Huawei has been kicked out of future Android devices

wkleem

I do not own a Huawei device although the Huawei P20 Pro and P30 Pro models looked tempting for their cameras.

It's been reported that Huawei and its sub brand Honor would have issues in future with new Android phones now that Google, Intel, Qualcomm and Microsoft, and more, have broken ties with the company. Huawei will become a non Android brand, which is something Agilebits does not support, or it sn't encouraged. For Android Q (now in Beta) and beyond, is likely unsupported for new devices from Huawei. Other than iOS and Android, there is no other mobile platform supported by Agilebits? From what I have noticed, with few exceptions. AOSP is probably not supported.

1Password X is wholly PC based. No version of 1Password X exists for Firefox for Android or anywhere else.

Any comment or comments from Agilebits? Huawei will probably, like Apple, do the OS and most of the hardware in-house.

Huawei’s troubles just gets deeper and deeper. Now, The Wi-Fi Alliance and SD Card Association have broken ties with Huawei. OS from Huawei later this year. 1Password for Huawei is not forthcoming, presumably.

Ben

Any comment or comments from Agilebits?

1Password for Huawei is not forthcoming, presumably.

That seems like a fair assumption. :)

Ben

gazu

@wkleem

Irrespective of whether 1Password will work on Huawei, I'd suggest getting a new phone.

No security company in good conscience can recommend somebody continue to use a device that will shortly no longer receive OS updates. Huawei have committed to giving it their updates, where possible, but they don't have the same ability as Google's AOSP to keep the system secure.

The reason given for Huawei being banned is their ability to spy on users and the network. If you believe this might be true then you shouldn't be using 1Password on that device. To that extent you should consider everything stored in 1Password compromised and you should regenerate your emergency key (if applicable) and change all of the passwords therein.

I appreciate you don't own a Huawei so this is general advice based on your question. :)

AGAlumB

I'm not comfortable saying one way or the other about Huawei, given that the claims being made haven't really been substantiated publicly. I can appreciate that there can be good reason to keep sensitive information from the public for security reasons...but at the same time if we're to the point where bans are necessary, those are going to be inherently public, and it seems counter to thew security of those such bans are meant to protect to withhold the details. After all, regardless of any ban going forward, many people already have Huawei phones, routers, etc. So hopefully we'll get to know what this is all about before long, so users can act accordingly to protect themselves as needed.

However, I can say without any doubt that as a security company we just can't recommend using 1Password on devices lacking security updates. That goes not just for this case, but running outdated OS and browser versions anywhere, as then you're vulnerable even to known issues that have already been patched. It's a critical part of security. :+1:

wkleem

Thanks for the replies. No device, no matter how enticing the other features are, is not worth having the insecurity on them. Glad I did not get the Huawei.

On the other side, Apple and others have had to deny having back doors/kill switches in their devices?

We all have bigger problems like Intel CPU or CPUs in general being fundamentally flawed andgoing back 10 to 20 years.

Latest from Intel is that Hyperthreading (Zombieload) is a security risk. Turn that off and things (i7 and i9 CPUs) slow down considerably.

Amazon stopped shipments of Blu Phones. In spite of assurances from Blu, the spyware issue persisted. The FTC has mandated some measures:

https://sea.pcmag.com/blu-r1-hd/20897/phone-maker-blu-gets-wrist-slap-over-chinese-spyware

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/31/16072786/amazon-blu-suspended-android-spyware-user-data-theft