Niantic has had a lot of bother lately getting Pokemon Go running the way it should be. From removing the nearby function and replacing it with the “sightings” tab (and banning all Pokemon finding apps), to Niantic banning anyone they catch cheating, it’s safe to say the road has been a little bit bumpy these past couple of weeks.
Although Pokemon Go is slowly on the road to becoming the full product, yet another bug has appeared, affecting users all over. Worse, still, it makes the game completely unplayable.
The new bug removes pretty much everything on the map from the game. No gyms, no Pokestops, no Pokemon; All you have left is a completely blank map.
The bug has only appeared in the last day or two, but a large number of people have already been affected by it. Lots of those affected turned to Twitter to voice their displeasure. User Raphael Calumpong posted a picture of how the bug affected him.
Niantic hasn’t officially commented on the bug yet, so most of the information circulating about who has been affected and how to fix it comes from the Reddit community.
It appears people with AT&T or Cricket are the most affected, with a number users on T-Mobile also reporting issues with it.
As for how to fix it, there’s no sure-fire way but a few solutions have appeared. First, you can try playing the game using Wi-Fi instead of mobile data, as some people say Niantic’s recent IP banning tirade could be causing problems with non-cheating users.
Additionally, you can try the ol’ faithful “turn it off and on again” method by closing and reopening the app. If that fails, go a step further and try turning your phone off and on again.
If all else fails, you can try deleting and re-downloading the app. If this should fail too, then you’re pretty much buggered, for now.
It’s a huge pain in the ass, especially for those people who have tried everything and still can’t play. Hopefully Niantic will roll out a fix soon. In the meantime, your best bet for help is looking towards the Pokemon Go Reddit page.
In a similar vein, if you’ve managed to figure out a new way to fix the big, be sure to let everyone there know. They’ll be able to spread the word, and you’ll feel pretty great for helping lots of people out for no monetary reward (probably).