The Huawei Mate 30 Pro's Google Play Services situation has been one hell of a ride so far. CEO Richard Yu first said the company was thinking about making the bootloader unlockable, which would make it easier to install a custom ROM with Google Play Services support. This was quickly backtracked by a spokesperson clarifying Huawei has "no plans" doing so. In another turn of events, it seems installing Play Services is possible without unlocking the bootloader – if you're ready to install the enterprise device manager LZ Play on the phone, though it requires extensive permissions.

Just like any enterprise mobile device manager (MDM), LZ Play receives a plethora of system permissions. Usually, MDMs allow administrators to easily push and update software across a business' fleet of phones, but LZ Play uses the same permissions to let users without root access install system-level applications – such as the Play Store, Play Services, or other Google apps. Think of the app as a powerful root alternative for non-rootable devices, but due to its origin in administration software, a potentially huge security risk, too.

The end result of a successful installation has first been presented by Thai tech YouTuber TechOffside. He demonstrates some Google apps like Gmail and YouTube running on a Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Reddit users discussing the video assume the underlying tech used is LZ Play. In fact, the tool has been available in China for quite some time already, where phones don't ship with Google Play Services.

The MDM is only available for Huawei devices since it relies on the company's specific administration implementation, so if you'd like to retrofit other Chinese devices with Play Services, you'll have to opt for different options. Since this software is not endorsed by Google, we assume it's also more prone to breakage than official Google-sanctioned builds the company tests against and might lead to extensive battery drain or random app crashes. In any case, you should be careful when using LZ Play, as any app with such extensive permissions could potentially end up installing malicious code on your devices, even though it's apparently widely trusted and used by many people in China. If you decide to use the MDM, be sure to uninstall it after you've set up your Google apps so you don't give it room to go rogue.

To give the tool a try once you've received your Huawei Mate 30 Pro, you can find the APK here, on LZ Play's website. 9to5Google already tested the tool on the phone and reports that apart from some minor picture-in-picture issues, everything seems to work as expected, including Google Pay.

Source: TechOffside, Reddit