It seems that the anti-bot measures are affecting map providers more than many trainers in the Pokémon GO community wanted to believe.
When it became known that Niantic is now cracking down harder on cheaters, opinions in the community were divided. Some were pleased that there would be fewer bots in the future, while others could not accept that these measures would be effective and merely laughed about it.
As it turns out, the measures are more effective than expected. The developers of Rocket Map explain that they must surrender in the short term.
Rocket Map – Bot detection works too well?
In a public statement, the team from Rocket Map stated that the new security features from Niantic are a major blow to third-party trackers, bot users, and (regular) spoofers. Rocket Map is one of the largest and most widely used trackers.
It seems that Niantic has had particularly great success in detecting bot accounts. Because the accounts are practically “blinded” and can no longer find rare Pokémon, trackers and live maps become useless for many trainers. Additionally, the blinding also affects the future of an account. Blinded accounts, after they are no longer blinded, are detected faster by the anti-cheat functions.
According to statements from the Rocket Map developers, several factors must be addressed before their tracker will work again under the current security conditions. This work is expected to take several months!
This means: If Niantic adds more security features during these months, it could take even longer for the tracker to function properly again.
“All third-party scanners are affected”
In the official statement from Rocket Map, the developers explain that all third-party scanners and apps are equally affected. Many providers initially denied this and claimed that the statement was false. However, most of them simply did not realize that their bot accounts had been blinded.
The developers observed the following:
- Blinded accounts can be unblinded after 6 to 10 days.
- The reuse of unblinded accounts in a third-party app (regardless of which one) causes the account to be blinded faster than before. This can sometimes happen after just a few hours.
- Anyone who buys accounts for scanning should assume that these accounts have already been blinded once and will therefore be blinded again quickly.
These changes will hardly affect spoofers who spoof irregularly. However, regular spoofers and bots are slowly decreasing, as their account base is being consumed by the new security measures.
Bots and spoofers are heavily dependent on third-party trackers. They need the trackers to carry out their fraudulent actions. Niantic’s security measures presumably target not just the trackers, but the large bot networks and account sellers.
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