BigBrainParking

An unofficial, de-Googled client for the ParkSmarter (IPS Group) parking system, built to run on GrapheneOS with UnifiedPush notifications and distributed via Obtainium — no Google Play Services, no Firebase, no app store.

Install it (users)

BigBrainParking installs and updates through Obtainium — no Google Play, no account. Works on GrapheneOS. On your phone (with Obtainium installed), tap:

➕ Add BigBrainParking to Obtainium

or follow INSTALL.md for the manual steps.

Monorepo layout

bigbrainparking/
├── parksmarter-client/   # Zero-dep TypeScript API client (reverse-engineered, live-verified)
├── app/                  # Expo / React Native app (BigBrainParking)
└── .gitea/workflows/     # CI: build signed APK -> publish release for Obtainium

• parksmarter-client — the API layer. All ~40 endpoints, the custom-header auth model, and response models (most verified against production). Runs anywhere; the app imports it directly. See its own README for the API details.
• app — the phone app. React Native (Expo prebuild), MapLibre maps, VisionCamera QR scanning, expo-secure-store token storage, local session-expiry reminders, and UnifiedPush wiring.

Features

Feature	Status	Notes
Phone + password login	✅ wired	tokens in OS keystore
Map of nearby meters (clickable, zoom, live GPS)	✅ wired	MapLibre + OpenFreeMap tiles (no key)
Last-lot + My-location search	✅ wired	opens on your last session's lot; GPS sent only via explicit "My location"
QR kiosk scan → meter lookup	✅ wired	on-device VisionCamera
Save / share kiosks	✅ wired	local (no server favorites API exists)
Active / past sessions	✅ wired	list views + tap for full receipt
Start a paid session	✅ works	confirmed live end-to-end (real $0.10 DL-zone charge); declines surfaced
Ongoing parking countdown	✅ wired	foreground service; ticks down, End / Extend buttons, survives reboot
Session-expiry reminders	✅ wired	local on-device notifications — no server, no push
UnifiedPush (ntfy)	⚪ optional	not needed for reminders; stub for future server-initiated msgs

Privacy

BigBrainParking sends your location to ParkSmarter only when you explicitly tap "My location" and search; it opens on your last parking lot instead of your GPS, and ships no analytics/tracking (no Segment/Amplitude/Firebase/Sentry, no ad-ID, no Google services). For a plain-language comparison with the official app — which auto-sends your GPS on map open and bundles that tracking stack — see docs/OFFICIAL_APP_PRIVACY.md. What reaches the API and what never does is also spelled out in the app's About page.

Build & run (dev)

Requires Node 20, JDK 17, Android SDK, and a GrapheneOS device (or any Android device) with USB debugging.

npm install                                   # installs both workspaces
npm run build --workspace parksmarter-client  # compile the client
cd app
npx expo prebuild --platform android          # generate native project
npx expo run:android                          # build + install a dev client

The app talks to prod (apiv2.parksmarter.com) by default — change extra.psEnvironment in app/app.json to point elsewhere.

Notifications on GrapheneOS

Everything here is entirely on-device — no server, no push, no FCM, no Play Services — so it works fully offline. UnifiedPush (ntfy) is wired only as an optional, no-op stub for any future server-initiated messages; nothing time-based needs it.

The ongoing parking countdown. Whenever a session is active — a paid one you bought or a free check-in — a persistent notification shows the time left and ticks down, with End and Extend buttons. It is held up by a real foreground service (modules/bbp-notify, type specialUse), which is what makes it stick on GrapheneOS the way ntfy's does: it survives the app being killed, can't be swiped away, and a BOOT_COMPLETED receiver brings it back after a reboot. The service's life is exactly the session's life — it stops itself, removing the notification, on End, when the meter runs out, or whenever there's no session to show.

The countdown itself costs no battery: the end time is handed to Android as a chronometer, and the system redraws the ticking text with the app closed and no timer of its own.

• End stops tracking and clears the notification. On a free check-in that genuinely ends it. On a paid session it only stops the display — ParkSmarter has no stop-session endpoint, so time you already bought keeps running at the meter either way.
• Extend (labeled Pay on a free check-in) opens the purchase screen for that exact zone. The active session is stored locally with its zone, so this works offline, in Anonymous Mode, and after a reboot. Extending doesn't end anything until the purchase actually goes through.

Expiry reminders fire a configurable lead time (default 15 min) before the end, via AlarmManager. Configure them in Account → Notifications, where a "Send a test reminder" button lets you confirm they fire on your phone; the same screen has a toggle for the ongoing countdown.

Distribution via Obtainium (self-hosted)

Tag a release and CI builds a signed APK and publishes it to this repo's releases; your phone's Obtainium tracks the repo and offers updates. See docs/DISTRIBUTION.md for the full server + CI + keystore setup.