Following the craze over the game, it quickly became the most downloadable app on Google Play as well as App Store.
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As for other improvements on iOS, Pokémon Go will no longer force players to re-enter their usernames and passwords when kicked out of their accounts.
Similar to geocaching, players allow their smartphones to access their location and camera for tracking and catching Pokemon, or animated “pocket monsters”.
The app also needs a number of bug fixes and stability improvements to cope with the enormous number of people continuously clogging its servers.
Niantic shares users’ personal information with “third party service providers”. According to a statement given to TechCrunch, it was never intended for Pokemon Go to have that much access to an individual’s Google account in the first place.
Instead of using only your most basic personal deets, the app was unintentionally set to “see and modify almost all information in your Google Account”, according to the description on Google’s app permission’s page.
The problem starts when you sign into the app – if you’re one of the many who have, you’ll remember that your options were to sign in using Google or with a pokemon.com account. Now, the game’s creators can see only your basic profile information.
The real-world adventure game also exposes users to physical risks, so stay aware of your surroundings to avoid falling prey to thieves, trespassing and even stumbling on a dead body.
Niantic was forced to admit its mistakes on Monday after computer security experts realized that the video game gets a rare level of access to your Google account.
It works by augmented reality – creating imaginary figures around the world that gamers can view and collect on their phones.
“Americans have a fundamental right to privacy, and that right includes an individual’s access to information, as well as the ability to make meaningful choices, about what data are being collected about them and how the data are being used”, Franken wrote in a letter to Niantic CEO John Hanke.
Niantic stated overnight that the security issue was due to what they called an “erroneous permissions request”.
By using the Global Positioning System cheat and tricks, a gamer can access Pokestops quicker without walking a lot, along with engaging in numerous gym battles in an hour.
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But one senator is anxious that the game’s maker has gone too far in trying to catch all of its users’ information.
