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‘Pokémon Go’ Will Drop Support for Older 32-Bit Android Phones

Pokemon Go image

If you or your kid has gotta catch ’em all, you might need to get a new Android phone to do so. Beginning with an update in August, the ultra-popular Pokémon Go mobile AR game will drop support for Android-based phones using the 32-bit version of the operating system. That’s going to be a headache for those on older devices.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is quick to point out that this probably won’t affect you if you’re using a phone you bought in 2015 or later. HTC released the first 64-bit Android phones in 2014, and due to the ubiquity of Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek processors, the mobile industry made the transition much more quickly than computers had a decade before. Google itself dropped support for 32-bit-only Android apps last year, so you probably can’t find any new devices on the shelf that would be affected by this.

Still, that’s going to be a blow for a portion of players, especially those ultra-dedicated Pokemon trainers who use multiple accounts and devices to cheat the game. Hang on a second, I need to play a tiny violin for the latter.

Source: Niantic via 9to5Google

Michael Crider Michael Crider
Michael Crider has been writing about computers, phones, video games, and general nerdy things on the internet for ten years. He’s never happier than when he’s tinkering with his home-built desktop or soldering a new keyboard. Read Full Bio »