Huawei Search Engine Being Tested in the UAE as Replacement for Google Search: Reports

Huawei's fight to get back in the game keeps getting tougher each passing day, as the company has been forced to develop its own operating system, app store, and other services, since being blacklisted by the US has taken away its license to use Google's services on its devices. And now, since the company can not use Google's services, Huawei has reportedly also come up with Huawei Search, its very own search engine.

According to a SlashGear report, Huawei is calling its users in UAE to test out its new Search app, which is still under development. The Huawei Search comes as the company's step towards working up its Huawei Mobile Services replacement for Google, which includes a fully ecosystem, including an app store, and underlying services like navigation.

According to a report by Forbes, the Huawei search engine will soon be launched as a part of the Huawei ecosystem.

The company has not revealed what powers its search engine. However, XDA Developers got their hands on an APK of the Huawei Search application, and according to them, clues suggest that it might be using something of its own design, which might be a cause of concern for users, given the company's reputation. Further, the XDA report says that the weather widget on the search engine is powered by Huafeng-AccuWeather, which is a joint venture that apparently sources data from the Chinese Meteorological Administration, further adding to the concerns.

The XDA test of the search engine, however said that Huawei Search is just a basic search app that lets users input a query to search the Internet for webpages, videos, news articles, or images. The app also has shortcuts for sports, unit conversions, and calculator. It also shows a user's search history in settings, which can be toggled off as well.

Ever since the US ban prevented Huawei from licensing Google Mobile Services on its new devices, the Chinese smartphone maker has been in a wild goose chase to bring up its replacements. The company has come up with the Huawei AppGallery to replace the Google Play Store, and Huawei Mobile Services, which aims to replace Google Play Services. Earlier this month, the company had said that its App Gallery is the third largest used app store in the world.