The camera module for my Pixel 7 Pro was damaged and I'm attempting to submit a warranty claim. Something very interesting (and awesome) happened when I was chatting with Google support, they were not able to match my phone's IMEI with my Google account.

For context I'm running the lastest graphene with sandboxed Google play services installed and logged into said Google account. I also run various logged in Google apps. I have never booted or logged into my Google account on stock android on this device.

So normally this would be great news, Google has no connection between my device IMEI and my Google account. But in this case I actually need that connection because they refuse to proceed with the claim unless my Google account reflects my device IMEI. So this leads me to a very un-grapheneos question:

How can I reveal my IMEI to Google using grapheneos?

I'm sure the easy answer is "install stock android and login" but I'm trying to avoid that hassle when I'm not even certain if Google will accept my claim...and I'm looking at this as an educational experience. So any suggestions or advice here would be much appreciated. Thanks community!

    frustrated_android when I was chatting with Google support, they were not able to match my phone's IMEI with my Google account.

    Why would they even need to have an account linked to a phone to get warrant support? What if the screen is broken and I can't login?

    frustrated_android How can I reveal my IMEI to Google using grapheneos?

    You may try to enable privileged eSIM management and start the procedure, even if you do not have an eSIM. It requires access to IMEI and IMSI so maybe that would link those to the account.

    You may try to enable privileged eSIM management and start the procedure, even if you do not have an eSIM.

    Good idea. But I'm actually using esim now and have gone through the privileged esim setup on this device. So I'm not sure that's a solve.

    I wonder if it's a sandboxed play services permission thing...I just couldn't figure out what permissions would do it.

      frustrated_android I wonder if it's a sandboxed play services permission thing...I just couldn't figure out what permissions would do it.

      Yeah of course, with sandboxed google play, google services can't access hardware identifiers. The permission you would need to grand is READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE, but only system apps can request it. You could try convincing support to get warrant without linked account.

      frustrated_android Regular apps can't access hardware identifiers. On GrapheneOS, Google Play is a regular sandboxed app. There's no way to grant hardware identifier access to regular apps. You'll just need to tell them your IMEI. Since you need to return the device anyway, you could just install the stock OS for this if you need to.

      Thanks both for the helpful reply! And yes understood that is the permission needed, I did not know if it could be granted. Sounds like no, which is good. And yes, I provided support with my IMEI already but they refused the warranty claim because they could not confirm that IMEI was associated with my Google Account.

      I was able to convince support by enabling "Find my device" and "registering" my phone with the find my device feature, in case someone ends up in the same situation this seemed to be the simplest workaround to avoid OS swapping.

      This can be considered "solved"

        frustrated_android I was able to convince support by enabling "Find my device" and "registering" my phone with the find my device feature, in case someone ends up in the same situation this seemed to be the simplest workaround to avoid OS swapping.

        Thanks for reporting back! This information may be useful to other users.

        a year later

        Sorry to dredge up an old post, but I'm dealing with this same issue right now. I have a Pixel 5A and it crashed, can't boot into GrapheneOS, can't factory reset etc. I've tried everything. I came to the conclusion it's a hardware issue. Haven't used the phone in months because I thought it was a lost cause, but I kept the phone. So I decided to see what Google would cover, all I wanted was a refurbished replacement. Contacted their support and initially they said they would give me a refurbished 7A, great. Then they hemmed and hawed stating that the phone isn't tied to my Google account, I explained I used GrapheneOS and never connected it to my account. Then they wanted proof I purchased the phone, which I bought used on FB Marketplace, the guy I bought it from only used it for a few weeks and sold it to me. I have emailed them a reciept of the purchase and waiting to hear back on what they will do, if anything. I guess the moral of the story is prior to installing GrapheneOS you should login once with your Google account, which I hate doing, giving them any more information about me than they need. But if it solves the warranty issue I guess it may be worth it. Has anyone else experienced this? If so how did you resolve the issue? I'm buying a used Pixel 7 Pro tomorrow so I guess I will login once with Google. In all my years being an IT Professional I have delt with so many computer companies i.e. Dell, HP, ASUS, Linksys, Netgear and have never had this much grief, every other company wants to keep you happy and issues you a replacement. For a comapny as big as Google you would think this would be a no-brainer.