Getting apps to connect to Google Play Games in Private Space

blackcat8

I have a game I'd like to install on my Owner profile in the Private Space. It needs to connect to Google Play Games in order to backup game data. I've done this successfully in a separate profile, but I play this game for long periods of time so switching between accounts to have text conversations while playing the game is a big inconvenience. In the Private Space I have Google services installed along with the Google Play Games app. The game won't connect to my Google Play Games account and even has the toggle in settings missing to backup data. Does anyone know of a solution for this? On my old phone (Samsung running Shelter) I ran into a similar problem, but enabling the Google Play Store in my main profile enabled the game to connect in my Shelter profile. I have the Play Store enabled in my Owner profile (not logged in) but not getting the same results as on my old phone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

de0u

blackcat8 In the Private Space I have Google services installed along with the Google Play Games app.

Are all components of Play present, including the store app? The parts of the ecosystem each expect all of the others to be available.

blackcat8

de0u I'm new to GrapheneOS so sorry if this is a dumb question, but what are all the components? I have the Play Store and Google Play Games installed if that's what you mean. I've also given them all permissions just to see if that would work but hasn't.

de0u

blackcat8 Personally I don't have Play on my device so I can't provide configuration guidance, but others here can. Can you confirm you've followed the directions on the GrapheneOS web site?

blackcat8

de0u I've read how to set up Google services in the Owner profile and other profiles, I haven't found any documentation with instructions on how to set it up in Private Space, though I've read it's essentially the same as setting it up in a separate user profile and set it up as such, installing from Graphene's App Store. I know Play Games and the Play Store work with each other as I was able to download the game from Play Games which accessed the Play Store, so it doesn't seem like those two apps aren't communicating with each other, at least.

SgtSurehand

de0u Interesting. You don't use any apps sourced from Play Store?

blackcat8

SgtSurehand I downloaded Google Play Games and the game in question from the Play Store. The game wasn't connecting to my Google games account so I tried uninstalling it and downloading it through the Play Games app. (Long shot, I know.) It didn't solve the issue but did at least show that those two Google apps were communicating with each other. I've tried downloading the game through those two apps and Aurora. It doesn't recognize Google through any of those methods.

I also tried installing Shelter and doing the same process over there. Didn't work. I have Google Services installed on my Owner profile, including the Play Store, just not logged in, hoping that would help but still no luck.

de0u

SgtSurehand You don't use any apps sourced from Play Store?

I have one or more "app devices" on which I can run apps from one or more commercial app ecosystems, but I also believe in the utility of device boundaries when it comes to containerization.

As much as it might be nice to pile behavioral-data-factory apps onto one device and carry it around all the time and have that work out in terms of privacy, there are pretty big limitations on that working out in practice. Perhaps some day it will be possible to run Play inside a VM... or perhaps Google will decide to impede that.

SgtSurehand

blackcat8 you shouldn't use Aurora and Google Play at the same time. Make sure to uninstall all apps you installed in the process and reinstall sandboxed Google Play. Grant notifications and unrestricted battery to Play services. Log in to Google Play. When you install the game that uses Play Games, you should get a notification asking you to install it. Run it once and it will default your Google account for login into the games. Worked for me everytime. Never had issues you described.

blackcat8

de0u Private Space works great for isolating a few invasive apps that I need. I have a pet feeder that needs an app, super annoying. Private Space is great for that. I have a separate profile for Google Maps. I was hoping not to need to make another profile just for a game since switching back and forth for texting is annoying. Seems like there's not a way to make it work though. I might just resign myself to not backing up save data for the game and using it in Private Space. Thanks for all your insight everyone!