How to Avoid Soft Ban in Pokemon GO

Enjoying spoofing around Pokemon GO and discovering new Pokemon to capture? But spoofing without taking time off can get you in trouble with Niantic. The developer can put a soft ban or a permanent ban on your account.

Most of us know how a permanent ban plays out, but a soft ban is unheard of by most Pokemon GO enthusiasts. This post covers everything you need to know about a Pokemon GO soft ban, including how to avoid it.

What Is a Soft Ban?

Your Pokemon Go account can easily get soft banned if you're not careful and break the cooldown rules in the game. How do I know if my account is soft banned? The best indicators are:

1. Traveling to a Pokestop and tapping on it to spin. Instead of getting items, you will get an error message Try Again Later over and over again.
2. When trying to catch a Pokemon (which this game is all about), the Pokemons will run away.

You might be wondering then, what are these cooldown rules? Niantic, the game developers, implemented these cooldown rules to make the gameplay fair for all.

However, many hack their way around the cooldown time to get items or capture Pokemons faster.

So basically, cooldown refers to the “waiting time” for the player to perform in-game actions. Niantic calculates the cooldown time using the distance your character travels and performs an in-game action.

For example, You're on location X, and here you acted. Then, you travel to location Y, which is 10 km far from location X instantaneously (using a GPS spoofing hack).

In your new location, you act without waiting for the cooldown time. It can result in a soft ban.

So, according to the cooldown chart, you should've waited for more than 7 minutes before triggering an action. The maximum cooldown wait time for triggering another in-game action is 2 hours.

The following action can trigger the cooldown time:

1. Capturing a wild Pokémon
2. Spinning a Pokéstop for items (hitting the spin limit)
3. Putting a Pokémon in any of the gyms (all locations)
4. An accidental drop of a Pokeball on the battle screen (this also applies on raids)
5. Feeding a berry to a wild Pokémon (this also applies on raids)
6. Pokémon Escapes (Fleeing because you've reached the time limit)
7. Gotcha device is used to spin at Pokestop or capture Pokemons
8. Feeding a gym defender under the screen radar
9. Getting into Gym battles (win or defeat)

The following actions will not trigger cooldown

1. Teleporting
2. Auto walk from one location to another location
3. Hatching Poke-eggs
4. Face-to-face a wild Pokémon
5. Gym defender’s remote berry feedback from a good distance
6. Going on speed raids (wait for the cooldown at least two hours)
7. Opening and Exchanging gift items
8. Weekly reward and quest claims from the menu
9. Capturing a reward Pokémon (in-game quests)
10. Trading a Pokémon
11. Transferring a Pokémon
12. Evolving a Pokémon
13. Powering up a Pokémon
14. Getting Buddy candies
15. Using items on a Pokemon (Incense, Lucky Egg, Starpiece, Healing Items)
16. Taking snapshots of a Pokémon
17. Exchanging a Buddy
18. Player vs. player (PVP) battles
19. Leader vs player battles
20. Using candies and stardust on Pokemon for an extra move
21. Deleting an item from the storage
22. Changing the player's items and clothes
23. In a Pokéstop and using a Special Lure or Lure Module
24. Purchasing coins and shop items
25. Finding and capturing special Pokémon from Photobombs such as Party Hat Pikachu and Smeargle
26. Transferring a Pokémon to Switch for activating Mystery Box
27. Obtaining a free raid pass (Tapping on the gym during an active raid)

The Duration Of a Pokemo GO Soft Ban

Suppose Niantic catches you hacking your way around the game and issues you a soft ban. You will not access the features or capture any Pokemon until the soft ban is lifted. A soft ban can take up to 12 hours.

How to Avoid Soft Ban in Pokemon GO

Tip 1. Follow a Cooldown

Performing an action marks the location in the game and you're put under the cooldown. The distance between the location and the action performed determines when you need to wait for the cooldown.

So the cooldown time will not start until you haven't performed an action in the game. You will need to wait for the cooldown time to finish before performing another action or teleport to a new location.

