I went through the whole frustration with a new Pixel 9a running GrapheneOS from Axxxx Pxxxx. I liked the phone and learned how to set up different profiles, but I ran into a major issue when I was part of a group text and could not receive replies from anyone else. Fortunately, this happened within the 30-day return window.
I used the free 45-minute support call to get help, and the technician told me the best chance of getting group texting to work would be to install Google Messages, even though that would compromise the phone’s privacy. I had already tried that before the call, and it did not work. He explained that Google Messages needed to be the last app installed for it to function properly, and we tried a force stop and cache clear to confirm.
Since my girlfriend was home, I tested with her and another person. When she replied from her phone, the message did not show up on mine. I then sent another message from her phone to mine, and it did appear that time. Based on that, it seemed to work once, but I was still uncertain because it had already failed before. In the end, the “fix” did not hold for even 24 hours, so I decided to return the phone.
I also had another issue with GrapheneOS: digital zoom on photos was much less flexible than what I was used to on the iPhone. I may have been willing to live with that limitation, but I was not willing to accept group texting that did not work reliably. I returned the phone through UPS, and they charged me an additional $25 for not using the original outer box. I used the original phone box, but the outer shipping box was not original. There is nothing in the return policy that says the original outer box is required. Overall, the experience was disappointing, and the group texting issue was the biggest problem.