GrapheneOS Only certain carriers such as T-Mobile require an older version to work around the newer version not working with them on GrapheneOS yet. There isn't a need to downgrade repeatedly for those carriers but rather to stay on the old version so verification keeps working. By upgrading, you're breaking verification and then it's only a matter of time before the existing verification expires. It's known that the recent Google Messages versions don't work for a small number of carriers including T-Mobile and their MVNOs on GrapheneOS yet.
This isn't correct, many users on T-Mobile and related MVNOs, including myself, cannot get RCS to fully work with an older version of Messages.
For many of us, when we install the old version, verification works, in the sense that RCS shows as "connected" in the Messages settings, but texts do not actually send as RCS and group chats do not work, because Etouffee does not connect (show as "true" in the Messages debug menu). Etouffee only goes to true after we upgrade to the Play Store version and reboot (sometimes more than one reboot is required).
I have tried at length to get Etouffee to go to true on the old version of Messages. Waiting overnight. Rebooting many many times. But it never works.
So if you look back at the posts here, many of us can only get RCS working by uninstalling Messages, installing the old version to get RCS "connected," and then upgrading to the Play Store version to get Etouffee set to "true."
But this necessarily means that it breaks every 36 hours, when I guess Messages tries to reverify and fails.
Should I post this on the github issue? Do the devs not understand that the constant downgrading every 36 hours is necessary for many users?