HarmonyOS 6.1.1 Beta Brings "Follow the Person" Camera Tracking for Developers

Friday, 01 May 2026 at 09:31

Huawei just pushed HarmonyOS 6.1.1 (API 24) Beta 1 to its developer portal — the first developer build beyond the stable HarmonyOS 6.1 that launched on April 20. For most users this is invisible. For developers building camera and imaging apps on HarmonyOS, it adds something genuinely useful.

The update centers on three additions: a new Camera Kit tracking capability, API 24 project support in DevEco Studio, and a new ComMemory template.

Key Points

HarmonyOS 6.1.1 (API 24) Beta 1 published to Huawei's official developer portal — the next iteration after stable HarmonyOS 6.1 launched April 20
Camera Kit gains a "Follow the Person" controller — enabling developers to build apps with intelligent subject tracking that keeps people centered in frame automatically
DevEco Studio now supports API 24 project development — giving developers access to the latest HarmonyOS interfaces and system capabilities
New ComMemory template introduced to streamline memory management during app development — reducing complexity for performance-sensitive applications
This is a developer beta — consumer devices are not affected until a stable build follows

What "Follow the Person" Actually Does

Camera tracking in mobile apps typically requires developers to implement their own subject detection and framing logic — computationally expensive and inconsistent across hardware. The new Camera Kit controller abstracts that complexity. Developers call the "Follow the Person" API and the camera system handles subject tracking natively, keeping people in frame as they move.

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The practical applications are broad. Video calling apps, fitness recording tools, live streaming software, vlogging applications, and any camera-adjacent feature that benefits from keeping a person centered without manual reframing. Huawei providing this at the system level means consistent behavior across all HarmonyOS devices rather than each app implementing its own version.

API 24 and DevEco Studio

Each API increment in HarmonyOS opens new system capabilities to developers. API 24 following the API 23 base of HarmonyOS 6.1 stable means Huawei is already iterating on its developer platform — a sign the ecosystem is moving at a faster clip than previous years.

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DevEco Studio support for API 24 projects lands alongside the beta, meaning developers can start building and testing against the new interfaces immediately rather than waiting for toolchain updates to catch up. The ComMemory template specifically targets memory management — an area where complex camera and AI applications frequently encounter performance issues on mobile hardware.

Context in the HarmonyOS Roadmap

HarmonyOS 6.1 launched as a developer version in February 2026 before going stable in April. The 6.1.1 beta following just weeks later signals Huawei is maintaining a faster developer iteration cadence than it has historically managed. For the HarmonyOS app ecosystem — still building critical mass against Android — developer tooling velocity matters as much as consumer features.