Security Analyst Adam Reeve is reporting that Pokémon Go provides developer Niantic Labs full access to players’ Google accounts.
The game’s security permissions give the game “full account access” when you choose to login via your Google account. On iOS, there’s no way to edit those permissions, but they can be revoked entirely… meaning you can’t play the game.
On Android, Pokémon Go doesn’t appear under Google account security permissions, though the Google Play store says the game will have “full network access” to “accounts on the device”.
Niantic’s own privacy policy details what the account can be used for.
“We collect certain information that your (or your authorized child’s) mobile device sends when you (or your authorized child) use our Services, like a device identifier, user settings, and the operating system of your (or your authorized child’s) device, as well as information about your use of our Services while using the mobile device,” it reads. “We may use this information to provide the Services and to improve and personalize our Services for you (or your authorized child).”
We’ll keep you posted.
Update: You can revoke access accordingly. Make sure to check your game to see it still functions properly afterwards.
- Login to your Google security page and find Pokémon Go.
- Once found, click “Remove” to revoke full access.
Niantic has also stated that the request for full account access is an error.
“We recently discovered that the Pokémon GO account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account,” Niantic said. “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.”
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