Pokémon GO Player from China Shares a List of Things that Work and don’t Work in the Game

We as humans sometimes take things for granted, until somebody informs us that they aren’t even allowed to do that. The same thing is applicable to Pokémon GO.

Did you know that Pokémon GO is blocked in China? Well, the game directly isn’t blocked, but due to its reliance on Google Maps, unfortunately the game can’t work properly in China. Yes, Google Maps is blocked there, and you know, Pokémon GO is depending on that app.

Well, a player from China happily shared with the rest of the community on how Pokémon GO actually looks there. I don’t know how they have the game though, since it is not available in the Chinese app stores. This means that all of Pokémon GO’s basic features aren’t working because of the limitations.

The player begins with their story by saying that this is valid for Mainland China, and you would need VPN or a mobile carrier that allows access to sites that are blocked in China. Then, they inform the rest of us that there are things that are working great, there are some things that work halfway, while there are other features that don’t work at all.

One of the things that work in Mainland China is Egg hatching. PVP and PVE are also working, as well as catching Pokémon. However, the last one is going to show an “UNKNOWN” location for the info as to where the Pokémon was caught. The overworld map and the new biomes work too, but that is due to volunteers from OpenStreetMap.

Now, onto the things that work only halfway. Receiving gifts is a pain sometimes, because the Friendship meter doesn’t increase, but you still will receive the items from the Gift. Transferring Pokémon also works, but you will get an error message that it didn’t work. In this case, the Pokémon transferred will simply disappear from your storage.

Pokémon spawns and PokéStop spins are completely broken, as well as Raids. Team GO Rocket PVE is also broken, so it seems that Trainers from Mainland China aren’t able to see and catch wild spawns, or any spawns while we are at it. Since PokéStops are missing, the Routes feature is non-existant.

While we are at it, arguing that we don’t have a wild spawn variety, there are some Trainers that don’t even get a wild spawn on their map. That is, if you can call that a map. Whenever I hear something like this, I always think to myself how lucky I am to be living in a location where everything is allowed, and nothing is restricted.

Don’t take everything for granted fellow Trainers, and I hope that the tricky situation can be solved so that Trainers from those areas can enjoy Pokémon GO in its glory.