• GeneralPixel 6
  • looking for answers about a few issues I have had in the past year

1) when using Google maps, because I don't give it constant location access, I have to tell it every time "allow access just this once", however when I do that it never loads up my path right away. I have to finagle with it, closing the app and restarting a few times, until it works. What's the issue?

2) I can't use Zelle with my baking app on GrapheneOS but it works fine on my old phone.

3) I started getting personalized ads again and I'm unsure what app is giving away my info. Is there another app that can track what other apps are doing on my phone and stop that communication? I find the permissions "Network" and "Sensors" to be far too broad. I would like more control over their actual permissions.

4) Probably the most important issue, sometimes my messages don't send, or I can't receive messages. I never know when this happens because there is never a "failed to send" or "cannot receive" message. I only find it out because I'll talk to a friend later and they will say something like "You never responded to ..." and we will compare our message histories, sure enough, there was one of the two issues.

I'd appreciate help on these issues. Otherwise, the phone has been great!

Also, random question. Has there been any talk about supporting the Pixel Fold?

    Meierme I started getting personalized ads again and I'm unsure what app is giving away my info.

    If you install Google Play Services, you probably want to delete your Google Advertising ID to prevent ads being personalized that way.

      Meierme I can't use Zelle with my baking app on GrapheneOS but it works fine on my old phone

      What exactly doesn't work? Are you able to install it, open it, perform specific actions? Where exactly is the issue?

        Meierme sometimes my messages don't send, or I can't receive messages

        Is this for all messaging apps or for only a particular one?

          1) Its a gmaps flaw. Even if you give it permanent access, its still going to have this problem. The way to get the gps lock (blue dot instead of grey) is to kill gmaps, get a lock with an other application like gpstest, then restart gmaps once you have a lock.

          4) impossible to answer without more data, such as what software are you trying to use to communicate?

            treequell If you install Google Play Services, you probably want to delete your Google Advertising ID to prevent ads being personalized that way.

            Will that stop the collection of my data? Or will they still collect, just not personalize ads?

            treequell What exactly doesn't work? Are you able to install it, open it, perform specific actions? Where exactly is the issue?

            I try to use it through both of my banking apps and it just fails to connect to Zelle. I have to use my old phone connected to wifi to transfer money using Zelle. The banking apps work fine on GrapheneOS, just not when I try to use Zelle.

            treequell Is this for all messaging apps or for only a particular one?

            csis01 4) impossible to answer without more data, such as what software are you trying to use to communicate?

            It's through the default texting app.

              Meierme Try QKSMS. I've never had any trouble with sending or receiving with that.

              HOWEVER, it also could be a service provider issue. SMS is not a "guaranteed delivery" protocol. Sometimes it can send correctly, but just never be delivered.

              In QKSMS settings, there is an option to enable "Delivery confirmations". That will tell you if it has actually been delivered to the recipient.

                csis01 In QKSMS settings, there is an option to enable "Delivery confirmations". That will tell you if it has actually been delivered to the recipient.

                You can enable that on the default SMS app in GrapheneOS as well.

                csis01 The play store says QKSMS isn't available for my device because it's made for an older version of Android. I have enabled delivery confirmations on my normal SMS app though. Maybe that'll help.

                  Meierme I started getting personalized ads again and I'm unsure what app is giving away my info. Is there another app that can track what other apps are doing on my phone and stop that communication? I find the permissions "Network" and "Sensors" to be far too broad. I would like more control over their actual permissions.

                  Where did you see these personalized ads? how do you know they were personalized? What where they personalized to, was it related any recent activity or search you did on any device in your home?

                  Remember that the IP address is used very easily to track all devices from a home and associate them together. What is "observed" from one device may be "projected" onto other devices on the same IP address.

                  If you want to see more fine-grained network traffic you can try an app called Rethink-DNS. It uses the VPN slot and works like a firewall. There are also other similar apps you can try.

                  Meierme 4) Probably the most important issue, sometimes my messages don't send, or I can't receive messages. I never know when this happens because there is never a "failed to send" or "cannot receive" message. I only find it out because I'll talk to a friend later and they will say something like "You never responded to ..." and we will compare our message histories, sure enough, there was one of the two issues.

                  SMS messages not being sent could be software issue (app) or could be network provider issue as @csis01 says. You need to figure out which it is. If its network issue you will still have the same problem using a different app or even by plugging your sim into a whole other phone. If the issue is the app, then replacing the app will fix it. However I can tell you that its very unlikely that its the SMS app from GOS. Network sms issues are sometimes carrier based, and sometime location related. Some location don't have as good a equipment. So while on the same carrier, in some locations you will experience no problems, while at other locations you don't experience this. The only way to know is to test using two different phones over and over and over in one location.