Niantic has made a policy change to Pokemon Go’s AR Scanning Tasks, and players are exploiting the change to avoid Research Tasks they deem “annoying.”
In later 2020, Pokemon Go introduced AR Scanning Tasks, a new way to earn rare items from Field Research. After spinning a Pokestop, players can be tasked with using the camera on their mobile device to scan a real-world location.
While this was a neat idea, players quickly loathed these tasks. They took the place of other Field Research tasks that offered wild encounters and were often times more complicated to complete than the other tasks.
As such, many players would delete the AR Scanning Research Tasks to make room for others, but now it seems as if Niantic has provided the perfect exploit to avoid scanning tasks.
Trainers, we have made a change to AR Scanning Tasks so that they will no longer be available for some Trainers that have a history of submitting low quality AR scans. To learn more on how to take a high quality AR scan, check out the link below:https://t.co/dhs4hTOxiP
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) February 11, 2023
Pokemon Go players exploit new AR Scanning policy
According to a Twitter post from Niantic Support, the AR Scanning Tasks will no longer be available for some trainers with a history of submitting low-quality scans. But a dive into the comments section reveals players are actually quite happy with this change.
“Does that mean we don’t get the AR scanning quests anymore then? If so I’m about to low quality up in here, up in there,” user MikeNerdLaw commented on Twitter.
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The news quickly spread to Reddit forums r/pokemongo and r/TheSilphRoad where players shared the same sentiment.
“Time to submit a ton of low quality scans to stop getting these things, finally,” one user stated. Another shared, “With this news, my incentive to submit low quality AR scans has only increased.”
At the time of writing, hundreds of comments on Twitter and Reddit are from players who plan to take advantage of this new policy change to rid themselves of AR Scanning Tasks.
To say this change has backfired on Niantic might be an understatement, as it seems the initial tweet was meant to be a warning. But players are seemingly taking it as Niantic offering a way to escape the dreaded AR Scanning Tasks.