Hello Trainers! Pokémon GO 0.179.0 is slowly rolling out through the Google Play Store (the iOS App Store usually lags behind). This one’s pretty big and it’s got some pretty great stuff like a Team Go Rocket Balloon, Niantic Social, Raid Invites look done, and Niantic taking steps to prevent reverse engineering.
🚨⚠️ Disclaimer ⚠️🚨
Please be aware that everything posted here has been publicly reported by data miners (PokeMiners). Information shared through these channels is not affiliated nor approved by Niantic, and is always subject to change. Do not take it for granted, features change and get scrapped all the time. It is very important that you are aware that these things CAN and WILL CHANGE. Additionally, this article contains my thoughts and opinions in regards to the code that was shared online – all of these should be treated as conjecture, not as hard statements. If you’re OK with that, feel free to read further. Potential spoilers ahead.
You can read the official release notes here.
There’s a lot here, so deep breath. Let’s get into it!
Giftable Search
SortByGiftable SortByOnline
It’s not active yet… but maybe when they turn on Niantic social we’ll get this?
Team Go Rocket Balloon.
A Large Logo
A very large version of the Team Rocket R was added to the game, presumably to go on the balloon itself.
It’s a Balloon
ROCKET_BALLOON INVASION_BALLOON_TAP BalloonManager get_MinBalloonIncidentPlayerLevel
If you didn’t notice, the official image for Go Fest 2020 had a Team Rocket balloon in the background over the trees. Well, code to support it is here.
aaaaand Go!
GET_ROCKET_BALLOON START_ROCKET_BALLOON_INCIDENT
Just like a regular Team Go Rocket invasion, it will have a start time.
Look waaaaay up!
BalloonMovementUtility get_NextWanderTime BalloonMovementUtility balloonInitialHeight spawnOffsetRelativeToCamera wanderIntervalMin wanderIntervalMax wanderTargetMinDistance wanderTargetMaxDistance balloonIdleHeight movementForceCurve speedDampening cameraRig NextWanderTime minSafeCameraDistance .get_DespawnHeight .get_DespawnKillHeight
It looks like the Team Go Rocket balloon will spawn somewhere on the map then move to a new place every so often. It also looks like the balloon will have a minimum and maximum distance it can move from its spawn point. The balloon will be able to change height as well.
Balloon Shadow
shadowRenderer shadowMeshFilter shadowOpacityByHeightCurve shadowThicknessByHeightCurve shadowScaleByHeightCurve
It looks like the balloon will also have a shadow on the map, in case it’s in a position where you can’t see it.
Wait your turn, one at a time!
UpdateIncidentBalloon DespawnActiveBalloon DespawnBalloonWithId .get_HasActiveBalloon
Only one balloon can be on the map at a time. No Team Go Rocket Balloon army.
They fly now?
.CHARACTER_BALLOON_GRUNT_FEMALE .CHARACTER_BALLOON_GRUNT_MALE .CHARACTER_GRUNTB_FEMALE .CHARACTER_GRUNTB_MALE
They fly now. New grunts have been added for the Team Go Rocket Balloon.
Error Checking
IN_COOL_DOWN NO_BALLOON_AVAILABLE EQUIPPED_ITEM_INVALID SUCCESS_BALLOON_ALREADY_EXISTS
Some error checks for the Balloon spawns. It looks like there will be a cool down after the last spawn.
Niantic Social
Niantic announced that Niantic Social would be launched soon. This will allow you to see if your friends are online, and what Niantic game they are playing.
Please stand by for the following message:
See if your friends are online and which Niantic Game they are playing. View achievements and discover other Niantic games your friends are playing. View your friends from other Niantic games & invite them to play together. Your Online Status will let friends know when you are available to play. You will also be able to see when your friends are playing other Niantic games. You can turn on Online Status now or turn it on or off using the Online/Offline toggle on your Friend List. Note: Turning on Online Status will enable it for all Niantic games you play which have this feature.
You’ll see this message when you first log into it, it’s essentially a rundown of what the feature provides and some helpful information about turning it on and off.
Online Status
ONLINE_STATUS_OVERVIEW ONLINE_STATUS_TOGGLE
Pretty straightforward.
Account Linking
Link Your Accounts Using the same Google, Facebook or Apple login across Niantic Games will link your accounts. This will give you credit for achievements in your Niantic Profile. Learn what is shared with friends. AccountLinkService AddLinkedLogin RemoveLinkedLogin GetLinkedLogins AccountSettingsService login_provider_label_facebook login_provider_label_google login_provider_label_apple
You’ll be able to link the service to your various forms of login
Account Unlinking
niantic_profile_unlink_account_confirm UNLINK This action will unlink this account across all Niantic Games where you use this login. Could not remove this account. It is linked to your active game session.
Last Game Played
niantic_game_last_played
Last Played: {0}
Let my Friends see info about the last time I played Niantic Games.
