Compatibility with Graphene OS

[JohnPadewick]

Your use case

What would you like to do?

Be able to wake the Element X app using Unified Push apps like Ntfy or Sunup, when app is not in the background (has been "swiped-up-to-dismiss"). Especially with calls this wont work, only if the app is open in the background (hasn't been swiped-up-to-dismiss). Otherwise the call cant wake the app.

Exploit protection compatibility mode has been turned on for all involved apps, as well as battery optimization has been turned off. Still the issue persists. Sadly this makes Element X not really usable for Graphene OS without using Google Play Services or FCM.

I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done to enhance the compatibility from the Element X side, or if this is entirely a Ntfy / Sunup / Graphene OS issue.

Just thought, i'd drop it here, so you guys can take a look. Maybe there is something that can be done.

Reproducible on any Graphene OS Version + Element X, ntfy (and/or sunup) from FDroid

Why would you like to do it?

Would really like to use Element X / Matrix without any reliance on Big Tech / entirely self hosted.

How would you like to achieve it?

I'm willing to provide logs (self hosted matrix-server, Phone, self-hosted ntfy server, basically anything you like / need to further investigate or test :)

Have you considered any alternatives?

Tried Ntfy, Sunup.
There also tried default Topics and self-hosted.
If there is any way to receive Element Calls on Element X without using Big Tech Providers, i'm all ears ^.^

Additional context

Thanks in advance! Also keep up the good work! Really love what you guys are building here!

[jmartinesp]

Could you submit some logs after reproducing the issue linking to this issue or issue # ? I don't think we have a device with GrapheneOS to reproduce the issue, so logs would be useful.

If I understand the problem correctly, notifications arrive when the app is both in foreground and background but not when it has been killed by swiping up from the recents screen, is that right?

[JohnPadewick]

Yes, that is exactly right :)
I reproduced it as follows:

Client 1 (Samsung - Android (Default Version)):

• Downloaded from FDroid: Element X

Client 2 (Google Pixel - Graphene OS):

• Downloaded from FDroid: Element X + ntfy
• Disable for both: Battery Optimization
• Enable for both: Exploit protection compatibility mode

Server (Ubuntu):

• Set up livekit + lk-jwt-service (both using docker; images: livekit/livekit-server:v1.9.7, ghcr.io/element-hq/lk-jwt-service:0.4.0)
• Set up nginx as reverse proxy (Official Debian/Ubuntu Repository)
• Set up ntfy (Official Debian/Ubuntu Repository)

Then call from client 1 (FCM) to client 2 (ntfy).

Scenario 1 - working:

• app is in background on client 2 (not killed):
• phone screen is unlocked
• call rings properly on client 2 (notification banner for call)
• works even when phone screen is locked (proper new lock-screen notification banner showing)

Scenario 2 - not/partially working:

• app has been killed by swiping up on client 2
• phone screen is unlocked
• no notification shows up on client 2 (but sometimes instead a text-message shows up saying: "Incoming Call")
• appears seemingly at random (when repeated often, around 3/10 times it shows this text-message banner, but never rings)

I sent you the logs in a zip file to your e-mail address, containing the logs for ntfy, matrix-synapse and graphene-os for both scenarios. The password for the zip file is: Aijik,VA4XXH-fcnhKCuSU!sKo7ghYN4nJta7N.SsLwQe#zCWqR9cF

I hope that's ok. I didn't feel comfortable posting them here, cause i only partially sanitized them, for better debugging.

Anyway, thanks again for looking into this!
If there's anything else i can assist with, please let me know :)