Writing all of this down for the first time, hopefully I am able to be of help!
You can actually set up Whatsapp without Google Play Services, and have the notifications work well-ish without it, I've occasionally experienced a 4-7 minute delay.
If you were to install Whatsapp with Google Play Services enabled, and disabled Google Play Services afterwards, notifications mostly would just not work at all. It has been theorized that Whatsapp recognizes Play Services availability at some point of a fresh install. Disabling at this point isn't unfortunately enough to get notifications working.
But, here is what I did to stay away from Google Play Services.
Used this guide regarding how to do Whatsapp backups locally, the information I'd gathered from discussions here, and some of my own noggin'.
Back-up your Whatsapp data in Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Back up and let it complete. (whatever it says, it should do a local back-up. You can check the timestamp coming up)
If you use end-to-end encrypted back-up, make sure to save the 64-digit encryption key, I used Bitwardens notes function.
You will find all Whatsapp back-up data at:
Internal Storage > Android > media > com.whatsapp > WhatsApp
Check the timestamp at Internal Storage > Android > media > com.whatsapp > WhatsApp > Databases
Store the "Whatsapp" -folder somewhere else from this directory. I copied the folder "Whatsapp" and pasted it temporarily on the devices "Internal storage". You can also use an external device to do this.
After your files (and the potential 64-digit encryption key) are safe, you can go ahead and completely remove Whatsapp from the current profile.
Make sure Google Play Services is uninstalled.
Settings > See all apps > Apps > scroll until you reach G
(could be that disabling it would have been enough, did not test this.)
Reinstall Whatsapp from your preferred channel, I used the direct download from their website. Aurora Store and Obtainium are also popular options that one can use.
At this point, you want to pull up the previously backed up files, and insert them to the place you took them from;
Internal Storage > Android > media > com.whatsapp
- Continue the way you would setuping Whatsapp.
The permissions for internet connectivity and notifications are required.
If prompted, IIRC, you don't have to give other permissions to Whatsapp in order to move forward.
- Go the furthest you can, until;
Whatsapp throws a notification about Google compatibility your way. To move forward with the process, press it. It'll bring you to the back-up screen. If you set-up encrypted back-up, it will prompt you for it.
It'll take some time to restore the backup.
- I put "Allow background usage" to on and checked the dot on Unrestricted from;
Settings > See all apps > Apps > Whatsapp > App battery usage
My settings for a working Whatsapp without Google Play Services;
Allowed permissions: Network and Notifications
Hardened memory allocator
Enabled
Memory tagging
Enabled
Native code debugging
Allowed
Webview JIT
Disabled
Dynamic code loading via memory
Allowed
Dynamic code loading via storage
Allowed
Notes:
I have not had Play services installed when having had this install running.
It is possible that VPN usage might have affected the phone number confirmation step. Some of the confimation methods just didn't work at a certain point, could have been that I'd tried to uninstall-reinstall and confirm "too much". Call confirmation worked in the end
I reinstalled a few times because I didn't understand that to move forward, I had to press the notification about "Google Play Services compatibility".
This wasn't amazingly documented when I did it, maybe someone on the forum already has a guide, tried to find one a month back, couldn't find a compiled one anywhere, so I kinda scraped information together to make it work. Could be that my investigator skills weren't to par with what was required!
It has been about a month since I did this, so feel free to correct me on my memory or add nuance / depth, on any step.
Also feel free to link relevant, useful information below.