Yesterday I decided to create a second profile on my Pixel 5 with GrapheneOS. The idea was that I would only keep Google Play Services (GPS) and Google Play Store (GPS2) there together with WhatsApp (need it go my kids school) and bank apps, and therefore shut down second profile for most of the time. So, I deleted GPS and GPS2 on the main profile and since then, I have Signal Messaging complaining that it requires GPS. I know I ough to probably be complaining with Signal developers, but before I go down that route I just wanted to reassure myself that this is normal behaviour. Presumably, Signal is complaining that it requires GPS only because its the only way it can notify a user that an update is available? I’ve done some minimal tests and it seems to be working normally, despite GPS is not installed on the main profile. I guess I could move to SimpleX and ditch Signal but that would be tough given I spent years convincing people to move to Signal 🙂
It’s not linear. The first time they probably thought “Oh… another chat app, such a big deal, so complex! I’ll never manage” but now that they did with Signal and realize it’s not that hard, having another will be much easier.
Now on the actual question, I do not know. What actual information does Google get from it and as importantly what can they infer from it? Might actually be good to ask Signal developers since it’s because of their choice.
Related discussions https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/14203 which suggests https://signal.org/android/apk/ might not need GPS and isn’t delivered via Play Store.