My kid discovered pokemon go and loves it. I’m excited because he’s getting outside and walking around, getting some exercise and not just playing video games in his room all day.
I was thrilled when he asked me to download it so we could be friends. I’ve downloaded it but was wondering if there was a version (or a similar app) that is more privacy respecting?
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Unfortunately there is no way to interact with other players (as far as I know) than getting the official app. The one upside is Nintendo doesn’t make money of selling user data so from a privacy standpoint it’s better than most mobile games.
If you are looking to get around adds and data collection for other games (https://apkmody.io/#) works fairly well.
Pokémon Go is my last hold out of absolutely stupid amount of permissions needed to run an app. But I love the game, so I keep it There’s no real replacement within the Pokémon series. Of you want to play Pokémon specifically, and don’t want Go, you could get one of the games for switch.
I don’t know if any other app that would be like Pokémon Go. But I can say that you can limit some of the sharing by not enabling adventure sync. That asks you to share your location all the time in order to hatch eggs when your game isn’t specifically open. You can also avoid spinning sponsored stops/gyms.
You could also delete the app when you’re not playing, then download it when you want to play. Or you could buy a cheap phone(s) and use a hot spot to play the game. This will keep the game off your main device.
There’s not a ton you can do to limit the amount of permissions it asks for.
What about shelter apk + auto freeze setting. Sufficient?
Maybe you could mock location, but i don’t really know how much that provides. Through a vpn or location backend.
Spoofing location will eventually earn you a ban if your not careful.
I’ve come to accept that it’s not great for privacy. If I’m not planning on playing for awhile, I’ll delete the app. But as a busy person who loves Pokémon it doesn’t have a huge time commitment so I can play when and how I want. It brings me joy so I keep it.
Either way, shelter or insular are great for this situation. I like shelter for its auto-freeze function.
Same company. Niantic makes Go and Ingress.
I have Pokemon go installed in a separate profile on grapheneos. Doesn’t do anything unless I open that profile, and it’s not attached to any identity.
Sadly, no. And the company has had a past of treating it’s customer base as garbage. So prepare yourself for shenanigans.
