How to protect your Pokemon Go account
Some Pokemon Go players have put thousands of hours of time into the game, so it goes without saying that losing your account would be devastating. Here’s how to protect your account in order to prevent that from happening.
Most of you won’t have had to go through losing everything you have achieved in Pokemon Go but, unfortunately, some trainers have learned a harsh lesson. If you do fall victim to a hack then there is little to nothing Niantic could do about it.
If your account has been compromised, chances are it has been accessed through the email address associated with the account. As a result, it is very difficult to recover the account. All you can do is make sure you’re in the best position to avoid this.
Niantic
Avoid cheating and third-party apps
This might be obvious to most, but cheating and using third-party apps can get your account banned – permanently. As long as cheats are available there are always going to be players who use them.
It seems a lot of trainers get away with it but if you really want your account to be safe then not using them is the best course of action. Niantic have already taken action in sporadic ban waves and there could yet be more to come.
There are also third-party apps to worry about. Niantic’s terms and conditions state the use of third party apps are prohibited. Interestingly the T&Cs don’t so much as mention the word “ban” but nevertheless it isn’t worth the risk.
More importantly though, when using third-party apps you are allowing them to access your Pokemon Go account in some form. Naturally, this is a security risk.
Password security
Another obvious step but one that many continue to neglect. Short and easy to remember passwords might make it easier for you to login but also makes your account susceptible to being hacked.
Also, using the same password across multiple sites is another vulnerability. Having different, complicated passwords for every account you use isn’t feasible.
Instead, you could use a password manager. This allows you to have multiple complicated and, more importantly, unique passwords for every account you use. Moreover, they are all encrypted.
Don’t rely on Trainer Club
Old school Pokemon Go trainers may have signed up to the game using Trainer Club. Since then doing so through Google has become an option.
While some might not like the idea of Google running the credentials for your Pokemon Go account, it does actually have a couple of benefits. Firstly, it gives you a way to recover the account, unlike Trainer Club which has a simple “Forgot password?” option.
More importantly, however, Google has two-factor-authentication (2FA). Simply put, this means that if your password does become compromised then the hacker still won’t have access to your account as there is a second password layer to go through.
- Read More: Is Pokemon Go becoming pay-to-play?
If you don’t have 2FA enabled already, do so now. Also, if you are going to continue using the Trainer Club to access your Pokemon Go account then make sure the email attached to that account has 2FA on it.
No account is ever fully secure but following these steps will at least make your account safer. After all, just think how annoyed you’d be to lose all those Pokemon you’ve spent hours upon hours getting.