Usb civic 2016 not recognising smartphone

Hi there my civic 2016 will not make a connect with my phone it is a Huawei p30 lite using the usb port. I have tried a flash drive stick that works fine. I think I have done all the tricks. tethered and all that but alas no joy. Can anyone shed light on this issue. it does appear that this modelill not allow apps to be downloaded to it.