Have any users been able to successfully install fully Google Play Services? I am trying to get just RCS working on the Google Messages app and even with MicroG installed, it would just hang on the “trying to activate screen”… The Reddit post attached shows my workflow to getting microg working. https://old.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/1l65um7/just_gonna_drop_this_here_mudita_kompakt_na/
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I have not tried to install Google Play as having a de-Googlefied device was a large part of the attraction of the MK for me. But I was hoping someone might have gotten it working with MicroG.
I have heard of some people having success using Beeper as a workaround. I installed it, but it won’t show my encrypted messages (well it shows them but it just says “encrypted message”) so it seems like that’s a bust. But if you have MicroG installed, maybe it will work better for you.
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I’ve been attempting to figure this out as well. will be sure to let you know if something works - RCS is actually annoyingly essential in the US if you are in any group chats.
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screenshot is pulled from Lightphone discord to show this isn’t limited to the kompakt. I still strongly guess that it is related to lack of full google play services to communicate. I even installed google’s “carrier services” app along with microG and it still didn’t manage to activate. Bigme Hibreak pulled it off, but it also has full google play… I’m wondering what critical dependency I am missing…
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Quick thoughts:
- group texting is using RCS, but RCS is only (?) available on Android and iOS,
- group texting with MMS is possible without RCS, e.g. Sunbeam F1.
Is that right?
Then the question would be if you need actual group messaging or RCS for some sort of “SMS” on steroids.
If I got it correctly, group texting is on their radar but very unlikely it’d be RCS because privacy.
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MMS and SMS are different from RCS in that RCS requires data transmission through either Apple’s or Google’s servers. It uses data rather than the count of SMS/MMS messages sent (this used to be and may still be a metric that cell carriers sell plans based upon). My main goal with RCS is to be able to send what would usually be MMS messages (generally photos and longer text messages) via RCS so the images do not get compressed. The issue is that many MVNOs, like Visible and Mint here in the US, really compress MMS, so the quality of what is received is pretty much unusable.
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Yeah that’s a common problem with MMS. In my area, people overcome this by using any other kinds of messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal (or Messenger :s) - and that’s working on MK (potential battery drain with WhatsApp).
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Yeah I’m almost working backward at this point - part of it was I had to create my own Boot image - which is new to me.
Got everything up - Phone is 99% working amazing. But oddly I do not have any settings options when I downloaded google messages app, no profile icon or dots. I may try getting messages apps from a ferw generations back.
Works fine as standard mms/sms app though - and it does translate some of the “liked this photo” texts that are annoying - but not all.
I also have had 0 luck with Android Auto - I’m sure this is user error on my side and not having rooted things since the ipod touch days.
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Android auto works with adding magisk module workarounds but the DPI is messed up. I don’t recall which one I used but it downside is that not many android 12 projects are actively supported.
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Thought I’d check back in (with those more tech savvy than me!) to see if there have been any updates on this front since MuditaOS K 1.4.0 has been released. Anyone have additional luck getting RCS to work?
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RCS is a Google dependend, there’s nothing Mudita can do to bring that to the Kompakt. It only works on Google Play Certified devices.
It will only work the day that Google open sources RCS and phone carriers start implementing it. Until then nopeeeee.
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Thank you for the clear communication. I’ll remove it off my MKTDL (Mudita Kompakt To Do List!) for now 
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Yeah it’s unfortunate but that’s the way it is. I’ve been trying to push more and more of my contacts to use Signal instead but it’s hard to get people to change what they’re doing. Most people don’t care about security or digital privacy which drives me crazy.
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I just downloaded Signal but no one in my circle wants to chat with me there and they are tired of me troubleshooting my phone (and sending them test messages) lol! WhatsApp seems like the safe(er) fallback for those who do not want to communicate using Signal bc it’s so widely used/accepted but I’d like to exit the Apple/Google/Meta ecosystem to the extent reasonably possible. Also, I just looked up a comprehensive list of iMessage/RCS benefits and realized I don’t actually need any of them so I’ve made peace with what is!
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Yeah Whatsapp is more common but I don’t trust anything from Meta.
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@stevenjc123 Did you get the regular group messages working on your phone?
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