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  • Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

bluesl33ves I haven't personally tried to set up RCS. My guess is that Google Play Services, Google Play, or Google Phone expect to have access to some permission and/or they expect another app is installed, such as the Google app, or Assistant, or something. Maybe the app expects to be run from the owner profile. There are lots of reasons I can think of that the app will refuse to work.

As of right now, there's nothing to go on except "it doesn't work most of the time". Somebody needs to sit down and dig through logs and try permissions or installing apps to get to the bottom of why it doesn't work.

      Still rocking stock Pixel7. No issues. Leads me to believe something about GrapheneOS' build is interfering with RCS

      other8026 Permission wise, I believe a few persons have tried enabling all the possible permissions, on the primary account, and have even reset the device with no resolution. If you have other reasons, you can list them out. For me, being stuck at setting up, when I am not registered, just means that the device is not receiving the setup info. Furthermore, when trying to send the code from the Google Message deregister page, I may or may not receive the SMS message. I have never tried changing the Internet connectivity checks, Attestation key provisioning, and Widevine provisioning servers and turning off the Private DNS.

        For what it's worth the only recent reports I've found of this happening outside of GrapheneOS are from people with other non-stock/rooted devices and their solution seems to be spoofing device integrity.

        https://xdaforums.com/t/rcs-chat-gone-in-latest-update.4653947/#post-89312709

        https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/1agsjh0/rcs_issues_on_devices_that_have_unlocked/

          So, this probably won't be helpful but I'll add it on anyway, just in case. If this has already been said, I apologize, there is more than 200 answers here. RCS was working fine and effortlessly for me when I had my Pixel 4a. I had to upgrade it, due to it being end of life. I got a Pixel 7a and ever since I got it, it's been impossible to get RCS running on it. It seems to me that a lot of people struggling are using 6 and 7 series. I'm wondering if this somehow could be Tensor related? As before the 6 series, Pixels were using Snapdragons processors and not Google's Tensor.

          This could be completely unrelated though.

            Posichronic That's a huge issue in light of the iPhone getting RCS this year. Hopefully someone comes up with a way to resolve it.

            Not a fan of how Google was trying to get Apple to support RCS while Android doesn't even support RCS at the system level. I'd be happy using a 3rd party RCS client that can work with iPhones' RCS.

              CryptOwlie RCS was working fine and effortlessly for me when I had my Pixel 4a. I had to upgrade it, due to it being end of life. I got a Pixel 7a and ever since I got it, it's been impossible to get RCS running on it. It seems to me that a lot of people struggling are using 6 and 7 series.

              If Google has been making changes to RCS, which I believe they have, then RCS having worked before on an older phone may not be relevant.

              Note that most GrapheneOS users are probably 6-series and 7-series users because:

              • the 5 series is just about EOL;
              • the 8 and 8 Pro are new and expensive;
              • unlike the 6 series and 7 series, which have three models, there isn't an 8a yet(?).

              Also, I think I saw Reddit complaints about Verizon RCS by non-GrapheneOS users on non-Pixel phones.

                  I would really like a developer to initiate a step-by-step process of providing them with information and logs, if it is something that they can resolve; even providing a little app in their App repository to allow users to manually add their RCS information, would be helpful. If it falls out of their scope, I would also like to know this as well. For me on a P8P, the issue is not registering the device but actually receiving the carrier settings. If it stays in the “Connecting…” stage for too long, it will unregister and stay in the “Setting up…” stage, where there is no ACS URL set according to the debugging menu. I only see “Connecting…” if there is no data or Wi-Fi present, or I am on a network that is blocking the connection. Otherwise, I will remain connected.

                  de0u No, no P8a until there is a P9 and P9P.

                      bluesl33ves I would really like a developer to initiate a step-by-step process of providing them with information and logs [...]

                      While various of the developers occasionally scan the forum, the standard protocol is to seek help via one of the real-time chat rooms, see https://grapheneos.org/contact#community-chat. The chat rooms also make it possible for you to provide telemetry from your device via a non-public channel.

                      This may well not be quickly resolvable. RCS is a moving target -- the standard isn't really settled, carrier implementations are evolving, and carriers are not completely settled in terms of which implementations to deploy. I don't know if Google's standard client is changing too, but it probably is. Personally I won't be surprised if reliable solutions are months away.

                        irrenarzt
                        Compat mode didn't make a difference on my end either. I also had wifi disabled the entire time, and my RCS stayed connected for about 3.5 days. I had gotten so hopeful when I saw that I had made it past the 72 hr mark, but by that evening it had disconnected. I want to keep troubleshooting this because, especially with Apple on board and google Messages being the stock messaging app on all droids, I do think RCS is the future.

                        Note to others: I also tried installing Carrier Services, and that didn't seem to make a difference. And there had been some talk earlier in this thread about sniffing the traffic to see if Google was phoning home with a bunch of telemetry; well, once I got RCS connected I did start logging my traffic, and I was happy to see that the only URLs it connected to were m.talk.google.com and my carrier's PCSCF url. In other words, I don't think it was sending more than the bare minimum data required to maintain the connection.

                          FlipSid I'm confused as to how you managed to get this to work. All I see is that you downloaded the app from the Play Store. Are you running the latest version of Google Messages?

                              So reading through the post that Posichronic shared, it looked like one of the commenters found that their success was immediately connected to "Safetynet".

                              I haven't figured out what that means exactly, but it sounds like it's related to "Device Integrity Check" which Graphene OS does not pass.

                                FlipSid I had to download over mobile data (n o t wifi) and have the VPN deactivated.
                                Otherwise it would not work.
                                From Play store. Version now is:
                                20240123_01

                                If you feel up to it, wipe the cache, data, and uninstall the app, re-install it, and let us know what happens.

                                  Negativ. Feeling kind of indisposed at the moment 😂😂😂
                                  Once it stops working I will touch it, until then leave it alone