There’s a surge in incorrect ban warnings within the iOS players of Pokemon GO just recently. Niantic is reportedly looking into it.
Reports from innocent iOS players of the augmented reality mobile game Pokemon GO have been receiving a system warning message of a possible ban. The message is reportedly accusing affected players of using third-party software.
There’s been an ongoing theory that links all the reports together, and it all boils down to the iOS version.
The warning message that everyone is getting, reads:
We have detected activity on your account that indicates you are using modified client software or unauthorized third-party software in violation of our Terms of Service.
This is the first Strike against your account. It will last for approximately 7 more days.
We strongly encourage you to stop this activity. Any further transgressions will result in an account suspension.
Visit the Help Center for more information.
The iOS version issue
According to Pokemon GO Hub, the overall gist of the issue is the autodetection that Niantic’s anti-cheat system is picking up. Accordingly, the Pokemon GO system is “picking up false positives on iOS 12, 11, 10, and 9.”
Per a Reddit post, the first assumption was something to do with iPhone models the affected players used. What many of the users had in common was that they used either iPhone 7 or iPhone 8.
The recent wave of bans seems to have a common theme
byu/PM_meyourbuttholeplz inTheSilphRoad
However, after several other affected users commented on the said Reddit thread, it was, later on, realized that it had something to do with the iOS version instead.
One Redditor commented, “Out of my friend group with varying models of iPhones, the only person affected was a 6S running iOS 12.x. All other iPhones (including 6S and higher) running 13.x are unaffected. OP may want to edit his post and ask affected people to comment their phone model and iOS version.”
PSA: Stop playing PoGo if your device is below iOS 13
byu/Itterror inTheSilphRoad
Why is this happening?
The reason behind this incorrect flagging is still being looked into by the Pokemon GO developers. The official Twitter account for Niantic Support said on June 15 that they are currently “investigating reports” about the matter.
We're investigating reports that some players are being incorrectly flagged by our systems and receiving punishments on their accounts. We will share an update as soon as we are able.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) June 15, 2020
The surge in incorrect ban flagging is quite recent—with the earliest reports tracked from two weeks ago, per the media outlet. This makes this sudden flagging very unusual as the iOS 13 was released last September 2019.
Also, on Apple‘s App Store, the game is said to be “supported by iOS 9 and above.”
Although, one interesting thing to point out, Niantic recently announced that they are about to discontinue support for 32-bit devices. It does only mention for Android devices, but there are also older iPhone models such as 6, 6s, and 7 that come in a 32-bit system.
So there might be a mix-up of some sort. Niantic posted on Twitter today that they are holding back the said discontinuation, following the outcry of many of its players.
Trainers, we previously announced that we would be deprecating 32-bit Android devices. However, to investigate player concerns, we are now postponing this deprecation to a (TBD) future date.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) June 15, 2020
Meanwhile, players are advised to wait it out and stand by for an update from Niantic. The Pokemon GO developers are also yet to announce the result of their investigation on this iOS version issue.
Featured image courtesy of Anton/Pexels