Pokemon Go developer admits it accidentally asked for ‘full access’ to users’ Google accounts

POKEMON Go has been making users give “full access” to their Google accounts when they join the game. It turns out that was a mistake.

APPLE iPhone users can resume catching ‘em all thanks to dubious app permissions being rectified.

It was revealed Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs was gaining “full access” to the Google accounts of players signing up to the mobile game.

In short, this meant users of the app had given access and control of their email, search history, Google drive documents, and much more.

The developer has since issued a statement to Mashable saying the app “erroneously” requested full access permission.

For those unfamiliar with the semantics of erroneously — it’s a fancy way for the developer to admit it fudged up and didn’t mean to collect all of that information.

“We recently discovered that the Pokemon Go account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account,” Niantic Labs wrote.

“However, Pokemon Go only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected.”

The developer said it would remove ‘full access’ to Google accounts. Picture: Jim Watson

The developer said it has been working quickly to rectify the issue.

“Once we became aware of this error, we began working on a client-side fix to request permission for only basic Google profile information, in line with the data that we actually access,” it wrote.

“Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokemon Go or Niantic. Google will soon reduce Pokemon Go’s permission to only the basic profile data that Pokemon Go needs, and users do not need to take any actions themselves.”

Security expert Adam Reeve recently suggested the setting was “the result of epic carelessness”, but warned it could pose a cybersecurity risk.

“I don’t know how well they will guard this awesome new power they’ve granted themselves, and frankly I don’t trust them at all,” he wrote.

“I’ve revoked their access to my account, and deleted the app. I really wish I could play, it looks like great fun, but there’s no way it’s worth the risk..”

There has been no time frame given to how long it will take to implement the fix, but you can check what kind of access the app has to your account on Google in the interim.

Continue the discussion on Twitter @mattydunn11

Originally published as Pokemon Go developer admits it accidentally asked for ‘full access’ to users’ Google accounts