HarmonyOS 6 debuts with Star Shield security and AI agent support

Huawei's 2025 Developer Conference (or HDC 2025) has started with a bang today (June 20, 2025) with the introduction of a successor to HarmonyOS NEXT: software touted as created from the ground up to be optimized for Huawei devices without reliance on Android's code-base.

The new version has been announced alongside its new Harmony Intelligent Agent Framework, a suite of tools backed to help create the most effective, productive and helpful versions of, and variations on, Huawei's AI assistant (Xiaoyi) to date - much as Apple has aimed to do at its own WWDC events as of late.

HarmonyOS 6 also introduces a new, unified Star Shield security architecture, rated to enhance the integrity of biometric authentication by co-ordinating on-device hardware such as GPS and camera (again, much like Apple's approach to security on iOS). 

Star Shield is the latest facet of a HarmonyOS system estimated to have blocked over 8.6 billion "unreasonable" app permission requests over its history. It might also enhance the integrity of online banking protections on Huawei devices (albeit possibly only in China).

Huawei has also released the first public beta of HarmonyOS 6.0 at HDC 2025, which runs from now until June 22, 2025 at Songshan Lake in China.