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  • Can the stock messaging app be made usable?

Hi all,

So by now it's pretty clear that not only will SMS not work across profiles, but that nobody has any interest in trying to find some way around that. I don't know enough about programming to understand why maintaining a custom operating system with regular updates is easier than fixing a single problem that has been understood for years, but that's why I'm not a programmer. Fact is, I AM willing to make sacrifices to use this OS, and I was from the beginning, so I would normally just suck it up and drive on, except that there's no alternative.

The stock SMS app is not an alternative. It's a joke. It doesn't even give you the option to hit "return" and enter breaks between paragraphs. That's not the keyboard, because the keyboard works fine in other apps. It has a predictive text "feature" that only ever suggests proper nouns that often don't even sound real, and gives you no option to edit the predictive text library. Whole categories of options that I thought were necessary for an SMS app simply do not exist in this app. It isn't just bare bones, it's a small handful of broken bare bones that can't really be used for anything I need it for.

I've played with HandCent and ChompSMS and a few other options and literally ANYTHING is better than the stock app, except none of them work across profiles, which makes the entire PROFILE useless.

Unfortunately I MUST have Google in my life. I hate it, I don't want it, but it's not an option to go without it. My entire livelihood relies on having ready access to the Google and Meta ecosystems on my phone. My only option for retaining any sense of privacy (aside from an entirely separate phone, which I've done before and that didn't really work for me either,) is to have a profile that allows Google apps to work with only those restrictions that don't break the functionality of said Google apps, and turn it off and use my home profile when I want privacy. This system works for me, it gives me the most privacy and security I can reasonably expect while still participating in the panopticon, and while it does force me to make compromises I'm okay with most of them.

I am not okay with this SMS app. There has GOT to be some better option that will work for me. Any ideas?

    FetalNevada The stock SMS app is not an alternative. It's a joke. It doesn't even give you the option to hit "return" and enter breaks between paragraphs

    The AOSP Messaging and keyboard apps are pretty basic. Fixing issues or improving them has not been a priority. The project recommends to avoid using SMS. The keyboard app will be replaced. GrapheneOS has limited drveloper resources and has to focus them carefully.

    There are other keyboard apps that do have an active 'return' while using Messaging.

    If Im not confused Google Messages also works across profiles. If that is the case then the cross profile issue is due to other SMS apps not supporting this functionality. Its an 'exotic' requirement.

    FetalNevada It has a predictive text "feature"

    That is also the keyboard not the SMS app.

    If you need another SMS app to work for you, you will likely need to use it in the owner profile. If you want the isolation provided by different profiles, but still have immediate access to SMS, you could use Private Space and maybe even a work profile, rather than using secondary user profiles.

          Carlos-Anso my first thought was the keyboard but it doesn't do any of that in any other applications at all, it literally gets worse for the SMS app. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I looked all over for options and couldn't find any.

              FetalNevada Is there something I'm doing wrong?

              No there is not. Its a "feature" of the AOSP keyboard which GrapheneOS currently uses, that the return key is not shown for a "chat app". I forget exactly how it decides what it considers is a "chat app" and what is not, but it does think the Messaging app is one.

                FetalNevada the option to hit "return" and enter breaks between paragraphs.

                While composing in the default Messaging app with the default keyboard, hit the shift key.
                The emoji button on the bottom right will change to the return button. Then you can enter line breaks.