'Pokemon Go' Takes Aim At Third Party Apps With New Security Measures

Pokemon Go's war against third party apps has just heated up. Several developers of various IV [...]

Pokemon Go's war against third party apps has just heated up. Several developers of various IV checkers and third party tracking software have reported that Pokemon Go is once again on the offensive against bot accounts.

Bot accounts are Pokemon Go accounts created by programmers to perform specific tasks, usually to assist either individual players or run third party apps. For instance, certain tracking software uses bot accounts to detect Pokemon and report on them to users.

It's unclear what Pokemon Go did, but these bot accounts are getting flagged and shadowbanned a lot quicker than usual. IP addresses are also being targeted, and PokemonGoHub.net reports that this ban wave is much more efficient than previous tries to shut down these apps.

Unfortunately, Pokemon Go's new ban wave does not seem to affect GPS spoofers, which most players agree is the most egregious and most problematic form of cheating in the game.

Pokemon Go has waged a long battle against the developers of third party apps, often with mixed results. After shutting down a number of popular tracking websites, Pokemon Go resorted to legal threats and more... humorous results to punish bot accounts and the players that use them. Recently, Pokemon Go implemented a shadow ban of sorts that made flagged players unable to see rare Pokemon.Pokemon that were caught using illicit methods were also targeted via a "slash ban" that makes them unable to defend or attack gyms.

However, the developers of many of these programs are a pretty inventive bunch, and they're currently working on ways around the ban. We'll have to see how long Pokemon Go's latest attempt to shut down cheating works, and what solutions developers have in mind for other forms of cheating.

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