Pokémon Go cheats are preventing players from beating gyms

(Image credit: Niantic)

Pokémon Go players are becoming frustrated with cheats who keep developing new methods faster than Niantic can ban them.

Cheating in Pokémon Go is almost as old as the game itself. Players have been using Pokémon Go cheats for years but always with the fear of a ban from developer Niantic. There is currently a three-strike system in place for players aiming to use third-party apps to gain an advantage in the game. However, despite these preventative measures there always seems to be more people circumventing the rules.

The most popular Pokémon Go-based subreddit r/PokemonGo currently has a thread about banning boasts about cheating as one of its top posts. In the comments one user complains in a thread of similar stories about local players bragging about spoofing:

friendly_reminder_we_ban_users_that_participate from r/pokemongo

Spoofing is using methods to trick the app into thinking you are somewhere you're not. You can use this method to catch far-away rare Pokémon, battle and maintain gyms, as well as hit Pokéstops out of range. People do this in tandem with auto clicker apps that go out and automatically catch Pokémon for them. There is a subreddit promoting just this with almost 200,000 active members.

@PokemonGoApp @NianticLabs How do you not have an anti-cheat for obvious cheaters like this?!??! Walked 114 kilometers in a single day? Yeah right pic.twitter.com/z0I9RHClKwFebruary 3, 2022

There are other activities that members of the community find suspicious but cannot report without proof of cheating. One user talks about teams of level 50 players, the highest and most difficult rank in the mobile game, swarming gyms, and preventing legitimate players from playing. While it cannot be proven the Pokémon were gained through illegitimate means it seems unlikely so many were caught regularly.

friendly_reminder_we_ban_users_that_participate from r/pokemongo

Suspicious activity has been spotted by Twitter users also. One player claimed they encountered a Magikarp which soft-locked their game when they attempted to battle and accounts made up of just strings of numbers. Speaking privately to GamesRadar, another user shared screenshots and spoke about gyms surrounding them filled with high-level Pokémon which are healed many times more than should be possible when they are close to being defeated.

One of my local gyms currently has a dodgy Magikarp in it that softlocks your game when you try to battle it.I've also seen a bunch of accounts with names that were just strings of numbers, who all uploaded pokémon to the same gym after I was mysteriously kicked out mid-battle.February 11, 2022

Unfortunately, it seems players have accepted things like this series of recent cheating as expected. Many have learned to accept that cheating in Pokémon Go is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

If you are still keen on playing Pokémon Go then check out our list of Pokémon Go best Pokémon.

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