Oh, so that’s why my old Samsung Galaxy S3 running CyanogenMod 13 can’t access the game anymore. Lame!
Niantic just patched in version 0.37 (or version 1.7.0 for iOS) for the Android version of Pokemon Go and it comes with two big updates for the game: the “Buddy Pokemon” system and outright access blocking for rooted or jailbroken devices. That’s just awful.
The Buddy system, as earlier reported, is self-explanatory: choose a Pokemon to be your traveling companion and get candy from them when you walk. Yes, you need to do even more walking now for maximum game efficiency.
Aside from these changes, there’s also Pokemon Go Plus support. Here’s the full changelog from Niantic’s post:
Pokémon GO is in the process of being updated to version 0.37.0 for Android and 1.7.0 for iOS devices. Below are some release notes and comments from our development team.
Implemented Buddy Pokémon: Trainers will now be able to choose one of their Pokémon to be their buddy. A Trainer can earn Candy for their Buddy Pokémon by walking a certain distance.
Made it easier to select smaller Pokémon on the screen.
Fixed an issue where Eggs would sometimes hatch without displaying the animation.
Improved performance reliability when a device switches networks to no longer cause the application to hang or stop updating.
Pokémon GO Plus support
Minor text fixes.
We continue to focus on eliminating bots and scrapers from Pokémon GO. Rooted or jailbroken devices are not supported by Pokémon GO. Remember to download Pokémon GO from the official Google Play Store or iTunes App Store only.
As for “loopholes” to play the game while rooted or jailbroken, the guys over at XDA-Developers.com had this to say after poking around with the game’s code:
After some more reading around, it seems Niantic is actually using the SafetyNet checks to check for root. XDA Senior Member MaaarZ found the SafetyNetService being called in the game code. Niantic is really making users jump through the whole nine yards, as this is the same method employed by Android Pay. This means that if you do need to run Pokémon GO on a rooted device, you need to go through the whole Magisk and systemless root way. Or stop playing completely, because that is what Niantic wants you to do.
So yeah, don’t even bother unless you want to go through the hassle of tinkering with Magisk and all that.
Now, excuse me while I install the game in my other, non-rooted device. Ugh!
