Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

gta3

Is everything sent via RCS visible to the network operator and law enforcement?

Whereas molly isnt accessible outside of the handset and has no centralized point of contact?

sabhain

If you want fully decentralized messaging, you might need to look into SimpleX or White Noise

Rumil

Vuraze This method solves it for me, but only for around 24-48hrs. At which point I will lose RCS again and am obliged to re-run the steps. Anyone have insight into making the fix stick? (Mint Mobile on Pixel 8a)

alwarnecke

I am in the same boat. I tried an experiment, in the debug menu under RCS -> Self-service messages, I tried "send keep-alive" when I was getting close to the 36 hour mark and RCS was still connected. A few hours later it still quit on me though.

aaravchen

alwarnecke
RCS seems to be comprised of an authentication and a provisioning step. The RCS toggle button seemingly only shows the authentication status, and the Etouffe status the provisioning.

The authentication is what I'm guessing isn't working in newer app versions, including the authentication renewal. The expiratiin on the authentication for T-Mibile was probably 36 hours originally, and recently reduced to 24 hours, and since the current latest version of the app can't renew before expiration we have to reinstall the old version that can, then upgrade to the newer version where the provisioning works.

I suspect the keep-alive is just an indication to the server that your device is still available to receive RCS, so if they have an incoming message for you they know they should be able to send it to your device.

SnappingWaffle

Is this still a priority of the GOS team? I haven't seen anything from them on this topic in a few weeks unless I missed something.

I'd assume it is since it's impacting a large portion of their users but it'd be nice to have some reassurance. I actually had to switch back to my Samsung phone due to RCS and a few other issues (mostly user induced) but would like to have the option to go back.

Koalmi

Hello all,

I was not sure where to put this because there are so many conversations about but here is what I did to get my google messages to work on Really wireless and previously Mint Mobile

I installed the mirrored playstore and play services in the graphene app store. Gave each these permissions below. I have not yet started to remove permissions yet to find out what is absolutely necessary yet.

Play services
Given permissions –
Call logs, Network, Phone, Sensors, SMS

Playstore
Given permissions –
Network, sensors

Installed carrier services from playstore and then just left it alone.

Google messages

Downloaded an older version of Google messages make sure you dowload the bundle version so you can install it

see link below

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/messenger-google-inc/messenger-google-inc-20240708_03_rc05-release/google-messages-messages-android_20240708_03_rc05-phone_dynamic-android-apk-download/

.... complete all below before opening google messages ....

under the app information for google messages

Made google messages the default messaging app

Given permissions –
Camera, contacts, microphone, music and audio, network, notifications, phone, photos and videos, sensors, SMS

Unrestricted app battery usage

(I am not sure what permissions are necessary still playing around with them)

I opened messages signed in with my google account. Then I made sure to toggle my airplane mode on then off. Then I went into messages settings tapped RCS chats and toggled it off for 1 minute and back on.

Internet says this forces the RCS service to complete a new hand shake and reinitialize the carrier information.

Then restarted my phone.

I checked my RCS status it changed from "setting up" => "connected". But under the advance setting in Google messages my phone number said "unknown".

I turn on airplane mode and then turned it off and the same with RCS chats. Then restarted my phone.

After that I went to google playstore and updated google messages. Once the newest version was installed I toggled airplane mode and RCS chats and restarted my phone.

Now I have full function, typing indicators in messages, "RCS message" in the message box when you initial start a new message and a confirmation "RCS chat with ..... ".

I did read that if you have wifi calling through your service provider that indicates the IMS stack / RCS service is provisioned and set up for your account with your provider. So that is the big hurdle.

I am pretty dam tired so i apologize if my directions are incomplete or confusing I will try to clean it up later.
Good luck everyone and I hope it works for you.

gfb817

Koalmi
does this keep RCS functionality alive for more than ~36-48 hours?

Koalmi

So far its been fine for the last day and half. Connected status and under the advance setting my phone number is still present.

