Master Ball vanishes from Pokémon GO inventory, Niantic cannot add it back despite no usage record

Dejan Kacurov November 8, 2023Last Updated: November 13, 2023

0 1 minute read

Trainers head up on a new issue that’s causing some serious headaches in Pokémon GO. Picture this, you’ve finally got your hands on a Master Ball, the kind of rare find that makes all your efforts worth it, with a perfect catch rate that never fails. Now, imagine losing a Master Ball from your bag. Unfortunately, one player experienced this, lost their second Master Ball, and it’s not enjoyable.

The Master Ball’s been a big deal since the early Pokémon days, and they’re not easy to come by in Pokémon GO. They’re like gold dust, really. To grab one for free, you’ll need to hustle through the ‘Timed Investigation: Master Ball’ quest before it wraps up on November 21, 2023. If you miss that, you’re looking at buying a Special Research ticket to get your hands on one.

Now, let’s talk about the bug, or glitch, whatever you want to call it. A Trainer named Miguel Banda noticed that one of their two Master Balls was missing, just gone without any explanation. They reached out to Niantic, but even after confirming there was no recent use of the Master Ball, there was no way to put it back in their bag.

Here’s the conversation between Banda and Niantic Support, as posted on Facebook:

This bug isn’t just annoying, it’s a big deal because of how tough it is to get a Master Ball in the first place. This is probably the hardest item to get in the game, and many players use it to catch rare Pokémon.

Now imagine if you do this daily just to lose something you earned:

Catch 13 Pokémon each day.
Secure one Raid win daily.
Hatch one egg every two days.
Accumulate 5 km per day.
Capture 100 different species of Pokémon over the challenge period.
Complete two Field Research tasks each day.
Visit four PokéStops every day.

Players put in all that effort with rewards like the Master Ball in mind. Losing it to a glitch? Not cool. We’re all for Banda getting their Master Ball back and keeping the fun going in Pokémon GO. Keep your eyes peeled, and let’s hope this bug gets squashed fast.