How to stop Pokemon Go seeing everything in your Google account

Pokémon Go has become something of a phenomenon since its release, though it’s not available everywhere just yet. However, some players have found that it gets too much access to your Google account.

Adam Reeve discovered that by signing into Pokémon Go with your Google account, you give it full access to your Google account. Google’s help page says that this means “the application can see and modify nearly all information in your Google Account.” It also warns, “This “Full account access” privilege should only be granted to applications you fully trust, and which are installed on your personal computer, phone, or tablet.”

Breaking this down, Reeve notes that this means that Pokémon Go and Niantic can read your e-mail and send mail as you, access and modify your Google Drive documents, and access private photos that you may store in Google Photos, among other things. It’s unlikely that the developer will, but it’s something to be aware of.

This issue only appears to be affecting iOS users and it’s something that Niantic is working to address.

In the meantime, you can revoke Pokémon Go’s access to your account.

• Visit https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions?pli=1
• Sign in to the same Google account you used for Pokemon Go
• Click on "Pokemon Go Release" on the list
• Click Remove, and hit OK

Provided you’re still signed into the app on iOS, you should be able to use it as normal. However, when it randomly logs you out, you’ll have to log in and revoke access all over again.