Are we surprised? It was only a matter of time before someone took Nintendo and Niantic's latest success and tried to run it on an unsupported platform. Playing Pokémon GO on a computer isn't exactly a clean process. It combines an emulator, a couple of registry edits, root access inside the emulator, and fake GPS information, not to mention the app's high level of instability during each session... but it is technically possible. Want to give it a try?
Pokémon GO has swept across the web and social media like a wildfire. Nintendo and Niantic's strategic decision to prioritize the American market is paying off, and the rest of the world is clamoring for the game. Unfortunately, the only platforms compatible with Pokémon GO are Android and iOS. The low market share of Windows Phone automatically sidelined it, and the truth is that Nintendo never showed real interest in seeing its franchises on computers. However, that stance doesn't stop some determined fans from getting their hands dirty to find ways around the limits, and that's how we arrive at a tutorial published by the user 'Travis D' on YouTube.
The Five Key Components
- The BlueStacks emulator – the build on the official site is compatible with Windows 10; users of Windows 7 and 8 should use an earlier version (the link is in the video description).
- The Kingroot module to enable root access inside the emulator.
- Lucky Patcher, which modifies permissions.
- An app called Fake GPS, which does exactly what its name says.
- The Pokémon GO APK.
The Installation Process
Everything starts with installing BlueStacks and disabling its camera (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BlueStacks\Guests\Android\Config, change the 'Camera' value from 1 to 0), followed by installing Kingroot and Lucky Patcher (in that order), then Fake GPS through Lucky Patcher, and Pokémon GO last. Fake GPS must be installed in the Android environment as a system app, and run from within Lucky Patcher before opening the game.
Potential Problems
If everything goes well, Pokémon GO will run without major hiccups inside BlueStacks, and whenever the player wants to move, they must bring Fake GPS to the foreground, change their fake location to another by dragging the marker, and then return to Pokémon GO. The player's avatar will be magically moved to the 'new' location to continue catching Pokémon and visiting gyms. Problems? Several, to be honest. The most frequent one is a location detection failure, which can be a conflict between Google location services, BlueStacks, and Windows (the guide makes several suggestions to fix this). Then there's a temporary 'softban' that the game imposes when GPS movements are too large, and finally, the fact that Nintendo and Niantic surely will block this. Running Pokémon GO on a PC goes against the terms of use, but that has never stopped anyone before...
