The team behind “Pokémon GO” had once again brought down its iron fist on third-party developers. Continuing its mission to discourage the use of outside tools, niantic labs demanded that the creator of PokeSensor stop working on the app immediately. In an official announcement on Reddit and Twitter, independent developer Patrick Ballard said his tracker app is formally shutting down.
After the last few days of weighing my options, I've decided it's time to shutdown PokeSensor, both iOS and Android https://t.co/PpQXHnzbxy
— Logick LLC (@LogickLLC) April 25, 2017
Goodbye, PokeSensor
Niantic has been keeping busy with blocks and bans lately.
In March, the gamemaker announced that third-party apps should no longer be used, and that players who keep doing so will have their accounts sacked. The news came via a notification that warned players of using unauthorized apps, which quickly became the talk of Reddit, specifically, The Silph Road.
A couple of third-party apps have shut down since then, but among them, PokeSensor’s creator gave the most detailed explanation. On Reddit, Ballard claimed to have received an email from Apple this weekend, which stated that The Pokémon Company had taken issue with the app’s use of the Pokémon Trainer Club API.
Ballard responded by taking the app down from the App Store and asked Apple if there was workaround, a way in which he could be authorized to use its services.
As expected, Apple refused. Ballard continued on to say that the same might happen with Android, so he decided to end development for the app.
Has Niantic gone too far?
A lot of “Pokémon GO” trainers were saddened by the news, with one Redditor saying: “Totally bummed. You made an awesome app and should be proud of it. Thanks for all of your amazing work!” Some however, were mostly focused on Niantic’s recent prohibitions.
“Shame Niantic is spending all their time and effort shutting down scanners rather than fixing their own garbage in-game scanner or at the very least, getting rid of the spoofers that are absolutely ruining the game,” said a trainer with the username iamfrankfrank.
Third-party trackers are in-demand among players simply because they’re dissatisfied with Niantic’s Nearby menu.
3p trackers have made gameplay more enjoyable for a lot of trainers, albeit viewed as “cheating” by devs. Despite the backlash, The Silph Road advised trainers to take Niantic’s warnings seriously. Admin dronpes himself told players that they should change their PTC password, so third-party access would be avoided.
Meanwhile, Ballard ended the announcement on a positive note, saying he holds no grudge against Niantic Labs or The Pokémon Company. He went on to say that PokeSensor and other scanners won’t be possible without the help of “Pokémon GO” trainers.
