Pokémon Go developers promise to fix Google account access bug

Pokémon Go isn’t reading your Gmail. The makers of the hot, new mobile game are fixing a bug that allowed the app to gain full access to users’ accounts, when they signed in using their Google account information. The company claims it didn’t mean to ask for such elevated permissions, and it will now correct this. The app had the power to access your Gmail, your Google Docs, your Google Photos, as well as track your location history, your search history, and more. And this was in addition to the app’s already necessary high-level access to things like your current location, camera, and phone sensors, which are needed for gameplay.

The issue was isolated to iOS and only affected those who signed in using Google.

Pokémon Go offers two ways to sign up – you can create a “Trainer Club” account by creating a username, or you could sign up using your existing Google account. For those who chose the latter option, the iOS version of the game would then gain full access to your Google account. Not only is that a privacy nightmare of sorts, there was also some concern over Pokémon Go’s close ties to Google, which had built its business on data-mining from its users. Pokémon Go’s creator, Niantic Labs, was spun out of Google/Alphabet last year, and Google still holds a stake in the company. 

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