Jupiter Isidro Tech 09.13.2016 04:Sep AM EDT

Pokemon Go Update: Why Rooted And Jailbroken Devices Are Banned

Niantic has banned jailbroken and rooted devices from playing Pokemon Go in its 0.37.0 / 1.7.0 patch. According to the official site: "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."

Players falling under the device modification demographics are reportedly very upset about this news. Playing Pokemon Go for hours and hours then just got banned because of a rooted or jailbroken phone is very upsetting indeed, reports idigitaltimes.com.

What are these jailbroken or rooted phones?

A jailbroken or rooted phone utilizes non-official software that can drastically modify whatever is needed on your device that is not currently being offered by the official provider. Technically, this would void your phone's warranty if you supposedly have it since you have tampered with its official operating system.

Niantic posted on their Facebook page:

"we continue to focus on eliminating bots and scrapers from Pokémon GO. Rooted or jailbroken devices are not supported by Pokémon GO."

If you think about it, this move alone will not eliminate the rampant cheating problems in Pokemon Go, although it helps but not completely since players can still choose to use their computer, pairing it with an untampered phone, for a perfect IV of say Snorlax.

There must be another reason why

Why is this really implemented? There's a theory at Reddit that it is mainly connected to the possibility of hacking the Pokemon Go Plus device, an accessory worn on wrist or as pin that pairs with the game. This device will be out days from now. To quote:

According to reddit user krixsta : "I'm not sure of the possibilities the XDA and the Jailbreak communities will come up with, but I'm sure they can make that accessory do a lot that Niantic didn't intend to."

This means that if a hacker has a way around and get to the source code for Pokemon Go Plus combined with the knowledge on how it works, the game can be manipulated and broken.

As of this writing, what Pokemon Go Plus really is on the technical side is still unknown and no matter what the reason for banning modified devices from playing Pokemon Go isn't the best way to stop cheating as players will always find a way around it.