Niantic and Nintendo’s Pikmin Bloom was just released in select regions, with plans to invite more gamers to the adventure over time.
The game plays out similarly to Pokémon Go, but there’s a completely different narrative. Instead of capturing creatures, players will get to plant flowers and watch them grow. More walking will mean more plants, so the incentive is there to keep the players active.
Considering you’ll need to get your steps in to progress through the game, a simple bug that prevents the game from registering your steps can disrupt all the fun. The zero steps registering bug prevents players from starting their journey or it may cut it short if it shows up in the middle of their gaming sessions.
Pikmin Bloom was only just released, meaning there are likely to be quite a few bug-fixing patches since there are always minor glitches that surface once users are invited to the live servers. While waiting for a fix will be the ultimate answer to the zero steps registering bug, there are a few troubleshooting methods you can try out to get rid of the problem by yourself.
Make sure your location services are on
Though Pikmin Bloom notifies players that they need to have their location services turned on to play the game, you may receive the zero steps registering bug if it goes down during your gaming session.
Simply tab out of the game and check out your location services to see if it’s switched on. Double-check the permissions for Pikmin Bloom and if it doesn’t have continuous access to your location, adjust its permissions and grant it access to this information.
Restart Pikmin Bloom
It may sound simple, but the zero steps counting error can also arise due to small software bugs. The best way to fix such bugs will be through restarting the game since it’ll force Pikmin Bloom to load its game files from scratch.
Restart your gaming device
If restarting Pikmin Bloom doesn’t fix the zero steps counting error for you, restarting your gaming device will be the next step.
Restarting your device will turn off all the background processes that may have been stuck, which may cause such a bug. After restarting your device, launch Pikmin Bloom to see if the bug is gone.
Reinstall Pikmin Bloom
When restarting the game or your device doesn’t fix the bug, reinstalling the game will be your last option. Uninstall the game from your device and install it once again. If you’re on an Android device, make sure to delete all Pikmin Bloom-related files that may have stuck around on your device.
Contact Niantic’s support team
All bugs get noticed one way or another and get fixed by the developer. Sometimes, developers may need some help from their player base since some rare bugs will only appear for a handful of users.
If there aren’t other users who are reporting the same bug, reporting it to Niantic may bring it to the devs’ attention. Navigate to the official support page of Niantic and submit a bug report. Explain all the troubleshooting steps you’ve tried in your ticket and also include screengrabs since they can help the support team pinpoint the root of the bug.
The support team is usually relatively fast when it comes to replying to tickets, but it may take a while before you receive a reply during holiday seasons. The replies may include additional troubleshooting steps that you can try or the team may ask you to provide a few extra details that can help them with the case.
If you suspect that most of the player base is experiencing this error, check out Pikmin Bloom’s Twitter since the developers will keep fans updated on social media.
