Innovative Practices in Service Distribution: Research Report on HarmonyOS Meta-Services | 36Kr Research Institute
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 background, HarmonyOS Meta Services have emerged. Based on AI capabilities, they adopt an intelligent service distribution model to achieve lightweight and scenario-based service access, providing full-process empowerment for developers from development, user acquisition, retention to monetization.
The Mobile Internet Moves towards Stock Competition: Challenges and Opportunities Coexist
Data from CNNIC shows that in the first half of 2025, the Internet penetration rate in China reached 79.7%, but the year-on-year growth rate dropped to around 2%. The growth rate of the mobile Internet user population fell to less than 2%, indicating a ceiling for traffic growth. Meanwhile, customer acquisition costs soared: the cumulative increase in the advertising costs of mainstream channels reached 109% over three years.
From the perspectives 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 rates of 2.43% and 6.52%. While service scenarios are becoming increasingly rich, it also means that 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 usage frequency. Users' attention is concentrating 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 are emerging, injecting new growth momentum into the industry. On the one hand, users' activity in segmented scenarios is continuously rising. Achieving precise service access based on 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's development. Users' preference for lightweight AI experiences also provides a new value anchor for developers. 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: in September 2025, the user population 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.
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, application distribution platforms are 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 difficulties in the stock market competition and seize new industry development opportunities. In the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Meta Services rely on the distributed technology architecture and underlying AI capabilities, taking scenario-based, lightweight, and cross-device features as the starting points, to provide intelligent service distribution solutions for developers and empower the full process from development, user acquisition, retention to monetization.
In the development stage, with the support of the ASCF framework, developers can achieve one-time development and multi-device deployment, as well as the reuse of technical capabilities. Combined with the toolchain and intelligent review system, the efficiency of development and app listing can be improved. At the same time, developers can also use the panoramic technical support system including 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 Rewards, near-field capabilities, browsers, intelligent SMS, the app market, and state transfer, aggregating natural, recommended, and paid traffic. Relying on scenario-based active recommendations such as events and locations and joint marketing strategies, they provide efficient and effective user acquisition paths for ecosystem partners. With the HarmonyOS Intent Framework, users' needs in scenarios such as voice, search, and location awareness can be identified and directly lead to the corresponding services, truly realizing the concept of "scenario as the entrance".
In the user retention stage, Meta Services provide differentiated scenario-based retention solutions. For fulfillment services such as food delivery, e-commerce, and hotels, a full-link closed loop can be achieved through service dynamics, order reminders, and the negative first screen revisit capability. Tool and content services rely on shallow-entry cards to achieve high-frequency exposure and quick access. The exploration service flow on the negative first screen further creates an immersive experience space where "browsing leads to interest and clicking leads directly to the service", 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 a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats business growth.
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 program, Meta Services are accelerating their transformation from a new distribution model to the intelligent ecosystem infrastructure. As more developers join as HarmonyOS partners, the density of Meta Service capabilities and the depth of scenarios will continue to increase, forming a growth flywheel of "more partners - more diverse services - more precise access - stronger commercial value".
Meanwhile, Meta Services will also build a full-scenario service network, enabling seamless transfer across multiple devices such as mobile phones, smart watches, in-vehicle systems, smart screens, and earphones, further expanding the service value radius and creating a user-centered cross-device continuous experience.
The Key Research Questions in 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 they meet the needs of developers?
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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