Trainers, buckle up, the Generation IV hype train is about to depart the station! Niantic has just push a worldwide update with version number 0.123.1, touted internally as the “Sinnoh update”. The official patch notes are as follows:
- Pokemon originally discovered in the Sinnoh region are arriving in Pokemon GO
- Pokemon GO AR+ is now available on select Android devices
- Friend Requests and Gift notifications will now stack
- You can now select multiple Pokemon at a time when preparing to battle at a Gym or participate in a Raid battle
- Various bug fixes and performance updates
And here’s what’s not publicly available but is hidden in the APK. Hope you’re ready for this – because we weren’t. A huge shout out goes to Soloking21 who sent us the 0.123.1 APK before it was available on APK Mirror. You can also download it here.
18 New moves incoming
18 brand new moves were added in this update, ranging from Meteor Mash all the way to Super Power! The majority of these moves are still missing their animations and sound files, but Niantic is showing clearly which new moves we can expect moving forwards.
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It’s interesting to see moves like Octazooka being added (Octillery signature move), as they hint that Niantic is not yet happy with Pokemon GO’s move selection and battle system.
We don’t want to “suggest” anything, but it’s possible that a move shakeup could also occur when the CP formula changes in the coming weeks. A number of Generation 1 and 2 Pokemon can learn the moves listed above by leveling, which is usually what Niantic has used before to construct Pokemon move pools.
Time will tell.
New Generation IV Pokemon added
In addition to the moves, Generation IV Pokemon references were also added in this APK, ranging from Turtwig (#387) to Arceus (#493). We won’t be listing all of the new Pokemon, you can check the full list on our Database website.
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Curiously, cries for all of of these Pokemon are already added in the APK and available for extraction – which is exactly what we did. Expect to see / hear them soon.
Of course, new forms for select Generation IV Pokemon are also available in the APK (Rotom, Wormadam, Giratina, Shaymin, Cherrim, Shellos, Gastrodon and Arceus):
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Generation IV Pokedex badge
Of course, a new badge will soon be available:
.BADGE_POKEDEX_ENTRIES_GEN4
However, no visual asset has been found for this badge, meaning we could be missing an additional APK update before Gen IV gets released. The badge is currently “bugged” when you open the game, and it displays as a Pokeball on your Pokedex screen:
New background tracking modes
Continuing on last APK’s theme of background tracking and Weekly fitness goals (see our Pokemon GO 0.119.5 update analysis: weekly fitness goals, Meteor Mash, leaked Fall event and more), there are three new background tracking modes present in the APK:
.BGMODE_EGG_HATCH .BGMODE_BUDDY_CANDY .BGMODE_WEEKLY_FITNESS_REPORT
Two new Meltan related cries discovered
Two new cry files have appeared, hinting at Meltan and his recently hinted evolution:
- pv891.wav – listen here
- pv892.wav – listen here
The pv###.wav files are files that contain Pokemon cries and all of them follow the same naming structure: pv followed by three digit Pokemon number. “PV” stands for Pokemon voice and the three digit number corresponds with Pokemon’s Pokedex ID.
Update: According to Serebii.net’s Joe Merrick, although the in-game asset IDs are 891 and 892, these will not be actual Kanto regional IDs – these are yet to be revealed. Joe Merrick went in depth about the issue here.
If this rule is still maintained, Meltan is number 891 and Meltan’s evolution is 892. Meltan’s evolution (we don’t think it’s a form) was hinted in a trailer posted this morning (check our Meltan Mystery Box announced: new Special Research coming, new videos, new mystery article for more information):
New box incoming?
A new box sprite was silently added, titled Localbox.png. Interpret the name as you wish, here’s the sprite in question:
We have no clue where or how this will be used, but it looks special. Maybe this is a reward from PvP? Only Hanke knows.
AR+ on Android
The official patch notes state that AR+ is now available on select Android devices. In order for AR+ to work on Android, a Pokemon GO player first needs to install Google’s ARCore platform, as dictated by the app:
.set_IsArPromptShowing .OnInject .set_NativeArAvailable .get_ShouldShowArPrompt .DisplayInstallArCoreModal .DisplayUpdateArCoreModal
Once installed (you could have it already on your device), your phone could be AR+ capable if it’s one of the following devices (list taken directly from Google’s ARCore website):
| Manufacturer | Model | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Acer | Chromebook Tab 10 | Requires ChromeOS stable builds 69 or later |
| Asus | ROG Phone | |
| Zenfone AR | ||
| Zenfone ARES | ||
| Nexus 5X | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| Nexus 6P | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| Pixel, Pixel XL | ||
| Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL | ||
| HMD Global | Nokia 6 (2018) | Also known as Nokia 6.1 |
| Nokia 6.1 Plus | ||
| Nokia 7 Plus | ||
| Nokia 8 | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| Nokia 8 Sirocco | ||
| Huawei | Honor 10 | |
| nova 3, nova 3i | ||
| P20, P20 Pro | ||
| Porsche Design Mate RS | ||
| Mate 20 Lite | ||
| Y9 2019 | ||
| LG | G6 | Requires Android 8.0 or later |
| G7 ThinQ | ||
| Q6 | ||
| Q8 | ||
| V30, V30+, V30+ JOJO | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| V35 ThinQ | ||
| Motorola | Moto G5S Plus | |
| Moto G6 | ||
| Moto G6 Plus | ||
| Moto X4 | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| Moto Z2 Force | ||
| Moto Z3 | ||
| Moto Z3 Play | ||
| OnePlus | OnePlus 3T | Requires Android 8.0 or later |
| OnePlus 5 | ||
| OnePlus 5T | ||
| OnePlus 6 | ||
| Samsung | Galaxy A5 (2017) | |
| Galaxy A6 (2018) | ||
| Galaxy A7 (2017) | ||
| Galaxy A8, Galaxy A8+ (2018) | ||
| Galaxy Note8 | ||
| Galaxy Note9 | ||
| Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge | ||
| Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ | ||
| Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ | ||
| Galaxy Tab S3 | ||
| Galaxy Tab S4 | ||
| Sony | Xperia XZ Premium | Requires Android 8.0 or later |
| Xperia XZ1, Xperia XZ1 Compact | Requires Android 8.0 or later | |
| Xperia XZ2, Xperia XZ2 Compact, Xperia XZ2 Premium | Requires Android 8.0 or later with software update after Aug 2018 (security patch level 2018-08-05 or later) | |
| Vivo | NEX A | |
| NEX S | ||
| X23 | ||
| Xiaomi | Mi 8 | |
| Mi 8 SE | ||
| Mi Mix 2S | ||
| Pocophone F1 |
We wrote “could be” intentionally as we don’t know if Niantic is supporting all of these Android devices. We couldn’t get AR+ to run on our OnePlus 3T. In other words, the table above is an “extended list” and Niantic is likely supporting only a subset of these devices.
Update: we made it work on our One Plus 3T! Here’s what we did:
- Clean app data and cached storage, log out and log back in
- Upon logging back in we started a Pokemon encounter, the AR+ prompt appeared and we started catching it
- It was a Slowpoke and it fled. This thing is rough on older Android devices!
Parting words
Gen IV, 18 new moves, a new box, two new Pokemon and a whole lot of bug fixes, AR+ changes and performance fixes. Is this a big Pokemon GO update? It sure is. By the sheer scope of it, we’re expecting at least one or two minor releases following this one, mainly focused on various device specific bug fixes and hard-to-reproduce errors.
And what do we think about Gen IV? Let’s just say this: winter will be very, very interesting. And that’s not just the APK speaking. Until next time, see ya!