A Chinese NAS OS is getting a native HarmonyOS app — and it's recruiting testers now

July 10, 2026

fnOS is a Chinese NAS operating system built on Debian. It runs on standard x86 hardware, offers photo backup and media scraping out of the box, and has been quietly gaining a following among home-server enthusiasts who want something more polished than TrueNAS but more accessible than the average DIY build.

Now it’s about to get HarmonyOS native.

Flying Niu, the team behind fnOS, announced Thursday night that development of its native HarmonyOS app has entered the final stretch. The company is opening its first closed beta and recruiting testers from the existing fnOS user base who also run HarmonyOS 5 on their phones.

For months, fnOS users on HarmonyOS devices had to rely on Zhuoyitong, an Android compatibility layer baked into Huawei’s ecosystem. The experience was rough. Users reported sluggish file transfers, throttled download speeds, and devices running hot under load. A native app built with ArkUI and designed around HarmonyOS’s distributed capabilities should sidestep all of those problems.

Beta testers will get early access to file synchronization, multi-device management, HD media playback, and photo album backup — all implemented natively rather than through a translation layer. The team is asking testers to focus on login and NAS connection stability, file browsing and upload and download performance, media and photo functionality, and general HarmonyOS compatibility. Bug reports and performance feedback are also welcome.

Registration opened July 10 and will remain live for one week. Selected participants will be notified next week, according to the company.

The beta launch comes after a prolonged hiring effort that became a talking point in the fnOS community. Flying Niu started recruiting HarmonyOS developers in 2025, but the process moved slowly. In March 2026, the company posted openings for ArkUI interface developers, distributed capability engineers, and cross-device scenario flow specialists — roles that hinted at the scale of the native app effort.

fnOS itself is a Debian-based NAS operating system that works on generic x86 hardware. Its core features include intelligent media scraping for movie and TV libraries, photo backup, and remote access — similar to Synology’s DSM, but free. The system has attracted a dedicated community of home-lab users in China, many of whom also use Huawei phones and have been waiting for native HarmonyOS support since the OS launched.