Ring doorbell not notifcations

Rkpaxam

I'm getting no ring doorbell notifications; I have turned off battery optimisation, it has unrestricted Data, and Notifications are turned on in the control settings and in the app itself.. what am I missing?

de0u

Rkpaxam Is Play installed in the same profile as the Ring app? Perhaps the Ring app depends on Play for notifications. If so then it is likely necessary to install Play before the Ring app, and it may be necessary to grant Play components some permissions as described on the GrapheneOS web site.

Rkpaxam

de0u play is installed.... Isn't the whole point of graphene so you don't have to use play services though

Rkpaxam

Rkpaxam plus given amazon and google are frenamies can't imagine it's reliant on Google

Viewpoint0232

Rkpaxam

If an app requires Play Services for notifications, there is nothing that GrapheneOS can do to fix it. Note that many proprietary apps - for example Whatsapp or Kakaotalk - still have push notifications without Play Services. But Ring is not one of them.

Are you running a VPN by any chance? Ring blocks VPN users for some reason so you may need to exempt the Ring app from your VPN.

de0u

Rkpaxam Isn't the whole point of graphene so you don't have to use play services though

No.

Quite a few Android variants don't include Google Play. AOSP doesn't, for example. Some variants include MicroG. Huawei's OS includes a completely different system, as does Amazon's version of Android.

GrapheneOS is an Android variant focused on security and privacy. One feature among many features is that the Google Play infrastructure can be installed and run as a regular app without elevated privileges. GrapheneOS doesn't have a single "point", and "need not use Play Services" is not such a single point.

As @Viewpoint0232 indicates, if an app requires Google Play for some or all of its features and Google Play is missing then those features won't work, or the app will refuse to launch, or it will crash, etc. There isn't a general way to convert apps from Play-dependent apps into Play-independent apps, so GrapheneOS doesn't accomplish that.

Some app authors release multiple versions of the same app. If the version of the Ring app on your device was installed from the Play store (or from Aurora), it may well depend on Play for notifications. And if it does then Play will need the Network permission, and also special configuration for background battery usage. See this earlier post from @Viewpoint0232: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/11189-doorbell-apps/7

nunyo

I would strongly consider ditching your Ring doorbell in favor of a local option you could access through VPN. Ring doesn't exactly have a good history of securely storing videos (unencrypted) or safeguarding customer privacy (unfettered access to all Ring employees). Amazon may have fixed this, but trust has been irreparably broken if you ask me

Rkpaxam

nunyo what are the other options?

nunyo

Rkpaxam UniFi NVM with remote access turned off. Then use a VPN to remotely access your cameras.

Rkpaxam

nunyo having a look they are really expensive alternatives, but on the upside i got it working some stupid app setting hidden away

thmf

Rkpaxam You pay either with your money or with your privacy. Or both. Unfortunately, it's always been this way, nothing new.

schweizer

I don't understand why you go all the way with GOS and at the same price sacrifice your privacy with a cloud door bell.
I use a physical door bell. Doesn't neet power nor battery and no subscription. It is a centenary old but still looks like new.

Rkpaxam

schweizer because I work away a lot any its easyier when I get delivery's than having a note on my door advertising I'm not available.

thmf

Rkpaxam

schweizer I don't understand why you go all the way with GOS and at the same price sacrifice your privacy with a cloud door bell.

Because GrapheneOS is the only way to use such apps and services in more safe and private manner. Here's what project account says about this:
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/20213-googlphene-os/2

schweizer

There are a ton of problems with a cloud doorbell such as ring.

Delivery personnel only wait ₁₅ s until they leave. When a whatsapp message is 10 s delayed (this happens all the time) you are left with 5s to react. Depending what you are doing this may not be enough. You want a doorbell to be real time. Ring is not.
Ring is expensive to buy but even more expensive in subscription fees. The standard account is 99 € p.a., premium twice that amount. That adds up to a large sum.
If the problem to be solved is to give instruction to the UPS or DHL guys there are better and easier ways to do so. You can tell them in advance where to drop parcels and that you don't want to sign for it. This way you don't get disturbed when you are in home office.
Being a cloud service from a startup you risk that the company will discontinue the service at any time. The investment in the hardware is then lost.

So if you combine the above disadvantages with privacy issues there is not much left that speaks for such a system.

thmf

schweizer Being a cloud service from a startup you risk that the company will discontinue the service at any time.

Amazon bought it in 2018 (which made it a big no-no at least for me).

schweizer

Fair enough to say that even big companies that don't go bankrupt sometimes will brick your smart device. See this non-exhaustive list:
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/smart-products-abandoned-by-big-brands-after-just-two-years-aqf4o6V6VlE3

Rkpaxam

If there was an alternative, I could run through my home lab with Docker or a VM with push updates I would. I don't like Amazon and I have a fairly strict DNS block on my network for most bullshit them, Windows, Google and Crapple try and send my way.

However, whilst I'm wireguarded into my network, my wife is not and wouldn't understand what it was if I told her.