Pokemon Go, the popular augmented reality-based game, has announced that the time has come for it to end support for older Android and iOS devices.
The game, which reportedly is one of the most-played games in the last couple of years, said it will no longer provide support for older smartphones like those made by Apple and other Android-based smartphone makers. The announcement of Pokemon GO was met with lots of sad sighs from both users of older iOs and Android devices. They admit the news they received came with a slight letdown, WCCFTech reports.
Gaming enthusiasts and casual users first experienced Pokemon GO in 2016 with its release on July 6 of that year in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. It did not take long for the new game to gain super-popular status and soon, it was highly in demand. In fact, John Hanke, the CEO of Niantic which was the company that developed the popular game, at the time halted its release in other regions as it caused a huge strain on their servers.
Those playing Pokemon GO on smartphones or tablets with Android 5.0 or iOs 10 or 11 may have to secure a newer device running on the latest mobile operating system. For those who are unwilling to part with these older devices, there is bad news around the corner.
According to an official announcement released today, Pokemon Go will have an update in mid-October, which will stop its support for older devices running on the aforementioned mobile operating systems. "In an upcoming update to Pokemon 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," said a tweet from @PokemonGoApp, the official Twitter account of Pokemon GO.
The news that the popular augmented reality game will also not work on iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 was met with a lot of surprise as both phones now runs on a newer mobile operating system, the iOS 12. Niantic says, however, that the company included the two phones in the devices it intends to stop supporting beginning October as the performance of Pokemon GO on the said iOS devices was not really that great. In an interview with The Verge, Niantic said both iOS devices only have 1GB or RAM, which is inadequate for the updates the company plans to make.
Industry experts explained that while Pokemon GO does not hug a lot of mobile phone resources when compared to other games, it does utilize several technologies alongside it for the game to work. For example, the game uses cameras, GPS tracking, and many other technologies. All of these combined can cause a lot of strain to the phone, particularly its battery, which users may find draining a lot faster than it should.
For those with devices not mentioned in the tweet, they need not worry as their Pokemon GO will keep on functioning as before. Despite being relatively old, the game is still very popular among iOS and Android users.
