Huawei rolls out HarmonyOS 5.0.5 (API 17) update with enhanced ArkUI features

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Huawei has rolled out HarmonyOS 5.0.5 (API 17), delivering under‑the‑hood enhancements in performance and stability across all supported devices—though it doesn’t introduce any headline‑grabbing new features.

Key updates in this release include optimizations to ArkUI, Ability framework, ArkData, and the AR Engine, among other core components. File management operations have also been refined, making everyday tasks smoother and more reliable.

To verify your API level and install the update, navigate to Settings > Device Name > Software Version > About this device.

The HarmonyOS 5.0.5 update is currently rolling out to the Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro, Mate X5, MatePad Pro 13.2, and MatePad Pro 11 (2024). You can find the full changelog below.

Ability

• Added support for specifying the size of the new window (minWindowWidth, minWindowHeight, maxWindowWidth, maxWindowHeight) through the StartAbility property StartOptions.
• C API adds support for passing StartOptions when starting an Ability.
• C API now supports obtaining subprocess startup parameters.
• C API adds support for setting the display mode of the window and dock icon when starting an Ability.

ArkData

• UDMF adds support for converting the incoming data into multiple data structures. If the original data uses multiple records to carry different styles of the same data, this interface can be used to convert the original data into multiple data structures.

AR Engine

• New depth estimation provides 3D perception capabilities, enabling measurement, volume estimation, etc.

ArkUI

• Added new mouse axis event-related interfaces.
• NavDestination adds onActive and onInactive lifecycles.
• The event capabilities of the C API have been enhanced to include support for obtaining the width, height, X coordinate, and Y coordinate of the component hit by the event.
• The basic type definition now supports clearing the current pre-screen text content.
• UIContext now supports creating UI instances that are not dependent on Windows.
• The component’s visible area change event now supports setting the event callback parameters to limit its execution interval.
• The ImageAnimator component supports setting whether to determine the pause and play of the component through the visibility of the system onVisibleAreaChange.
• The picture-in-picture window supports the implementation of page-level UI state storage units by creating parameters LocalStorage, which can be used to track main window instances in multiple instances.
• The window management for PC / 2in1 devices now supports the main window size memory function.
• Window management for PC/2in1 devices and tablet devices now supports setting the blur radius of the edge shadow of child windows or floating windows.
• Window management for PC/2in1 devices and tablet devices now supports setting whether a child window can be displayed simultaneously across multiple screens when its parent window is in the process of dragging and moving or dragging and scaling.

Audio Kit

• Added support for Float32 audio stream sampling format.

AVCodec Kit

• Video decoding now supports software decoding of MPEG2, MPEG4, and H.263.

AVSession Kit

• Added the property singleLyricText to support displaying a single sentence or single lyrics.

Background Tasks Kit

• A new background sub-process management module is added to provide applications with the ability to suppress and decompress sub-processes, preventing sub-processes from occupying too many system resources and causing system usage lags.

Connectivity Kit

• The Bluetooth socket module now supports obtaining the peer device address through clientSocket.

File Manager Service Kit

• [New Kit] File Manager Service Kit provides developers with file management-related capabilities. Developers can use the File Manager Service Kit to complete features such as deleting files to the Recycle Bin and obtaining file icons, meeting users’ diverse demands for file management.

IME Kit

• The input method framework now supports setting callbacks for displaying preview text, and supports subscribing to events of input method applications operating text preview content.

Media Kit

• When calling the media player AVPlayer to set the playback strategy, new support is added for displaying the first frame of the video after Prepare (showFirstFrameOnPrepare).

Payment Kit

• Added the ability to guide users to bind cards

PDF Kit

• Added support for encrypting PDF documents.

Preview Kit

• Added the ability to perceive the preloading status of file opening acceleration.

Vision Kit

• The document scanning result callback interface adds a status code to determine whether all input image URIs are invalid.

Configuration Files

• The configuration file module.json5 adds Hook configuration: abilitySrcEntryDelegator can be used to identify the name of the UIAbility that the current Module needs to hook, and abilityStageSrcEntryDelegator can be used to identify the AbilityStage that the current Module needs to hook (its value is configured as the name of the corresponding Module). The two are used in combination to jointly specify the target object of the Hook.

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