You can follow the cooldown chart below and be safe from getting a soft ban. If you cannot figure out the exact time, then choose the nearest time mentioned in the chart. This will help you to take extra precautions.

Tip 2. Spoof Safely for iPhone

Follow these steps to teleport and avoid soft ban:

1. Enter in the coordinations and teleport your character.
2. Log in to Pokemon GO
3. You can now raid and snipe in the game. However, it would be best if you stayed in the area by using local live maps. Refer to the cooldown chart when you want to snipe. We usually use live real-time maps to teleport Chicago, London, Sydney, Singapore, and Las Vegas.
4. Log out from Pokemon Go
5. Wait for a while before going back into the game. Refer to the wait time from the cooldown chart (distance traveled). We recommend waiting for 2 hours which is the maximum wait time.
6. Enter in the coordinations and teleport again.
7. Log in to Pokemon Go
8. Repeat the steps from 3 - 5

Teleport safely without getting banned with MockGo

You can use the MockGo iOS location spoofer's teleport feature to help you avoid a soft ban.

1. Select a location on the map of MockGo and search the address or coordinates using the search bar.

2. When the location is showed on the map, click on Move Here button from the pop-up window.

3. Your GPS of your device will be teleported immediately. The program will also calculate the cooldown time automatically you need to wait before next move.

If you follow the instructions without deviating, then the likelihood of getting a soft ban is very low. Otherwise, you will get soft banned and have to wait for 2 hours before logging back in. Constantly getting a soft ban can result in a permanent ban.

Tip 3. Spoof Safety for Android

To start spoofing in Pokemon Go, you will need first to set up a spoofing method. Setting up a method for spoofing allows you many advantages. There are multiple methods which have their pros and cons.

The two methods that we are going to talk about are widely used for spoofing on Android devices. One of the methods is easy to execute, while the other method is hard.

Easy Method - You do not need to root your device. We are going to use a PGSharp modified app.

Pros:

1. It is easy to install and supports most Android devices running the OS Android 11.0
2. The Pokemon GO modified app comes with a built-in joystick and many features. One of the features gives you the ability to throw an all-time 100% excellent curveball.
3. The app has a free version with limited features. The paid version gives you access to all of the features.

Cons:

1. Getting a strike from Niantic has a higher chance
2. It is annoying to buy and spend Poke Coins.
3. There is no update (currently of writing) from the PGSharp developer for improvements.

To use the app, first, you would need to uninstall the Pokemon Go app and then install the PGSharp app.

Hard Method - You would've to root your Android device. Use Smali Patcher to spoof location in Pokemon GO. You can use this method on the Pokemon Go app and would not need a modified version of the game.

Pros:

1. The chances of getting a strike from the game devs are low.

Cons:

1. Cannot have access to special features available on PGSharp.
2. Requires the player to unlock the bootloader and root the device.
3. You can always buy a pre-rooted Smail patcher device and save the hassle
4. Rooting a device can be complicated. So if you have decided to root the device, then you need to understand the following:

• It can void your official warranty
• Instructions to root a device can be unclear
• There are many hit-and-trial
• It can damage the firmware of your device
• It can result in the loss of data or a privacy breach

Other Tips for Avoiding a Soft Ban

1. Travel around a location with normal walking speed. If you want to increase the speed, we recommend it be closer to a biking speed.
2. Wait for the time it takes you to fly to another country (if you're teleporting to that country). Don't jump between countries in seconds.
3. Teleport back to your original location during sniping.

Already In a Soft Ban? How to Remove the Pokemon GO Soft Ban?

To remove a soft ban, you would need to figure out why you got a soft ban.

Open Nox or any other app in GPS spoofing and change your location from the current teleported place to the original place. Open the Pokemon Go app to check if you've returned to your original location.

To remove a soft ban, you can go to a Pokestop (walk and do not sprint) , spin it, and close it. Do this step 40 times or until you're able to get a reward from Pokestop.

Conclusion

When spoofing in Pokemon Go, take care of the cooldown time so that you're not issued a soft ban. Always look at the updated cooldown chart before performing an action or teleporting.