Pokemon Go players concerned as Pokestops & Gyms disappear

Pokemon Go players have spotted certain Pokestops and Gyms are disappearing from the game. There’s speculation among the community that Niantic is using the new AR Mapping tool to decide which ones get removed as well. 

Pokestops and Gyms are a fundamental aspect of Pokemon Go’s gameplay. So when they suddenly start disappearing from player’s local areas, there’s definitely a cause for concern.

The removal of these features can leave players with a lot less to do and make it harder to collect resources. This has led to widespread speculation in the community surrounding the reasons for these mysterious disappearances.

A lot of theories target the new AR Mapping tool introduced to the game in October.

A thread posted to the Pokemon Go subreddit claiming that Pokestops and Gyms are disappearing has garnered over 12,000 upvotes and nearly 700 comments.

The post says that Pokestops and Gyms are being randomly removed and urges players to stop using the AR mapping tool. It claims Niantic is using data from Field Research to remove “misplaced” or “fake” Pokestops and Gyms.

“The AR Mapping tool that Niantic is trying to push you to use through Field Research is actively being utilized to remove Pokestops and Gyms… I just had a fair bit of gyms and stops removed from my area.”

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Dexerto reached out to Niantic for a statement on the issue and they have stated that the AR Mapping tool is in fact not used to remove Pokestops and Gyms.

This has been confirmed on the Wayfarer Forums by a Niantic representative:

“No, this is not the case at all… Wayspots can only be removed if we receive reports from players indicating that a given location no longer exists… once we receive these reports, we evaluate the data to ensure a POI removal is warranted.”

This suggests that the removal of the specific Gyms and Pokestops highlighted in the thread were coincidental and had no relation to the AR Mapping tool.

It’s great to see this speculation put to bed and Niantic providing a response to the community after widespread concern.