Back in June, Niantic announced that it was discontinuing support for 32-bit Android mobile devices, mostly devices released prior to 2015, to “streamline” its development. Fortunately, the uproar was such that the company was forced to put those plans on hold. Unfortunately, now that you’ve stopped paying attention, it’s re-announced the support discontinuation plans and seemingly expanded the list of devices that won’t be able to play the game. Boo!
While before the focus was on 32-bit Android phones, now the company will stop supporting a range of devices running older Android and iOS operating systems – Android 5 and iOS 10 and 11 – in addition to the iPhone 5s and 6, Google Nexus 10, the first-gen Moto X and Moto G, the Note 3, the Galaxy S4, and several others. Granted, these really are all super old, but it still sucks that anyone on these devices will no longer be able to play the game come mid-October when version 0.189 drops.
“Removing support for older devices allows us to streamline our development process and focus resources on supporting newer operating systems and technologies such as iOS 14. A vast majority of users have already migrated to newer operating system versions and devices. As players migrate from older operating system versions and devices to newer ones, we periodically update our supported device requirements to focus on the devices most of our players use.”
In an upcoming update to Pokémon GO in October, we will end support for Android 5, iOS 10, and iOS 11, as well as iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 devices. Trainers with devices not specifically listed here will not be affected and don’t need to take any action.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 31, 2020
