Notifications no longer working since last update

EuGenos

Hi there, I have been using GrapheneOS for the last months and everything went smooth, first custom ROM I've used where everything does work (with the right tinkering). However, a couple of days ago I got the usual automatic system updated, and I noticed that Google Play Services (from the GOS "Apps" app) got updated as well. Since then, most of my notifications have stopped working. At first, it was only my email, but since I'm using a kind of niche setup (OXMail + mailbox dot org) I thought it was an issue on their end. However, over the next day the majority of the other notifications stopped working as well: Telegram, my banking apps...
I have tried everything I could think of: fully uninstalled and reinstalled Play services, Services Framework and Play Store + all the apps that gave me issues, set every app (including Google services ones) to "Unrestricted" battery usage, enable all apps to still send notifications through Do Not Disturb (although I never use it, but maybe it was a bug with that idk), enabled every possible notification, gave apps every permission (even the unrelated ones) - still no luck, nothing seems to work. If I open the affected apps the new messages are there, but they don't get notified.
I'm desperate, I don't want to switch back to stock android but if I don't find a way to get at least the fundamental notifications back (eg. cash withdrawal from my bank) it's really tough.
Has anyone else had this issue since this update or in the past? Is there a way I can fix it? Please let me know, and let me also know if there's any other info/log I can provide.
Thank you

GrapheneOS

EuGenos There's an issue with your setup such as Do Not Disturb, Battery Saver or other configuration interfering with notification. If you can't figure out what you need to change then you can factory reset to start fresh. No need to go back to the stock OS to work around an issue that's specific to your setup and isn't happening for other users.

csis01

I can't speak to applications that require gservices for pushing messages since I don't use gservices AT ALL, but it looks to me like mailbox.org can be set up using IMAP: https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/faq-article/setup-other-e-mail-clients-manually

IMAP delivers messages withOUT using 3rd party (i.e. google, oxmail) notification services, however it also looks to me like oxmail uses some kind of weird integration setup that therefore depends on gservices for notifications.

I would recommend ditching oxmail and instead using a proper IMAP client for email, that way your messages remain more private than notifying through oxmail and google. First I'd recommend fairemail, and second k9mail, both are available on f-droid, and both will push messages DIRECT to you without involving ANY services besides your actual email provider.

For other services where you can't avoid using gservices for notifications, its surely something mucked up on your setup, since this forum would be overflowing with problem reports if there was some substantial problem. Maybe try setting up in another profile? Maybe try a factory reset?

EuGenos

GrapheneOS Hello, sorry I didn't see your reply at first. Those are among the first settings I checked, but as I said in the original post Do Not DIsturb is off (and I still set it up so that the apps that are not working would still be able to send notifications through it), and I also set battery usage to "Unrestricted" for every app involved (including the 3 Google ones) with every possible permission granted (newtork, sensors, notifications...), so it's not that.
Also, I just tried creating a new user where I only installed Google play services and an app to try and the exact same issue occurs, so I don't think it's something in the specific configuration of the main profile either. FairEmail at least do work now, K9 still doesn't.
I know you probably are gonna believe that I just messed something up, and I get it, but it is not the things you mentioned. I can also provide screenshots/logs/settings if you want. Thanks to you as well for the reply!

EuGenos

HI there, first of all thanks for the reply. I just tried setting up the mailbox.org account in both K9 and Fair Email, but still nothing, if I send myself an email from another account on my pc I don't get any notifications, but if I open the app and refresh it the message is there. I don't think it's IMAP per-se either, because Thunderbird on pc still immediately gets notifications. I agree with you that's it's gotta be something on my end, but I really can't figure out what because 1) I changed nothing after the update and everything just stopped working and 2) I uninstalled and reinstalled everything and changed any setting I could think of. Weirdest part is that notifications do randomly work at times - for example, when I wake up in the morning I might fight 5-10 notifications for emails from the day before that I have already opened when manually checking the app for new messages.
By the way, the fact that K9 and Fair Email aren't working either tells me that there is something broken beyond Google services. I will now try to setup a new account and post the results.
Thanks again for your time.

pdagenius

I am using a 6a with FairEmail and mailbox dot org without any issues. I use GPS.

EuGenos

pdagenius Thanks, FairEmail now works after a reboot, K9 doesn't (at least with mailbox.org, have not tried other providers yet)

csis01

EuGenos k9 has caused me grief in the past for various issues, which is why I recommend fairemail first.

EuGenos

Update: after more tinkering I was able to solve almost everything. Basically, what I had to to do was to uninstall and reinstall Google services and then uninstall and reinstall all of the affected apps, otherwise it-s like they were still "linked" to the old version of the Play services and did not communicate with that. But fresh installing everything again in sequential order while rebooting every time seemed to fix everything, except for OX Mail, but I think that app is now borken on its own. Thanks again for the support everyone, and for your time as well.