This isn’t a rant like last time I swear (but in a way it kinda is). I have a technical question.

So I’m pretty sure whatsappshould in theory work without google play services, as in it’s only optional. But I recently debloated my samsung (still using One UI) via ADB and deleted my google account and all of this nasty stuff.

As you know, I can’t ditch WhatsApp so I had to keep it, but it turns out that after debloating I couldn’t enter the app unless my phone is disconnected from wifi, other than that it would crash instantly. If I reinstall Play Services, the app works fine even if I disable PS and freeze it and strip all of its permissions; it just has to be present for WA to work.

I’m suspecting it might have to do with gdrive chat backup because I used to use that feature a year back? As I said I deleted my google account and prior to doing so I removed Whatsapp’s access to drive and had the cloud backup option set to “never”. Or is it something to do with notifications? I’m not sure anymore but it’s kinda frustrating to have Play Services on my phone when in theory Whatsapp doesn’t need it to function.

I tried doing a fresh install of WhatsApp but to no avail, tried it from Aurora store, Apkpure and also Whatsapp’s official website.