Huawei phones can no longer download VLC from the Google Play Store

If you're rocking one of the newer Huawei phones such as the P20 Pro or the P10, chances are you won't be able to download the VLC Media Player from the Google Play Store. The VideoLAN team (the guys behind VLC) have taken to Twitter to convey that some Huawei phones have been blacklisted and cannot get the app from the Play Store citing Huawei's aggressive power management policies that kills all background apps. This breaks background audio playback in VLC resulting in users venting out their ire at VideoLAN when, in fact, Huawei is the one to be blamed.

There have been reports by other developers as well who claim that EMUI kills background apps when the phone is locked. Although it is still possible to manually override EMUI's behavior, VideoLAN says that most users are not aware of this and Huawei is being selective as to what apps should be run in the background instead of letting the OS manage them. This is resulting in users leaving 'unfair' negative reviews on the Play Store.

VideoLAN says that only select Huawei phones are blacklisted. Those using devices such as the Mate 10 do not seem to be affected at this stage. However, no matter the device, users can still sideload the VLC apk if they wish to continue using the player. Both VLC and Huawei might have enough reasons to back their actions but it is the end users who'll be feeling the pinch. Hopefully, Huawei relaxes its background app policies to enable background tasks while still ensuring effective power management.

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