• GeneralPixel 8

  • GoS issues with receiving notifications and no location, please help

hello.
i've had GoS for a few months now on pixel 8 and patiently observed day to day use. i'd like to inform that i didnt mess with any settings and didnt click anything i wouldnt know about in a first place. this is default settings GoS.
here are the biggest issues im having that quite affect my day to day use and operations:

  • i receive no notifications or they come up very late (especially when phone is not in use and locked, i only get all notifications when i unlock my phone or click specific app, such as whatsapp) - this caused me missing important meetings at work and such.

  • question - do i have to allow background use + not limit its use for battery for every app that i wish to receive notifications on real time? or this is to do with google play having unlimited background use?
    ------------------------

  • location isnt working - when using google maps or citymapper and turning location on my phone, i get no position where i am, it just simply doesnt recognise my location..i've looked into settings, downloaded GPS test app as per one user's recommendation - didnt get any positive results..seems the only workaround is if i activate google services and dont limit to work in the background + restart the phone..then it works..

  • question - do google services need to be running to make this phone and apps function properly for everything? i understand it is sandboxed, however, im worried about my battery use making this working and communicating with apps constantly 24/7.. should i look into navigation app that doesnt require google services, or there is none of such kind?

  • can someone recommend decent and convenient FOSS apps for:
    file manager
    audio library
    gallery
    translator

as some stock GoS apps arent best

thank you

    nervousball hi

    Many apps rely on Sandboxed Google Play for notifications, so yes, you may need to allow unrestricted battery for it to get notifications in a timely manner. Some apps implement it themselves but may use Sandboxed Google Play for it if available (one example is Signal).

    For location, are you outside with a clear view of the sky? GNSS needs that to find the satellites.

    On the stock OS or other OS', you may have been using Google's or Apple's network location service which helps for when you're indoors and GNSS isn't working.

    If you're outdoors and have a clear view of the sky, GNSS will work and you don't need to rely on network location.

    If you want to use Google's network location on GrapheneOS, you can follow https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play-configuration. Using it means sending your location to Google.

    In the near future, GrapheneOS will be getting it's own initial implementation of a network location service.

    It will initially support using Apple's network location directly or through a GrapheneOS proxy.

    We plan to have an option to download regional databases so you can use network location fully offline and privately.

        2 months later

        soupslurpr perfect answer man, thank you kindly for thorough response.
        yes - i been using graphene's settings and GNSS as stock default - nothing to do with apple or google..

        sometimes location working, sometimes now. i realised i need to turn google play services unrestricted mode, restarted the phone, then, enable location, and after good 15seconds location is showing up on both - citymapper and google maps..

        so i guess due to privacy and security, it takes a little bit more time to function..didnt know that as i had google play services disabled, and only found out it works if i restart phone after enabling it..

        many thanks

            nervousball thanks, GrapheneOS' own network location client has shipped now, so you can use that instead of Google's. It's better than Google's in both accuracy and slightly privacy, but for now it still needs to send nearby Wi-Fi network identifiers to a server to retrieve positioning data for them so it does still leak your location to the server. You can use the GrapheneOS proxy so the requests' IPs match other people using the proxy. Note that ours does not send data when location is not in use, unlike Google's which periodically makes requests even when you're not using location to improve their service.

            You can re-enable rerouting location requests to the OS, revoke relevant permissions from Google Play, then follow https://grapheneos.org/usage#network-location

                soupslurpr thanks man, my network location was set to off, now i've chose graphene os proxy

                im not that technical in this aspect as you seem so, but may i ask - this network location is only optional right? i had this set to OFF, and my location still working

                still got no idea how my location fixed by itself - it wasnt working in the past, i assume it started to kick off once i enabled unlimited background access for google play services..