Pokémon GO grants full access to your Google account; fix is on the way
If you're one of the many who have downloaded Pokémon GO in the past week and are logging in using your Google account, you should be aware that the application is granting its creator, Niantic, full access to said account.Originally, this meant Niantic Labs and The Pokémon Company could access emails, account information and more, but there is no substantive evidence that any actual data is being collected. The app is listed as having the ability to "see and modify nearly all information" in your account.
If you’re one of the many who have downloaded Pokémon GO in the past week and are logging in using your Google account, you should be aware that the application is granting its creator, Niantic, full access to said account.
Originally, this meant Niantic Labs and The Pokémon Company could access emails, account information and more, but there is no substantive evidence that any actual data is being collected. The app is listed as having the ability to “see and modify nearly all information” in your account.
However, a fix is in the works according to the following statement released by Niantic and The Pokémon Company:
“We recently discovered that the Pokémon GO account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account. However, Pokémon 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. 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. Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokémon GO or Niantic. Google will soon reduce Pokémon GO’s permission to only the basic profile data that Pokémon GO needs, and users do not need to take any actions themselves.
For more information, please review Niantic’s Privacy Policy here: https://www.nianticlabs.com/privacy/pokemongo/en“
Pokémon GO has had quite the week, topping Tinder in active users on Android and leading to quite a large jump in Nintendo’s stock shares. And it’s not even out everywhere, yet.