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Discussion on: AAWWWGS! Android Apps Which Work Without Google Services!

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gesuwall profile image
ガブリエル

So if messaging apps can't use GCM, does that mean that you never get push notifications? Or does every app run its own background service to listen for notifications? That could drain battery life significantly...

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5chdn profile image
Afri Schoedon

Can't speak for all of them, however, Signal uses websockets as far as I know to pull new messages. This way you still get push notifications, but it comes with drawbacks, because (1) it needs it's own background service, yes, and (2) messages could still be delayed. However, I can live with that knowing the caveats.