Direct apk version / license keeps asking to use google services

Hello,

On grapheneos (degoogled phone), installed the direct apk and purshased / activated license from paetreon, whenever i try to 'download' a task (dev task) i get a notification that the service wont run without google play services, when i try to import a task from a browser i get notification 'unknown google error', and when i have google play services temporarily enabled (sandboxed) i get asked to login to a gmail account, which is not something i want to do and defeats the purpose of getting a standalone version. 

i tried installing and uninstalling multiple times aswell ass clearing Data and storage cache

when opening the app for the first time it does ask for a license and sais 'validated' after entering the license