Can the Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max control your smart home?

Yes — the Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max can control a smart home, but only if you separate its control paths instead of treating “smart home ready” as one promise. As of Aug. 25, 2026, its useful smart-home control features fall into three buckets: native control that should behave cleanly on the global EMUI 16 model, workarounds that may be good enough if you accept the maintenance risk, and one big unverified area: Matter controller support.

Compatibility map as of Aug. 25, 2026

This map is for the global Pura 90s Pro Max running EMUI 16. China-market HarmonyOS behavior should not be assumed to match it, and neither should a regional app store listing. If one of these paths is the reason you are buying the phone, check the exact retail unit, firmware region, and app availability before the return window closes.

The strongest native fallback is the IR remote

The IR route deserves more attention than it usually gets in phone reviews. If the unit in your hand has the reported infrared port, the Pura 90s Pro Max can behave like a universal remote rather than another cloud dashboard. That matters for old TVs, split AC units, set-top boxes, and projectors that were never going to join Matter, Google Home, or Huawei AI Life in the first place.

GSMArena reports the global Pura 90s Pro Max with an IR port, and its EMUI 16 software coverage lists Smart Remote as preinstalled. Huawei’s own IR support page describes the supported appliance categories as TVs, air conditioners, set-top boxes, cameras, network boxes, DVD players, and projectors, and it also describes a feedback route when a model is not supported. [1][2][3]

That is not the same thing as a full smart-home integration. IR usually means one-way appliance control: point the phone, send the command, and hope the appliance receives it. It will not tell you whether someone else already changed the AC temperature with the wall remote. It will not build automations around a dumb TV. It also needs line of sight, so it is awkward from another room.

Still, for a household control panel, a partly local fallback is not a gimmick. If the internet drops and the AC remote has disappeared into a sofa, an IR blaster can still solve the immediate problem. That gives it a different kind of reliability from an app that looks more modern but depends on accounts, background services, notifications, and a third-party bridge.

The one caution is hardware verification. Because the IR claim here comes from third-party device coverage rather than the manufacturer product page itself, do not buy blind from a region or carrier listing that trims hardware. Check the spec sheet for the exact SKU, look for the IR emitter on the top edge, or test Smart Remote during the return period.

HUAWEI AI Life is the native app path, but only for the right devices

AI Life is the other path that should be treated as native rather than improvised. Huawei presents AI Life as its unified app for smart devices, and its support material ties the app to Huawei routers, HiLink devices, device status views, scenes, and one-touch adding. [4][5][6]

This is where buyers need to be precise. AI Life is not a magic importer for every smart device on your Wi-Fi network. The clean lane is for Huawei hardware and devices marked “Works with HUAWEI HiLink.” If your router is a supported Huawei model, AI Life is the sensible place to check network status and manage connected behavior. If your plug, bulb, or appliance is a HiLink device, that is also the lane where pairing and scenes belong. [4][5][6]

This is also the easiest place to confuse two very different kinds of control. Smart Remote sends IR commands to appliances that may not be smart at all. AI Life manages actual ecosystem devices through Huawei’s app layer. The first is useful when you need a remote replacement; the second is useful when your devices are already part of Huawei’s HiLink world.

For a buyer with Huawei routers or HiLink-branded devices, the Pura 90s Pro Max is a reasonable control surface. For someone whose home is built around Tuya, Google Home, Alexa, HomeKit, or Matter, AI Life should not be counted as evidence that those devices will come along cleanly.

Voice control exists, but Celia is not a universal answer

Celia can matter if you are in the right place. The assistant is listed with home-appliance control, but its availability is limited to selected countries and languages, including English, German, French, and Spanish. [7]

That makes Celia a conditional convenience, not a replacement for Google Assistant everywhere. The global Pura 90s Pro Max runs without Google Mobile Services, so the usual Android assumption — install the phone, sign into Google, and let Assistant handle the home — does not apply cleanly here. [1]

If Celia is available in your region and your appliances are in Huawei’s supported control path, voice can be part of the setup. If your household depends on Google Assistant routines, Nest speaker behavior, or voice commands that other family members already use, Celia should be tested before it is trusted.

