Sandboxed Google services vs other apps - Signal dosen't detect GMS

i_am_groot_2137

Hi, I'm new to GrapheneOS, so fix me if I'm wrong here.
I wanted to get push notifications & all of that working as it should be, but as first I refused to install Google Play Services - I don't use it at all, so I went with ,,clean" GrapheneOS & installed Signal, Messenger Lite & Telegram.

After some time I noticed that Signal is absolutely abusing my battery, so I thought - maybe it's because it's trying to solve push notifications on it's own?
So I installed GMS Core with Framework, but skipped Play Store, because I used Aurora Store for years & I was fine.
Somehow Signal still tells me, that Google Services are missing. Am I missing something? Is Play Store required by all of those apps? I don't use Google Services at all, I don't use paid apps from Play Store etc.
I just want to have notifications working & keep good battery life.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

matchboxbananasynergy

i_am_groot_2137 Play Store is required for a successful Sandboxed Google Play installation.

Furthermore, apps that depend on play services need to be installed after you install Sandboxed Google Play.

https://grapheneos.org/faq#notifications

Signal checks whether Play Services is available when you first install it. If they're not there, it uses its own implementation, even if you install Play Services afterwards. It's the same with most, if not all apps depending on Play Services.

https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play-installation

Play services and the Play Store depend on each other, one will not work properly without the other.

I hope that helps.

[deleted]

Do not be afraid using the search functionality. This also has been already discussed here, fe.
"Signal Requiring Sandboxed Play Services?"

mythodical

You must uninstall and reinstall Signal after installing the Google components. Apps only attempt to detect the services once, when first run after installation.

Note that uninstalling Signal will delete your chat history; consider enabling backups within the app.

For what it's worth, the difference in battery usage between Play and WebSocket notifications has been insignificant for me.

i_am_groot_2137

matchboxbananasynergy This absolutely helps.
I just installed Play Store & now Signal doesn't say that GSF is missing.
Thanks man! :))

matchboxbananasynergy

i_am_groot_2137 Just make sure you also reinstall Signal. Otherwise, it'll still keep using websockets for notifications even if it stops bugging you.

i_am_groot_2137

matchboxbananasynergy I just did it for Signal & other just to be sure. :D
Thank you very much.