The movement to bring Pokémon Go to Windows 10 Mobile is gathering pace and support. Expect demand to increase now the third party pathways to the game has been closed. In a move that is not surprising, Pokémon Go developer Niantic has blocked third party access.
The company sent out an update that blocks third party APIs from accessing the game. There was no choice on the matter as the update was forced on the app. This means those third-party apps are no not usable. There have been a large number of third-party APIs into Pokémon Go.
For those using a third-party on Android, they, of course, have the official app to fall back on. However, Windows phone users are a different matter. The app has not been launched on Microsoft’s platform so now there is no way to access the hugely popular game.
This week we have discussed a third-party Windows app for accessing the game. The title was available on Windows 10 Mobile in the form of a third party client called PoGo-UWP. One developer of a third-party Pokémon Go app took to Reddit to explain the situation:
“Hey guys,
Like you already know the PoGo app doesn’t work.
The reason for that is that Niantic updated their server.
The update ruined the API, the requests are now cryptographically signed.
The latest update was forced so the app could read it.
Does this mean that it is over?
No, the makers of the API are looking in to this, it is not sure if they can fix it.
What do you say? Is it over in your opinion?
Sadly, yes. I don’t think that the API creators will be able to decrypt it and if they will be able to get it to work, Niantic will probably add more encryptions. This is probably one of the I don’t know how many encryption they will add.
We have to wait till the API creators have more news, I will keep you updated.
Or, you can look by yourself.”
Support for Windows Pokémon Go version
Since the game dropped and became a massive success, there have been calls for it to come to Windows 10 Mobile. An online petition gained 100,000 signatories, but Niantic has still not budged. It is, of course, a problem the Windows phone platform has faced before. Big developers are ignoring the platform in favor of the big two of iOS and Android.
More recently, users have even turned to Microsoft for help. The Feedback Hub has received over 500 requests asking for Pokémon Go to come to Windows. Of course, Microsoft has little to do with this as it is not the developer of the game. In fact, we imagine the company would also love the game to land on its mobile platform.
Windows is a big community, so there are still hackers on the job trying to connect the platform to Pokemon Go.
