HarmonyOS 6.1 delivers focused upgrades across UI interaction, Web risk control, video decoding, raw camera output, image metadata, 3D maps, media processing, network security, and contact import/export. These changes address three recurring pain points: capability gaps, limited compatibility, and fragmented development workflows. Keywords: HarmonyOS 6.1, ArkUI, AVCodec.
Technical Specifications at a Glance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Platform | HarmonyOS 6.1 |
| Primary Languages | ArkTS, JavaScript |
| Protocols/Formats Involved | HTTP/HTTPS, VCard, Exif, AV1/VP9/VP8/MPEG1 |
| Core Capability Domains | ArkUI, ArkWeb, AVCodec Kit, Camera Kit, Network Kit |
| Article Type | Version upgrade analysis |
| Stars | Not provided in the original article |
| Core Dependencies | HarmonyOS SDK, system Kit APIs, Web JS Bridge |
HarmonyOS 6.1 shifts its upgrade focus from usability to extensibility
HarmonyOS 6.1 is not a collection of isolated patches. It fills critical capability gaps around interaction enhancement, cross-format compatibility, security controls, and system-level integration. For application developers, the most immediate value is clear: fewer workaround implementations and lower in-house development costs.
This release spans ten areas, but the highest-priority upgrades are ArkUI text selection control, ArkWeb simulated click detection, AVCodec extended software decoding, Camera raw photo callbacks, Network cleartext traffic control, and the Telephony VCard module.
ArkUI turns text selection from a passive interaction into active control
With the new setTextSelection method on TextController, developers can proactively highlight and select text outside long-press scenarios. This is especially useful for interactions such as copying verification codes, selecting summaries, and quoting partial text.
The API does not always take effect. If copyOption is set to CopyOptions.None, or if textOverflow is TextOverflow.MARQUEE, the selection range will not be applied. In other words, the new capability depends on whether the component itself allows copying and is not displayed as marquee text.
import { promptAction } from '@kit.ArkUI'
// Core logic: create a text controller
let textCtrl: TextController = new TextController()
Button('Select the first 4 characters')
.onClick(() => {
// Core logic: actively set the text selection range
textCtrl.setTextSelection(0, 4)
promptAction.showToast({ message: 'Target text highlighted' })
})
Text('HarmonyOS 6.1 enhances text selection capabilities')
.controller(textCtrl)
.copyOption(CopyOptions.InApp)This example shows how to trigger text highlighting through a button instead of relying on a long press.
ArkWeb moves Web risk control earlier into the click detection layer
HarmonyOS 6.1 introduces the window.detectSimulatedClickRiskEnhanced API for Web apps. Its purpose is straightforward: detect simulated behavior such as automated clicks, device farms, and traffic inflation scripts.
This capability fits high-risk pages such as prize draws, voting, marketing campaigns, and ad engagement flows. Note the invocation limits: up to 10 calls every 30 seconds and up to 20 calls per device per day. That makes it better suited to pre-checking critical operations than to high-frequency real-time polling.
function checkClickRisk() {
// Core logic: call the system-provided simulated click detection API
window.detectSimulatedClickRiskEnhanced((result) => {
// Core logic: decide whether to allow the business action based on the risk result
if (result && result.riskLevel > 0) {
console.log('High-risk click behavior detected')
} else {
console.log('Click behavior is normal')
}
})
}This example runs simulated click risk detection in an H5 page and works well as a gate before sensitive operations.
AVCodec closes compatibility gaps for non-mainstream but still common formats
AVCodec Kit now adds software decoding support for AV1, VP9, VP8, RV30, RV40, WVC1, DVVIDEO, RAWVIDEO, and MPEG1. This directly improves compatibility with historical and cross-platform formats such as WebM, RM/RMVB, WMV/ASF, AVI, and MPG.
The value of this upgrade goes beyond simply playing more formats. It makes content migration, legacy asset playback, and cross-device media ingestion more practical. These formats remain common in enterprise video archives, educational materials, and broadcast media collections.
Camera, image, and media pipelines now support more complete production-grade processing
Camera Kit adds onCapturePhotoAvailable, which allows developers to obtain full-quality or uncompressed image objects after capture. This means image enhancement, beautification, OCR, and computational photography algorithms no longer need to rely solely on compressed outputs.