My messages still send RCS, I see the typing indicator of other people responding

aaravchen

Koalmi Good input, but we've previously boiled the steps down to:

Install Play Services and grant it SMS and Call permissions
Install older Messages app that's one of a few specific older versions
Open it, set it as default SMS app, grant all permissions, and wait for RCS status to change to Connected
Upgrade the Messages app to latest
Profit (for originally 36-48 hours, but now only 24-36 hours)

It's only necessary on T-Mobile and MVNOs of T-Mobile (like Mint), otherwise you can just install the latest Messages directly and it doesnt time out.

The T-Mobiie problem is because they're the only ones that have switched to using their own servers instead of Google's so far (Google's making everyone move to thier own).
GOS is aware of it, and aware of what's going wrong, but are trying to work out a solution consistent with their design ethos.

If you can get RCS to stay connected on the T-Mobile network for more than 48 hours with something you do, that would be huge.

Koalmi

aaravchen I'll keep ya posted tonight will be a solid 48 hours

Koalmi

aaravchen And like clock work it went poof ... Sorry to get everyone's hopes even if by a little bit. My service provider said that nothing in my account changed and their engineering team said the issue stems from some within the GOS restrictions. I am not sure how much I believe that, but I am not a software engineer.

gos27371

Okay, here's what others have said work for them and what I got working too. Running a Pixel 9 Pro XL with Mint Mobile.

Go here and download the working version (262371063)
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/messenger-google-inc/messenger-google-inc-20241120_00_rc07-release/google-messages-messages-android_20241120_00_rc07-phone_dynamic-3-android-apk-download/
Also save this file in case you need it again later.
Install from Files app, not from a store.
This will help prevent updates.
Use without account.
Set as default SMS.
Verify that RCS is on and connected.
Leave it alone and do not let it update until they fix it.

andrew

gos27371

Have you been able to maintain connectivity for longer than 24-36 hours. My RCS has been breaking after about 24 hours on the latest build on my Pixel 9 on Mint Mobile.

When its broken, it goes into "Connecting...."

My steps to fix (has worked the past 3 days every time):

Uninstall Messages
Install 242499063 from Aurora
Set Permissions: Contacts, Network, Notifications, Phone, SMS
Open and verify RCS is set back to Connected
Update to latest version from Aurora
Restart my Pixel 9
Open Messages and RCS is good to go

I used to be able to just stay on 242499063 but I cant get RCS to work, it will connect but refuse to send any messages as RCS.

If anyone has a solution that prevents the 24-36 hour timeout, i'm all ears!

Hymix

gos27371
I've tried this, and every other suggestion over the last few years. Stock android has no issues, yet GOS will never connect for me. I'm in Japan, though, so not on Mint or anything like that.

WingedHussar__

gos27371 Dang, made it the furthest with these steps. (T-Mobile, Pixel 9a). Really appreciate everyone's help they're providing here.

I can get to "Connected" but won't actually send as anything but SMS / MMS.
I've also tried a lot of the other fixes including one where I removed the number off my Google account and re-add, no luck.

Weirdly (Or maybe not, new to GOS) the Carrier Services app doesn't show up in the app list, even when "Show system apps" is selected. When I go to uninstall it via the Play Store I can click "More Options" and it'll open the Carrier Services app info screen, but Permissions/Force Stop/etc. are greyed out. The only button I can click is "Enable" but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Having a heavy reliance on RCS between friends & family means I'll probably have to come back to GrapheneOS - either I'll convince enough of the people I message to swap to something like Signal or maybe there will be a better solution by then haha

cap9qd

Anyone successful on ATT in the USA? I have messed with mine quite a bit after a 30 day hiatus but best I got was one "unsupported" and mostly the 3000/3200 status. I've nuked play services data too as a test too to no avail.

alwarnecke

These are the only permissions I grant Messages, and RCS works fine:

Contacts
Network
Notifications
Phone
SMS

When I have to reinstall everything every ₃₆ hours, setting Messages as the default SMS app seems to grant it all permissions. I go in and manually remove all except the above list, and it works fine.

gfb817

Koalmi collides with part of the GOS restrictions, maybe, sure. but those " GOS restrictions" arent the root cause variable here, at least as far as I understand (and it's plenty likely that I'm misunderstanding).

