Regarding rumors about Nintendo banning devices downloading the game "illegally"
As Nintendo rolls out this game over the next month there will be a lot of rumors of people getting banned for playing outside Australia (or whatever regions are supported as the month progresses). These rumors pop up during every Nintendo app release, so I'm here to debunk the rumors.
Hopefully this clears some misinformation up!
As Nintendo rolls out this game over the next month there will be a lot of rumors of people getting banned for playing outside Australia (or whatever regions are supported as the month progresses). These rumors pop up during every Nintendo app release, so I'm here to debunk the rumors.
Rumor | Debunk |
Nintendo will ban your device from ever playing the game if you download the app from a 3rd party source. | This is not true. While Nintendo can detect when an app is installed from a source other than your respective app store, they will not ban a device unless it running malicious 3rd party code or if the app itself is a paid app. GPS Spoofing is also a great way to get your device banned. Nintendo can choose to ban you, however, for any reason if they choose to. It's just unlikely they will. |
Downloading ACC outside of the countries it is released in illegal. | It is not illegal. It is a free app, so downloading it for free is not an issue. If you were downloading a paid app for free, it would be considered pirating. |
Your phone can be bricked if you download from a 3rd party source. | Definitely not. Worst case scenario you could get hosed (which would mean you just have to completely reinstall your OS), but that's only if you're looking for trouble. Downloading an APK from a trusted source such as apkmirror has no risk involved. Nintendo can definitely not brick your phone either, nor would they. That would be a huge security flaw in Android. |
Hopefully this clears some misinformation up!