Latest Pokémon GO Update Breaks GO Plus Accessory, Fix Already In The Works

Yeah... I've already got the 0.43.4 update and my Pokemon GO Plus is still not working.

It was working fine until the halloween event started last night.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I'm sorry, I feel bad for anybody who bought this, but the thing was already delayed about 2 months and now this, that's just too funny.

Checking whether the Pokemon Go Plus works should happen before submitting each update. Maybe Niantic needs a better QA system in place for this game.

To expand upon my previous comment... my Pokemon GO Plus was still working fine after the 0.43.3 update last night.
I found it to not be working this morning, when I also discovered that the halloween event had gone live.
I have since updated to 0.43.4 and it's made no difference.

In short... the problem appears to be related to the event, not the update.

Management of the updates seems to have been largely mishandled, which is a shame given the initial interest.

Still, BBC is reporting on research that suggests that Go has increased physical activity amongst users. Not surprising really since walking around is the only (official) way to play. Not convinced that 192 extra steps per day is going to make much difference longterm either.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-37752730

Wow what a surprise, they push an update that breaks things. Sounds really familiar.

I really like the refresh of the game. Many small touches to the interface throughout, actually. It is odd that the polishing of the interface and the Halloween update have caused issues.

I'm betting it's something server side with the propagation of more "spooky" Pokemon and less about the app itself.

In fairness to Niantic, this was an update that had an inflexible release date.

And all defenses aside I have experienced bugs with catching pokémon where my UI doesn't appear. I haven't experienced it since the bonuses went live, so maybe it was a server/client incompatibility or something until the server changes went live? I don't have a GO plus yet, but I'd be pretty frustrated about that one. The game is about daily small interactions, so when it breaks down even in small ways it's grating.

But SO MUCH CANDY is making me happy anyway!

@crimsontadpoles Yeah, software development is easy and QA testing a server with the weight of millions of users is done by everyone in the industry without issues. /sarcasm

Yes, it should be tested better, but you make it sound like someone didn't try the Pokémon GO Plus with the latest build before releasing. That is absurd.

Ha that's a sort of thing I've come to expect with PS4 updates.

@rjejr For what it's worth, I've had mine since launch, and despite the occassional random disconnect, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

As someone who wanted to play the game but never had much opportunity before the device came out, I've leveled up faster, caught more Pokemon, hatched more eggs, and gained more candy than I ever did without it.

The timing of this issue is a bit unfortunate, but at least they're working quick to fix it. And if they're really cool about it, they'll extend the event to make up for any lost time on their part.

@aaronsullivan It really should be absurd. However, since the Pokemon Go Plus isn't working at all on both iOS and Android, they must have either made a mistake in testing or not have had adequate tests.

@DTFaux Well I'm glad your'e enjoying it. I honestly wasn't laughing at peopel who bought it, Pokemon fans collect Pokemon stuff, I get it, but at the company for delaying a product a 2 months, then 1 month after release they break it.

And while it's nice to see them working hard to fix it now, maybe, just maybe, they should have tested it before doing the update and breaking it? I know, that's crazy talk, but that's just me.

Minor bug fixes? Really?

Guess that breaking the device made exclusively for the game is "minor" for Niantic.

Update didn't break the plus, the event did. I updated and was still using the plus just fine... but as soon as this event was launched I haven't gotten a single notification on the plus. It has been tracking distance still.

@aaronsullivan "didn't try the Pokémon GO Plus with the latest build before releasing. That is absurd."

Is it really that absurd though? We are talking about a device that was supposed to launch in July alongside the game. A device which has always sounded to me like it was TPC or Nitneod's idea and Niantic wanted no part of it. Is it really that absurd to suggest that Niantic rushed this update out in time for Halloween - as you suggested earlier - and just simply didn't think to test out how it would interact w/ Pokemon Go and the Halloween event simultaneously? That's what it sounds like happened to me. It wasn't the update or the Halloween event, but the combination of the 2, which they could have been in such a rush to make work together they simply forgot to test out Go compatibility, perhaps just assuming it would keep working?

I believe forgetting over - "Yes we tested it all out thoroughly on both Android and iOS and now it is broken on both Android and iOS but we don't know why?" They probably remembered to test both, just not at the same time. Or maybe they tested them in the wrong order? But something wasn't tested, too many issues.

How much money do you think Niantic makes from each Go hardware sale?

I agree with the above post, the update didnt cause the problem, i believe the Halloween event did which is convenient for Niantec when theres double candies etc available. For what its worth my plus stopped working BEFORE the update. Ive updated this afternoon in the hope it would fix it but it didnt. As far as I can tell its still tracking my distances and im still getting candies from my buddy AND hatching my eggs.

fun fact: one of the reasons speculated for the drop in nintendo stock prices is that investors wanted nintendo to make a much sharper shift in direction towards mobile, like with pokie-go.

@rjejr You're confusing Niantic with Nintendo... Nintendo are the ones who make the Pokemon GO Plus, and had it ready to release before the app, but there was no point in releasing it until the app was ready... so the delay is perfectly understandable.
The problems are all on the app side, which is handled by Niantic... there is nothing wrong with the PGO+ itself, it hasn't changed... it's the changes to the app that have caused it to stop working.

Just to keep people up to date... they now seem to have fixed the problem... no update required, so must have been server-side.

My PGP is working. Just suddenly started again

Was not working this morning but started to work again. Problem fixed.

@DragonEleven "The problems are all on the app side, which is handled by Niantic..."

I didn't get that part backwards, I know that's what happened. I was probably wrong though about the Go being ready. I do remember now that you said something the go was ready but it wouldn't work with Android, only Apple, so they decided to delay it.

Everything else I said I still think was accurate, Go isn't working b/c Niantic doesn't care about it and doesn't want to be responsible for having it work and Nintneod probably forced it upon them probably as part of the licensing deal to give Niantic Pokemon. So the programming is Niantic's fault, they should have tested better, but it may be possible they never wanted to support Go in the first place and Nintendo made them. Ingress never had a "Go" device to support, and Pokemon Go is basically just Ingress w/ Pokemon in it.

So it's Niantics fault, they probably agreed to the terms and they are in charge of testing, but the whole Go peripheral seems to have been a messy addition since day 1.

What does it matter, you still can't buy a Pokemon Go Plus. I've been to 5 game stops and all say they have never seen a restock since the initial shipment. Going on 2 months. Oy.

Ah, so it wasn't just me! It was dead since the update!

There was a problem with the Go Plus? I didn't even know until now. Either I was lucky or clueless during the bug since I haven't used since Monday. Been working ok since I used it 2 hours ago.

Mine still works

I used it today and had no issues. It still helps me catch Pokemon that don't show up on the app but it sucks at getting pokestops if I move fast.

I bought my PGP about 2 weeks ago direct from Nintendo web site. It said out of stock, but I scrolled down to where it said more like this and clicked on the PGP there. 2 days later it was delivered