something something

the only carrier that has transitioned to providing their own RCS host/instance/something (?)

something something something

and it's conducting different checks as part of a recent change that google made on their end, which the current GOS platform doesn't handle in a satisfactory way (in regards to said check).

something
I think

cb474

Koalmi their engineering team said the issue stems from some within the GOS restrictions. I am not sure how much I believe that, but I am not a software engineer.

gfb817 collides with part of the GOS restrictions, maybe, sure. but those " GOS restrictions" arent the root cause variable here, at least as far as I understand (and it's plenty likely that I'm misunderstanding)

The Graphene devs have been clear that the problem is that Messages wants special permissions that GrapheneOS does not allow the app to have (but stock Android does). So the problem with RCS is because of the way GrapheneOS restricts apps.

This has already been discussed in this thread and elsewhere. Older versions of Messages don't seek these permissions, so that's why they worked to get to "connected" status. Why older versions of Messages provision Etouffee to true on some devices and not others (even with the same carrier), thereby in the latter case requiring the update to the Play Store version of Messages, I have not seen explained.

The devs explained it would be possible to simply create toggles that allow users to enable the special permissions for Messages. But this is not consistent with Graphene's way of doing things. So they are working on a different solution. They say it's a priority, but I've seen no updates on that status of that.

GrapheneOS

Koalmi gfb817 cb474 No, it's not because of any restrictions added by GrapheneOS. It's because for a couple carriers Google Messages requires being a privileged system component with highly privileged permissions unavailable to regular apps. GrapheneOS does not reduce app compatibility in the way you're describing.

cb474

@GrapheneOS

I wrote:

cb474 The Graphene devs have been clear that the problem is that Messages wants special permissions that GrapheneOS does not allow the app to have (but stock Android does). So the problem with RCS is because of the way GrapheneOS restricts apps.

You replied:

GrapheneOS No, it's not because of any restrictions added by GrapheneOS. It's because for a couple carriers Google Messages requires being a privileged system component with highly privileged permissions unavailable to regular apps. GrapheneOS does not reduce app compatibility in the way you're describing.

I really don't see how what I said is not the same thing as what you said, except with more detail. Messages requires special permissions, as I said. You also say this, except you further specifiy Messages can only attain those permissions by being a privileged system component. GrapheneOS does not allow Messages to run as a privileged system component, but on stock Android for Pixel devices Messages is allowed to run in this fashion. Not allowing Messages to work in the way Google has designed it to work on stock Android is a restriction that Graphene places on Messages (as well as many other Google apps, including the Play Store and Play Services themselves). I just don't see how my statement is not consistent with yours.

I was also basing what I wrote on you own prior post in this thread:

GrapheneOS The issues with some specific carriers are a separate thing. We've determined Google Messages appears to have started requiring a bunch of privileged permissions for certain carriers recently. That's why old versions still work for those users on T-Mobile, etc.

That sounds a lot like what I wrote.

The problem being "privileged permissions" that Messages requires for certain carriers (but, as an aside, which will probably spread to more carriers in the future) is also entirely how the issue is discussed on the github issue tracker for this problem: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/6331

So in stock Android many apps, mainly Google apps, are allowed to run as privileged system components and thereby acquire special/privileged permissions. On GrapheneOS that functionality for those apps is restricted, by instead treating them as regular apps (although I assume there are some apps that still run this way perhaps?).

In any case, the two people I was responding to were uncertain whether the issue with RCS and Messages on GrapheneOS was particular to GrapheneOS or not. They were questioning what a carrier had said. So I was trying to clarify that the issue does have to do with how GrapheneOS works, in counterdistinction from how stock Android works.

Chhezesteak

Ugh. The old version has been working to get connected for weeks. I've reinstalled it once per day and then upgraded.

Today, it says my device isn't supported under RCS.

20240708_03_RC04 seems to not work with what I can only assume was a server side change now, because it's a local file I've been reinstalling every time.

Chhezesteak

Chhezesteak spoke too soon. Phew. Just took a long time to connect. Back in biz.

robertmckeever2

GrapheneOS I am okay with adding a toggle to simply get this working until another solution is found that is more permanent and baked into the OS.

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