Huawei reportedly opened the apps ecosystem for its smartwatches to third-party developers, in a move to increase its share of the growing wearables market.

XDA Developers reported the vendor started introducing third-party apps on its smartwatches yesterday (24 February), and had expressed willingness to work with independent brands and developers to entice them to its products.

As a proof of concept, Huawei reportedly introduced fitness app Fitify, developed by Czech Republic-based company Fitify Workouts, to its Watch GT2 Pro.

Derek Yu, VP of CEE & Nordic at Huawei Consumer Business Group, told XDA Developers the addition of Fitify was a message to multiple other app developers about the benefits of working with its AppGallery marketplace.

He noted Huawei’s smartwatches were becoming more popular: XDA Developers put its shipments at 10.7 million in Q3 2020, up 90 per cent year-on-year.

IDC estimated the broader wearables market grew 35.1 per cent to 125 million units during the quarter, with Huawei ranked third behind Xiaomi and Apple in terms of shipments.