Overnight2160 Molly is completely fine to use and the Signal team themselves is fine with it.

That said, you are correct in that this wasn't your question.

Signal should check for the availability of Play Services on first launch, so they should be installed before you install Signal, which you say you've done.

Do Play Services/Store have the network permission? That might be the ticket. If that doesn't do anything, try re-installing Signal and report back please.

    Overnight2160 As a sanity check, can you create a brand new profile, install Play services, then Signal and try again and let me know if you still see the same behavior?

    Is this in the Owner or a secondary profile btw? Also, where did you obtain Signal from?

      matchboxbananasynergy It's the main profile. I don't run any additional profiles. I obtained it through the playstore. I'm out of attempts atm but I'll try that soon.

      8 days later

      I'm having this same issue on my Pixel 7 with Signal installed on a secondary user profile. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times as well. Play Services has network and notification permissions as well.

      24 days later

      I did a reinstall of the playservices and playstore in an attempt to fix my notifications issue with the playstore and now the issue with Signal not detecting playservices occured again. I dont know how to fix it.

        • [deleted]

        • Edited

        Overnight2160 I dont know how to fix it.<

        As it was mentioned many times already, all sandboxed Google components need to be installed prior to installation of Signal. When you reinstalled Play services and Playstore, did you uninstall and re-install Signal as well?

          • [deleted]

          Since you have made a switch to GrapheneOS, wouldn't it make sense to let go of Google Play Services as well? Ask yourself how many things you need to rely on while you're out and about (for notifications). I used Signal with and without GPS and the difference in experience wasn't so jarring. Without GPS with only one service polling constantly i even noticed improved battery life. I keep another device with usual Google crap always at home connected to my home wifi, don't use VPN, so that identity is zucked but i let them see what otherwise would have trouble to hide, while the real me is away on GrapheneOS under premium VPN that never connects to my wifi, with no Google attached. Works for me!

            [deleted] Different people have different needs. We shouldn't disparage someone because they need to use apps that require Play Services.

            If anything, using Play Services on GrapheneOS via Sandboxed Google Play is the most secure way to do so. Hell, you can even put them in their own profile if you want.

            • [deleted]

            • Edited

            Now why on Earth would I want to give Google (and others) just another way to snoop on me? However much you think you are in charge of the permissions... We try to squeeze our whole life on a single device, isolate things in different profiles just to use the same browser that uniquely indentifies us while those who know that are laughing that they outsmarted us again? I am not trying to disparage anybody, just make them think about what they do. My middle name is reasonable doubt. Our actions have so many different characteristics by which they can be uniquely identified, that there will be always a channel that leaks some information. You can't expect to operate in the way you usually do without losing your stealth. Once again, convenience takes over necessity and wins.

              [deleted] It's not about "thinking" you're in charge of the permissions. Play Services on GrapheneOS have the exact same privileges as all other apps you install. There's nothing unique about them. If you install any app and play services, they can do the exact same things, and they don't get a say in that. They're installed in the same context as all other apps, and the compatibility layer on GrapheneOS just teaches them to deal with that and function within those confines. You don't have to trust Play Services for that; it's what it is.

              Beyond that, everybody needs to consider their own threat model. GrapheneOS doesn't only conform to one specific threat model. Your needs are not everybody's needs. Some people require Play Services to be able to get their work done. Would you rather they do this on an insecure device or a secure one in which Play Services doesn't have extensive privileges like it does on the Stock OS?

              I'm not telling you to use Play Services yourself, but discouraging someone who needs them from doing so and telling them that using a different device for them in which they're the boss via privileged access can be harmful advice.

              • [deleted]

              My friend, I never suggested I want people do things the way I do. And yes, to get the work done we need tools. So I apologize if I made such impression. Yet, I have my doubts that I will keep to myself.

              [deleted] I definitely did it correctly and yes I reinstalled it. I'm now out of attempts of verifying my phone number I'll try it tomorrow again and if it won't work I'll do a factory reset.

              Update: I made a factory reset yesterday and installed the playservices + playstore from the Gos App store. Ive temporary granted all permissions to the playservices and installed Signal. After registrating my number the app still doesn't detect the play services.

                • [deleted]

                • Edited

                Overnight2160 I made a factory reset yesterday and installed the playservices + playstore from the Gos App store

                In past sandboxed Google services consisted of three components:
                Play store
                Play services
                Google framework

                I'm not aware of any change. If services and framework are still separate, read on. If they are joined dismiss the following text.
                Do you have all these components installed? Not just services and Play store. I repeat again - because based on your comments you haven't t followed GOS guide - All these apps have to be installed prior to Signal installation, otherwise it won't work properly (should you require Signal from Google play and not just apk from Signal.org).

                  [deleted] I installed them using the official GOS app store. There's no way I installed them wrong because other apps work fine with play services

                    • [deleted]

                    • Edited

                    Overnight2160

                    The point I was trying to make was:
                    Did you install all three components or just Play store and Play services? You explicitly mentioned only those two, therefore - I am asking again - do you have all 3 components installed, even Framework?