I've recently installed GrapheneOS on a Pixel 4a to try it out. I'm particularly interested in seeing how sandboxed Google Play Services behave, and so have set them up. IIRC I've set up the phone to forward location requests to the OS, but I can't currently find where the setting for that is located (hints welcome!).

Anyway, I've noticed frequent location access notifications, roughly every minute or perhaps even less. It's always GmsCompat making the requests. In the permissions manager there are no apps listed has having location access all the time and only three allowed to access maps whilst in use - Google Maps, OsmAnd and Opensignal.

Is this frequent location access to be expected, and if so what is it doing? If it is normal then it might be useful if this notification could be disabled.

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    • Post #2
    • Edited

    knirirr

    https://grapheneos.org/features#sandboxed-google-play

    This is normal, it's part of the sandboxed Google play implementation.

    "By default, location requests are rerouted to a partial implementation of the Play geolocation service provided by GrapheneOS. You can disable rerouting and use the full Play services geolocation service instead."

    Any app (or I believe Google Play services itself) requesting Google location services will instead show up as "GmsCompatConfig"

    You can disable that feature in Settings > Apps > Sandboxed Google Play > Reroute Location Requests To OS

        [deleted] Thanks. I have the switch turned on in the setting you mentioned, so presumably the GrapheneOS location services are handling these requests and not contacting Google's servers.

        Is it possible to turn off these frequent location access notifications for these requests only?

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            • Post #4
            • Edited

            knirirr

            If you turn the switch to off and deny Google Play services location then it will prevent those location requests not caused by individual apps with location access. But as far as leaving the switch on I don't believe there's any way to prevent Play services from accessing location.

                [deleted] I was thinking not of denying location access, but of not showing the notification. Presumably, then, that is not possible?

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                    • Post #6

                    knirirr What do you mean by notification? Do you mean the indicator in the top right of the screen?

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                        • Post #8

                        knirirr
                        Yeah don't believe there is any way to selectively disable that notification.

                            [deleted] Thanks for letting me know. That's a bit of a nuisance, as it is so frequent that I fear it would obscure any warning that an unexpected app had obtained location access.

                              Most of this will be gone with the next release because we taught GmsCompat not to bother obtaining a new location when the apps trying to get it are going to have their requests rejected anyway.

                                18 days later

                                strcat thanks for commenting - that sounds like it will be a welcome enhancement to the experience.