Bummed out - I don't think I can use GrapheneOS

Robduarte

I was very excited to install GrapheneOS, but now that it's on my Pixel 9a and I've been struggling with getting SMS to work on our Google Fi service, I think I'm going to have to go back to Google. :( If I didn't have to coordinate with family members, I would have more flexibility, but I've already had to explain that I'm not sharing my location with Google Maps, changing how we share family photos (from Google One to Immich), etc. but not having RCS (actually no SMS is working right now) is not an option. Neither is switching from Google Fi. It looks like I'm going to have to revisit GrapheneOS later on - either when Google Fi compatibility is better or we have switched providers. Let me know if I'm wrong, but that's where I've landed after reading the forums.

Rob

Johnnyloans

Robduarte

Google maps location sharing works for me. Google play services needs more permissions for this.

Esims have been more problematic than a physical sim. You may need a new esim or ask your carrier to look into issues. Certain carriers are harder to use rcs with and some are dead simple.

Sorry it didnt work out for you
Hope to see you again :)

It is difficult to have no/limited communication for any length of time. I understand.

The-Man

Robduarte
Having read the forums on RCS, why do you think its going to work reliably or will it be easy to set up. Some apps work like clockwork and prove no bother at all, yet some are reliably unreliable, you have chosen one of them. Just look at the post below, over a thousand posts and still RCS works when it wants.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/1353-using-rcs-with-google-messages-on-grapheneos/1124

I would learn from the past mistakes of others and leave RCS alone.
Problem being that the cohort of people you want to comunicate with use RCS and are quite happy to carry on using RCS, leaving you as the outlier on GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is not for everyone and maybe it does not fit with what you need, it maybe what you want but not quite what you need.

Laitinlok

Have you tried installing Google messages and enable RCS on GrapheneOS

kaisernatron

Laitinlok Does Google's RCS still need a Google account? I don't understand why they won't use Signal though

oncosphere

We need more info, this makes no sense. Do you have play services, Google messages, and the Google Fi app? All of that on GOS is still better than going back to stock OS. SMS and RCS work perfectly with Google Fi on GOS, I use it every day.

Robduarte

Good to hear that it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, I can't even get Google Fi to work. I have given play services Phone and Text permissions. I have the Google Fi app and it says "Google Fi is not your active carrier" and that it will only allow me to use the app to manage my account info. I have cleared the Google Fi cache/storage and rebooted many times. I also turned on eSIM support in the Network & Internet settings. I would install Google Messages but I'm not even getting far enough that the problem is messages/RCS - at this point I have no carrier. (FYI I have been using this phone with Fi for two years so it's not a phone that I just bought).

Rob

de0u

Robduarte Searching around online a bit, it seems as if the closest thing to an answer to "Google Fi is not your active carrier" is to call Google Fi support. One thing that has come up on this forum before is that the Fi app may need to be installed in the owner profile, along with Google Play.

Robduarte

I'm not in a rush - I can survive without my phone for a few days to troubleshoot. If people are using GrapheneOS successfully with Google Fi and RCS messages, I'd like to try and figure it out. I'm just not sure where to go from where I am at the moment.

(BTW I am just trying to move away from Google dependency and tracking - that's why I moved away from Google Maps location sharing, not because I thought it wouldn't work on GrapheneOS)

Rob

Robduarte

kaisernatron I think it's easy to use Signal for everything - I have for many years. The fight to convince people that they need another messaging service is exhausting, however. Regular folks seem to have no problem using Instagram messages, FB messages, SMS, Whatsapp, etc. but asking them to install another app is one too many I guess? 🙄

oncosphere

Yeah that's odd, the only issues I had with install was a bad usbc cable, everything else has been seamless. You could try reverting back to stock android, do a factory reset deleting all esim profiles, install the esim from the Fi app on stock OS, then flashing a new instance of GOS and sign in to all the required Google services to see if Fi works then. Beyond that seems like you'd need technical help looking at logs

Novalissoide

The-Man but hey, why link to the middle of the thread if not just for the pessimism?

The recent development is very much a breakthrough.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/1353-using-rcs-with-google-messages-on-grapheneos/2240

The-Man

Novalissoide
I didnt choose, the link just defaulted there, I presumed, as it was such a huge post it picked the middle.
I will be more careful next time.

Novalissoide

The-Man got it. 🫡

Robduarte

FYI I was able to get Google Fi working just fine once I had a physical SIM card. If you're on Fi, 'd recommend asking google for a physical SIM and waiting till you get it before installing GrapheneOS. I think the problem is that I somehow accidentally erased the eSIM during the GOS install process, so maybe it's possible to avoid the problems I had, but a physical SIM seems foolproof.