How to change location in Pokémon Go and “catch’em all” for iOS using Xcode

Pokémon Go downloads without a doubt are record shattering. Officially, it has only been launched in a handful of countries, but fans in other nations have managed to download it on their devices using US Apple account or from the third party Android APK websites. What comes to as surprise is that Pokémon Go popularity made a tremendous impact on the cost and server availability, due to which it now looks like the company has decided to debar the players in countries Niantic has yet not made an official release. If you are one of those die-hard Pokémon Go fans who cannot play the game as the company has removed all of the Pokéstops, Gyms and Pokémon spawning, then my friend you have come to the right place.

Let’s jump right into this tutorial where you will learn how to bypass this barrier stopping you from playing the game.

This tutorial is specifically for the iOS users, and those who have a Mac with them. To be even more specific, this tutorial will take you through steps where you will be creating your first demo iOS application – if in case you aren’t a developer already.

So, without wasting any time let’s get right into it.

Step 1: First of all download the Xcode on your Mac from App Store. The download is going to take a while depending on your internet speed. Once done, launch the Xcode from Launchpad and follow on screen instructions.

Step 2: Re-install the Pokémon Go app and set the device time zone to that of New York by going into Settings > General > Date & Time > Time Zone > Enter New York and select it. Also, in this entire process do not open the app. Not even a single time.

Step 3: Moving on to the next level, download this pre-built project from Github and open PokeGo.Xcodeproj file to get started. Connect your iPod, iPad, or iPhone to your Mac and check if you can see your device’s name in ToolBar on the top left-side. If not, tap on iPhone 6s Plus or Generic iOS Device and scroll to the top and select your device.

Step 4: Next, you can hit the Play button next to where you chose the device previously. Congratulations, you now have a simple demo app running on your phone.

Step 5: Next, you will have to go to the Debug options from the top menu and select Simulate Location, choose the last option Add a GPX File to Workspace. You will see a Finder window opening up for you to pick the file. Open the project directory and you will find one Default.gpx file, load that up and follow on screen instructions.

Step 6: Go again in the same menu and select the recently added file instead of pre-defined locations.

Step 7: You are all set, now fire-up your Pokémon Go app, log in with your credentials and voila, you will be in between two Pokéstops with a high chance of having them a Lure module put on. Stay there for a while, collect Pokéballs, catch some Pokémons and have fun. In the meantime, do not disconnect the device from your computer, neither press the STOP next to the PLAY button we used to run the application on your device.

Step 8: Once done, completely halt the application by swiping it up from the app drawer, and then press the STOP icon in the Xcode.

Now some of you might be willing to go to some other location other than which I already added in the GPX file. To do that, open the file from Project Navigator from left panel in Xcode editor and edit Latitude and Longitude on this line:

You can choose new Lat Long from a set of websites converting Google Map locations into Lattitude and Longitudes. One of them is this site, providing you with coordinates of the chosen points. With a rough idea of the area, get the lat/long, put those into the parameters, hit save, go in the simulated location option and click on the default again. This will put you in the position you want, however, beware that if you move out of your time zone or move too quickly, you might not get anything that’s visible on the map. Try to imitate more of a human-like behavior before simulating the location on your device.

Bonus: What’s the GPX File?

A GPX or GPS Exchange Format is an XML data format for exchanging the GPS Data in between applications, services, etc. For example, what we just did in the above example is a perfect illustration of how the GPS data from a file can be used by an application, in the same way, web servers use it to share the coordinates from system to another.

We have come to an end of the discussion of how we can use the GPX files to manipulate the game, catch Pokémons, go to gyms and Pokéstops without having to move out of the house. Not only it helps you enjoy the game by sitting in the comfort of your home, but also takes away the real-world dangers coming bundled with the application.

One important note, however, this study is only for research purposes, please don’t use it to cheat and affect the gameplay of other players on the platform.

For any queries and issues, let me know in the comments.