You’ll be able to see the last game your friends were playing too.
Avatar Color?
Account Settings Choose Your Niantic Profile Name niantic_profile_avatar_color_title Choose Your Avatar Color
It looks like you’ll be able to choose your Niantic social profile name and an avatar color.
Switch games in App?
confirm_switch_app_title
Switch to {0}?
This will open {0} and background {1}.
It looks like you’ll be able to switch between games in the app
How close are you?
niantic_friend_playing_game
Playing {0}
niantic_friend_distance_away
Under {0} km Away
Not sure how many people are going to like the game telling other people how far away they are…
Nicknames
change_niantic_friend_nickname_button SET NICKNAME Changing the nickname here will change the nickname you see for this friend in all Niantic Games.
You can set nicknames for people in Niantic Social as well, and that nickname will carry across all Niantic games.
Unfriending
unfriend_niantic_friend_title Are you sure you want to remove this friend? unfriend_niantic_friend_confirm_button UNFRIEND unfriend_niantic_friend_tip This action will remove this friend from all Niantic Games you both play.
If you unfriend someone in Niantic Social, it will remove them as your friend in all the games. Hopefully, we’re able to do it just in the games themselves, so you can pick and choose what games your friends with people.
Sponsored Gifts
This is what the Sponsored Gifts will look like.
Turn them on and off
SPONSORED_GIFT_TUTORIAL StartOpenSponsoredGiftFlow toggleSponsoredGift
More on Sponsored Gifts. It looks like you’ll be able to toggle them on and off.
The details
sponsorName postcardImage postcardImageSize .get_IsSponsored .get_PartnerId .get_CampaignId .set_CampaignId
Some of the details you’ll see on Sponsored gifts. Standard stuff, name, picture, AD campaign, etc
Coin Reward?
callToActionButton screenshotButton bubbleLifetime rewardBubbleSpawnPosition coinRewardTarget
A button to screenshot the AD. Interesting there’s a coin reward tied to Sponsored Gifts
On the Map?
OPEN_SPONSORED_GIFT SPONSORED_GIFT_REPORT_INTERACTION AddMapGift ClearMapGift MapSponsoredGiftService UpdateCurrentGift GetPersistentGift ClearCurrentGift PersistentSponsoredGiftService defaultGiftPersistenceTimeMs
It looks like Sponsored gifts will appear on the map?
Raid Invites
We’re close!
RemoteRaidInviteNotification RaidInvitationService LogRemoteRaidInviteAccepted toggleRaidInvitePushNotification
In the Nearby
nearbyRaidInvitationPrefab NearbyRaidInvitation InvitationClicked poiRawImage avatarIconHolder gymName gymLocation timeRemaining nearbyBackground nearbyBackgroundDefaultColor nearbyBackgroundInviteGradientA nearbyBackgroundInviteGradientB debugHasRaidInvite
Raid Invitations will show up in your nearby and you’ll see details like the avatar, gym name, location as well.
Sorting Screen
inviteFriendsButton inviteFriendsButtonText sortIcons sortButtonRoot sortOrderArrowImage get_SearchBarContainer add_OnlineClick remove_OnlineClick add_AddFriendClick remove_AddFriendClick add_SearchClick remove_SearchClick FriendsSubmitted friendPickerPageSingleSelectCellViewPrefab friendPickerPageMultipleSelectCellViewPrefab trainerNameDefaultColor noFriendsText promptText friendsSubmittedText listViewRoot submittedFriendsConfirmation sortOrderConfigs
It looks like the Raid invite screen will be similar to the current friend’s list, and will be sortable and searchable. You will also be able to select multiple friends to invite at once.
Error
ERROR_NO_REMOTE_SLOTS_REMAINING ERROR_LOBBY_FULL ERROR_LOBBY_EXPIRED MAX_FRIENDS_INVITED LOBBY_FULL MAX_REMOTE_PLAYERS
Reward Stickers!!
RewardSticker
What’s better than stickers you buy? Stickers you get from quests.
Shop Updates – Hide sections?
StorefrontShowAllButton storefrontShowAllButtonPrefab
A show all button looks to have been added, which implies that we’ll be able to hide sections of the shop at some point.
Technical Stuff – Obfuscation
Niantic has added a layer of Obfuscation to this update. This essentially scrambles several internal classes and methods of the game. Basically making it harder to reverse engineer the game, and for 3rd parties to create modified game clients.
This will mostly affect spoofing apps, scanners, maps and that sort of thing but it will also affect data miners’ ability to fully tear down updates going forward.
Conclusions and Speculations
This Team Go Rocket balloon thing sounds really interesting, seeing an ominous Team Go Rocket balloon floating across the map. I’m excited to see what comes of this, and if it’ll be an event only type thing or something that just randomly spawns on its own like the stops.
That’s all for now trainers, stay safe out there.
