Starting in October, players will no longer be able to play Pokémon Go on any devices running iOS 10, iOS 11, or Android 5 operating systems Niatnic announced today. Support for the iPhone 5s and 6 will also be ceased in this move.
Niantic previously delayed the discontinuation of support for Pokémon Go and its other games on 32-bit Android devices, which was supposed to take place in August. But that doesn’t mean the developers aren’t moving forward with other advancements.
Players with devices not specifically listed by Niantic in its announcement won’t be affected. This means the iPhone 6s will still work with Pokémon Go for the foreseeable future because it supports the newer operating systems.
Players using those devices will no longer be able to access Pokémon Go at all or download future updates for the game. All features for the game will be unavailable and any data will be kept on the player’s Pokémon Go account, including PokéCoins and items, until they sign in on a more recent device.
Much like the previous 32-bit Android discussion, moving away from older operating systems and devices will allow Niantic to streamline the development process of Pokémon Go without needing to focus on older phones keeping up. Older model phones are notorious for black-screening or providing a poor user experience for Go over the last year or so. The more the app advances, the harder it’ll be for those devices to run it.
Niantic didn’t give an exact date for when the devices will no longer be supported outside of that October window. The company also didn’t provide direct reasoning for the discontinuation of support. If you want to continue playing Pokémon Go and own one of those older devices, you should start looking into potential upgrades.