Tuya and Google Home are possible, but they sit outside the clean lane

Workarounds are not useless. They are often the difference between a phone being impossible and merely inconvenient. But they should not inherit the confidence of native support, especially when the phone is supposed to become the surface other people in the home blame when lights, plugs, cameras, or alerts stop behaving.

Tuya Smart and Smart Life

Tuya and Smart Life are important because so many inexpensive bulbs, plugs, switches, diffusers, and small appliances use that ecosystem. The available evidence supports treating Tuya on Huawei phones as a workaround, not as a guaranteed native path. A Huawei Community thread specifically raises push-notification issues with Tuya, which is exactly the kind of failure that looks small in a review and large when it is your door sensor, water leak sensor, or security alert. [8]

For casual control — opening the Smart Life app to toggle a lamp — this may be acceptable. For alerts and automations that need reliable background behavior, test the actual app on the actual phone. The question is not only whether the app opens; it is whether it wakes up, notifies, and survives power management in the way your devices require.

Google Home through GBox

The Google route is more complicated. PetaPixel’s Pura 90s Pro Max review describes Google apps running through GBox, a third-party virtualization layer, with home-screen shortcuts and Play Store updates. It also notes the important limitation: Google Wallet NFC tap-to-pay is not enabled in that setup. [9]

For Google Home, that means the app path may be usable, but it is still a side door. A shortcut that launches cleanly is helpful. Play Store updates are helpful. Neither turns the phone into a native GMS device, and neither proves that every Google Home action, account permission, notification, speaker handoff, or background process will behave the way it would on a certified Android phone.

If your existing home is mostly Google Home, the buying decision depends on your tolerance for upkeep. A single owner who enjoys tinkering may be fine. A shared household where everyone expects the thermostat, lights, and cameras to work without explanation is a harsher test.

Matter remains unverified on the phone side

Matter is the easiest place to over-read the ecosystem story. Huawei is listed as a Connectivity Standards Alliance member, and CSA membership matters as industry context. It does not, by itself, verify that the Pura 90s Pro Max running global EMUI 16 can add Matter devices, act as a Matter controller, expose a household fabric, or replace a Google, Apple, Samsung, or Amazon controller in a real home. [10]

Until hands-on testing shows phone-side Matter controller behavior on EMUI 16, the status should stay Investigating. If Matter is the reason you are considering this phone, wait. A standards membership badge is not the same thing as a working Add Matter Device button on the handset you are about to buy.

Purchase verdict by the smart home you already own

• Buy with confidence if your main need is IR remote control for TVs, ACs, set-top boxes, projectors, or similar appliances, provided you verify that your exact Pura 90s Pro Max unit has the IR hardware.
• Buy with confidence if your home is already centered on Huawei routers or devices clearly marked “Works with HUAWEI HiLink.” That is the native AI Life lane.
• Proceed carefully if you depend on Celia voice control. It is useful only where the assistant, language, and appliance path are supported.
• Proceed carefully if your home is mostly Tuya or Smart Life. Basic control may be enough, but notification reliability should be tested before you rely on alerts.
• Proceed carefully if your home is mostly Google Home. GBox can create a workable route into Google apps, but it remains a workaround rather than native Google support.
• Do not buy the Pura 90s Pro Max specifically for Matter controller support until EMUI 16 hands-on verification exists.

References

1. Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max review — GSMArena
2. Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max review: Software — GSMArena
3. Unable to use IR remote control in the HUAWEI AI Life app — HUAWEI Support
4. HUAWEI AI Life — Huawei
5. Which smart devices are supported by the HUAWEI AI Life app? — HUAWEI Support
6. Overview of functions in the HUAWEI AI Life app — HUAWEI Support
7. Celia (virtual assistant) — Wikipedia
8. Push Notifications - Tuya — HUAWEI Community
9. Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max Review: The Cameras Prove Huawei Is Back — PetaPixel, August 3, 2026
10. Matter (standard) — Wikipedia