Image Kit adds readImageMetadata, which can read Exif metadata from JPEG, PNG, HEIF, WEBP, and DNG files. Instead of accessing only width, height, and pixel data, developers can now retrieve shooting parameters, lens details, and even geographic information.
Media Kit adds fetchFramesByTimes, compressing multiple frame extraction operations into a single batch request. In scenarios such as short-video cover selection, video summary generation, and timeline preview, this significantly reduces integration complexity.
// Core logic: pass multiple timestamps in a batch to get multiple video thumbnails
let times: Array
<number> = [1000, 3000, 5000]
mediaSource.fetchFramesByTimes(times, (err, frames) => {
if (!err) {
// Core logic: iterate through the returned thumbnail list
frames.forEach((frame, index) => {
console.info(`Thumbnail ${index} has been generated`)
})
}
})This example extracts multiple video frame thumbnails in one call, which is useful for generating candidate cover images.
Map, calling, and contacts capabilities are strengthening system-level integration
Map Kit adds 3D globe and city lighting effects. Developers can enable them during initialization with sphereEnabled, or toggle them dynamically through the controller after the map is created. This is more than visual polish. It improves how global-view, geographic presentation, and educational applications communicate spatial information.
Call Service Kit adds the ability to jump directly to the “Unknown Number and Message Identification” settings page. This is useful for security, anti-spam, and communication enhancement apps that need tight integration with system settings. Developers no longer need complex copy to guide users through multiple settings layers manually.
With the introduction of the VCard module in Telephony Kit, HarmonyOS moves closer to mature mobile platforms in contact migration support. importVCard and exportVCard align directly with the common Android .vcf exchange workflow, which is valuable for device switching, backup, and enterprise directory synchronization.
Network Kit cleartext traffic control is especially important for migration projects
HarmonyOS 6.1 supports HTTP cleartext traffic policy configuration through src/main/resources/base/profile/network_config.json. This effectively brings the governance model of Android networkSecurityConfig to HarmonyOS.
For existing migration projects, this makes it easier to separate which domains can use cleartext traffic and which must enforce HTTPS. It improves both security compliance and operational control for staged migration and internal-network debugging.
{
"networkSecurityConfig": {
"cleartextTrafficPermitted": false,
"domains": [
{
"domain": "api.example.com",
"cleartextTrafficPermitted": false
}
]
}
}This configuration declares the app’s cleartext network access policy and helps explicitly control HTTP/HTTPS behavior.
The shared signal across these ten upgrades is that the APIs align more closely with real business needs
If you abstract this release into architectural trends, four themes stand out. First, UI control is becoming more granular. Second, media compatibility is broader. Third, system security is moving earlier in the flow. Fourth, cross-platform migration is becoming smoother.
When evaluating HarmonyOS 6.1, developers should not look only at individual APIs. Instead, they should prioritize three categories of upgrade opportunities: interaction improvements for text and pages, media pipeline enhancements, and reduced Android migration costs.
AI Visual Insight: The image shows the cover of a printed technical book focused on HarmonyOS application development. The core visual emphasizes the theme of “HarmonyOS 6 Application Development,” suggesting that the article is closely related to structured tutorials, hands-on API practice, and application release workflows, rather than being only a version announcement.
FAQ
1. Which HarmonyOS 6.1 upgrades should teams prioritize first?
The highest-priority items are ArkUI text selection control, new AVCodec software decoding support, Camera raw photo callbacks, and Network cleartext traffic configuration. These four areas directly affect interaction design, compatibility, image quality, and security governance, so they provide the most immediate implementation value.
2. What practical value does AVCodec’s new format support bring to ordinary apps?
It improves playback compatibility for legacy videos, cross-platform media, and non-mainstream container formats. This reduces transcoding costs caused by unsupported system decoding and is especially useful for education, enterprise content archives, and media applications.
3. Why is Network Kit’s HTTP cleartext traffic control important?
Because it makes network security policies configurable and auditable. It also simplifies Android project migration and helps teams control cleartext access boundaries separately across testing, internal-network, and production environments.
Key takeaways summarize the most important HarmonyOS 6.1 changes
This article systematically breaks down ten key upgrades in HarmonyOS 6.1 across ArkUI, ArkWeb, AVCodec, Camera, Map, Network, and VCard-related capabilities. It focuses on newly introduced APIs, applicable scenarios, compatibility value, and implementation paths so developers can quickly judge upgrade benefits and modernization priorities.