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Today, after I reset my mobile phone, I installed Pokemon Go from a downloaded APK and I logged in, and noticed that I now have an items storage limit of 400, and a Pokemon storage limit of 300. I have the same number of coins (under 100).

Was this a reward I didn't notice before? I am level 23.

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    ...from a "downloaded APK"? You mean you didn't get it from one of the official stores? Sounds like you have an unauthorized cracked version of the software.
    – BrianH
    Sep 7, 2016 at 15:23
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    Another thing to note, if you don't want to get banned I would suggest you uninstall the version you are using and download the official game installer from the app/play store.
    – C-dizzle
    Sep 7, 2016 at 17:41
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    There's not a lot of banning going on, entire countries were playing the APK version before it was released there without problem. Stop scaring people @C-dizzle and others...
    – Mast
    Sep 7, 2016 at 18:34
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    @Mast why take the risk? If the app is available in a given user's locale via the official Play Store, why use a questionable APK from a third-party site?
    – Doktor J
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:46
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    Where did you get the APK? If it wasn't from a trusted source, it could have been tweaked to lie about the bag size. Giving Niantic the benefit of the doubt, this seems like a pretty real possibility, and should make you consider what else that APK might be doing.
    – micseydel
    Sep 8, 2016 at 0:05

5 Answers 5

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I really doubt you have a "cracked" version of the APK. The storage limits are certainly kept server side. No crack will change that.

Niantic has been having issue where people would login to find that their account has made progress since their last login. It's not clear if someone is stealing accounts for some reason, but it's likely a server issue that muddles your progress with someone else's.

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    Given Niantic's current track record, I find this answer much more believable than the idea that the OP downloaded a cracked apk that somehow modified server-side settings to his own benefit.
    – Mage Xy
    Sep 7, 2016 at 18:21
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    @MageXy It's possible, albeit unlikely, that the cracked version automatically fights gyms, collects pokecoins, and spends them on upgrades :)
    – aebabis
    Sep 7, 2016 at 20:59
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The only way to increase Pokemon and bag storage is through the store via Pokécoins from in-game purchases (or collecting them from your Defender bonus over the course of a few days or weeks).

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    ...or cracking the game.
    – ʰᵈˑ
    Sep 7, 2016 at 16:25
  • okay I added that to my answer
    – Vemonus
    Sep 7, 2016 at 16:28
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    ... Except cracking the game client isn't going to actually increase your item or Pokemon storage, since that data is managed server-side, as are the Poke Coins used to buy such storage increases.
    – Doktor J
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:48
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    but it still can show increased inventory size even if it wasn't actually changed
    – Lope
    Sep 8, 2016 at 7:31
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    @ParasShah that's my exact point -- please re-read my comment carefully.
    – Doktor J
    Sep 8, 2016 at 14:48
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No level-up rewards you with any kind of upgrade. Your apk might be a cracked version of Go if you didn't download it officially...

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Perhaps, a bug on their server side.

Cracked APK CAN change the storage limits but that's only a possibility when there are hardcoded client side values instead of retrieving them from the server, and then syncing those hardcoded values to overwrite those on the server. But, that seems to be a lot of work, because the game is well encoded.

And you don't get any such rewards on levelling up.

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    Downvoters, please care to explain.
    – Paras Shah
    Sep 8, 2016 at 9:25
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    Probably because your original answer included nothing helpful.
    – dly
    Sep 8, 2016 at 9:54
  • Downvoters are becoming a serious problem. on all SE sites.
    – CoffeDeveloper
    Sep 9, 2016 at 8:42
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Maybe it is a cracked version of the game that shows the data it wants and not data from the server. It can be a sofisticated version that selectively alter your game experience so that you "believe" you own certain items while in reality those are not really purchased (and at same time if you make a real purchase it could be redirected to other developers).

This would be harder to implement (so maybe a big company trying to reduce Go incomes by preventing real purchases? and at same time increasing Go's servers load). This could be a reality because I think no game in history had so much success. Actually you can see most online games have a drop in connected users in the days following release of Pokemon GO, so it is likely there are lot of angry developers because of that.

How do a virtual game works:

You believe you actually make purchases and get upgrades, in reality it is just emulated on your app, while you still connect to server to get some real data, from the server point of view your are just a non-paying player that is using bandwith without purchasing anything.

Note if you incurred in a virtual game, your game credentials already got leaked. Better you change password for GO.

To see if I am right, you should just download the official package and see if you have all the progress that you had on the other unofficial app (warning you could already lose lot of data, which never existed server-side).

It could also be pseudo-official App to track usage of cracked versions (maybe released by developers, when they see you have more than 300 items they know you use a cracked app, and there's no need to send any plain text "Hei I am using cracked app" because they can deduce that).. It already happened in history that developers release cracked versions to find where actually their games get downloaded and pirated, don't know if that is the case.

I may actually be true:

Just found a GO's APK and monitored network traffic with wireshark (used laptop as wi-fi router): when consuming items no network message is sent with the unofficial APK, meaning those are just consumed on "client side".

When Instead I was using the original package items were consumed properly.

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  • I'm a server programmer. Do you think I don't know what is possible doing on client side?
    – CoffeDeveloper
    Sep 9, 2016 at 8:38
  • I agree with this. This is a possibility. Although hard to implement, this can be the case; altering the values on the client and then sending that data to the server first instead of retrieving it firsthand from the server. Though, many people tend to downvote stuff just because it goes against the majority.
    – Paras Shah
    Sep 9, 2016 at 13:55

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