I occasional get problems with Signal, that I don’t get messages or calls, even though I have the app opened and are connected to the internet.
I suppose this could hapen because I am using GrapheneOS and Signal is optimized for stock Android with normal Google Play Services.
Therefore I am thinking about switching to Molly.
Do anyone here also had issues with Signal on a Custom ROM and can tell me if Molly is better regarding this?
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I use grapheneos and can say for sure that molly will be better in terms of notifications because it has an option to switch to unifiedpush, which works great without Google services (more specifically, they use mollysocket; you can find a server or host your own to receive notifications; for example, I use my own).
It’s very convenient and almost problem-free. The only downside is that notifications will not come in power saving mode when the app is closed (when it’s open in the background, as far as I remember, they came).
Oh, Signal + sandboxed GPlay services are not working well?
You’re self-hosting or using a public server?
Not everybody can self host haha. 
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I used to use a public server, and overall there were no problems until it stopped working, so I had to set up my own 
But I’m sure you can easily find a public that works well.
If this is a response to issues you experienced today in particular, be aware that Signal suffered a network outage earlier that impacted both Signal & Molly users
Generally, Signal on GOS w/ Play Services should work w/o any issue, assuming all apps have correct permissions & background usage enabled. Are you using any custom DNS resolvers? Signal does often try to use its preferred DNS server, if you’re trying to force use of an alternative resolver & block attempts to circumvent it, both Signal & Molly will occasionally malfunction
Molly has less features, but enjoys security hardening & less integrated dependence on Google. It’s a fine choice. Though on GOS specifically, your data already enjoys essentially-uncrackable disk encryption; Molly’s additional database encryption may be overkill.
I myself run Molly on GOS w/o Play Services - my notifications through a WebSocket implementation work pretty well
I’d say that it has more (relevant) features than Signal, never cared about Stories or other nonsense and being able to have multi-device is super nice!
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Works fine for me.
If you don’t use Gplay maybe Molly is better. There is something to say for both choices.
With Molly you add another provider to the chain of trust which adds risk, on the other hand in return get some additional privacy enhancements.
Would expect that one too.
But the outage above makes sense for a potential lack of notifications yes. 
Agree, most of it is bloat. I do occasionally find myself missing the view-once media messages, but that passes quickly
Didn’t even noticed that one was missing from Molly until you mentioned. 
I do love that feature too. Not sure why it’s not available…
From what I know, websockets consume a lot of battery power. How is it with you?
Ive got no issues to report. Battery stats put molly at ~10% of my daily battery usage. It is my main messenger, I have it open in the foreground often. Usually last most of the day on one charge
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this is incorrect
Websockets are a performant way of checking for updates by today’s standards, it is a push/pull and not a naive polling kind of thing[1].
Other things might be draining your battery.
Also, Google Play services also use that kind of approach anyway.
Maybe they do SSE but it’s not like it’s very different from some WebSockets.
like: check every X minutes for updates ↩︎
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Molly is better especially if you don’t want Google libraries. For one, Signal outright crashes if you attempt to share your location without Google stuff.
In my mind, installing Google dependencies on Graphene almost completely defeats the point of a FOSS system. It’s probably acceptable for that one app you seldom need in a separate profile, but completely out of the question in the owner profile.
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I have a lot less issues with Signal when I split tunnel (allow the app to bypass my vpn).