service scenarios are becoming increasingly rich, it also means that the competition is intensifying. A large number of applications are vying for limited user attention, squeezing the exposure space of long - tail developers. On the demand side, the growth rate of the average daily usage time per user per month far exceeds the growth rate of the number of usage times. Users' attention is concentrated on high - frequency entrances. How to obtain more high - quality exposure and conversion in users' limited attention has become an unavoidable issue for many developers to improve their business performance.

Meanwhile, new user demands have emerged, injecting new growth momentum into the industry. On the one hand, users' activity in segmented scenarios is continuously increasing. Achieving precise service access around users' scenario - based needs is expected to be the key for developers to achieve refined operation. On the other hand, the explosive growth of AI applications has injected new vitality into the industry, and users' preference for lightweight AI experiences also provides developers with a new value anchor. In the first half of 2025, the average monthly usage time of AI applications per user increased by 32.7% year - on - year, leading the mobile application market. Among various AI application forms, users prefer lightweight application plugins more: in September 2025, the user scale of AI application plugins reached 706 million, and the average monthly usage time per user increased by 93.8% year - on - year. The combination of AI capabilities and lightweight forms is expected to be the key for developers to capture user value in the stock market.

II. Meta Services: Lightweight and scenario - based service distribution capabilities provide full - process empowerment for developers from development, user acquisition, retention to monetization

As a bridge between developers and users, the application distribution platform is guiding the adaptation of supply - side services to demand - side experiences through paths such as digital tool integration, technology capability opening, and distribution efficiency optimization, helping them break through the competition in the stock market and capture new industry development opportunities. In the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Meta Services rely on the distributed technology architecture and AI underlying capabilities, focusing on scenario - based, lightweight, and cross - device features, providing developers with a smart service distribution solution and empowering the full process from development, user acquisition, retention to monetization.

In the development stage, with the support of the ASCF framework, developers can achieve multi - device deployment and technology capability reuse with one - time development. Combined with the toolchain and intelligent review system, the efficiency of development and listing is improved. At the same time, developers can also rely on the panoramic technology support system such as UI capabilities, API capabilities, and framework capabilities to successfully complete the optimization, upgrade, and iteration of products.

In the user acquisition stage, Meta Services open up service entrances such as the negative first screen, Xiaoai family, HarmonyOS gifts, near - field capabilities, browsers, smart text messages, app stores, and state transfer, aggregating natural, recommended, and paid traffic. Relying on scenario - based active recommendations such as events and locations and joint marketing strategies, it provides efficient and effective user acquisition paths for ecosystem partners. With the HarmonyOS intention framework, users' needs in scenarios such as voice, search, and location awareness can be recognized and directly access the corresponding services, realizing the true meaning of "scenario is the entrance".

In the user retention stage, Meta Services provide differentiated scenario - based retention solutions. For fulfillment - based services such as takeaways, e - commerce, and hotels, a full - link closed - loop can be achieved through service dynamics, order reminders, and the revisit ability of the negative first screen. Tool - based and content - based services rely on shallow - entrance cards for high - frequency exposure and quick access. The exploration service flow on the negative first screen further constructs an immersive experience space of "browsing is planting the grass, clicking is direct access", strengthening user stickiness through instant satisfaction.

In the monetization stage, developers can achieve business growth through two paths: IAA advertising and 2C transactions. They can also access six types of service distribution growth tools, driven by data, to improve business performance and ultimately achieve business growth.

III. Meta Services are expected to become the new foundation of the intelligent ecosystem

With the rapid expansion of the HarmonyOS ecosystem and the promotion of the developer incentive plan, Meta Services are accelerating the transformation from a new distribution model to the intelligent ecosystem infrastructure. As more developers join as HarmonyOS partners, the density of Meta Services capabilities and the depth of scenarios will continue to increase, forming a growth flywheel of "more partners - richer services - more precise access - stronger commercial value".

Meanwhile, Meta Services will also build a full - scenario service network, enabling seamless transfer among multiple devices such as mobile phones, smart watches, in - vehicle systems, smart screens, and earphones, further expanding the service value radius and building a user - centered cross - device continuous experience.

The key research questions of this report are as follows:

• What is the current development status of the mobile application market in China?
• What challenges and opportunities do mobile application developers face?
• What are the needs of mobile application developers?
• What are Meta Services? How will Meta Services meet developers' needs?
• How do Meta Services provide full - process empowerment for developers?
• What is the current industry application of Meta Services?
• What development trends are Meta Services expected to show?

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