As a developer I don’t want people sending my app spoofed data.
Think of it like this: if I'm actively using an app that's giving me turn-by-turn directions, then of course I'm not going to want to spoof GPS, since it would make the app useless to me. But if your app demands GPS data just for ad analytics, then yes, I would absolutely and without any remorse spoof GPS data for that app. In that latter case, I don't care that a developer might be unhappy with it, because as a user I'm unhappy that the developer is slurping up data they don't need!
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/sensors/gnss on android now apps can access the raw gps data, which is much harder to fake
That's the issue with augmented reality games like Pokemon Go.
If the app wants to force a user to not modify their phone just so they have a secure enclave for which they can implement DRM, then i can't agree to it. This includes things like spoofing, but also things like memory edits or hacking save files, or anything else client side. If the app needs secure storage that's unchangeable, they can save it on their servers.
Considering that most of the world has some form of travel restrictions over the past year, and I believe that being able to interact with friends in the game requires you be be in very close proximity. Can you explain how spoofing GPS data so that people are allowed to play together even though they are not close is bad?
You could attack a pokemon gym at your convenience (from your couch, whatever time of the day). This negatively impacts other players because a legit, non-cheating spoofer will have to expend far more effort to do the same thing.
>Can you explain how spoofing GPS data so that people are allowed to play together even though they are not close is bad?
Friend interaction or just interaction in the game has to do with raiding and trading. You can already league battle (pvp) over any distance.
Niantic has made some changes along these lines - main one is the remote raid pass. One person close enough to a gym can invite friends to raid, no spoofing needed. They also upped the trade distance, how close you need to be to interact with a gym/pokestop, etc.
So the answer to your question is the game itself has made changes to address actual in-game scenarios. That leaves spoofing GPS as a way to asymmetrically cheat against gyms, or perhaps trivialize collecting pokemon (some are region locked and so on).
If you can just spoof, the whole nature of augmented reality falls apart and someone could simply spoof themselves anywhere and take those positions. It was a big problem before the android os made it harder to spoof.
There's no point/ fun in playing augmented reality games if enough people simply cheat and the real world limitations aren't a factor.
not to say how it you are anywhere not in a medium size city you need either spoofers or endless grind to unlock significant parts of the game
[1] to be fair I left before the pandemic, so I cannot comment on how they handled that
It really stopped being a large scale issue after Android started making it harder to spoof.
If your app needs to get info that benefits the user (as the mapping app GPS example), nobody will deny it because it makes sense.
If your app wants to get info that benefits you but not the user, it only makes sense for that data to be denied (preferably) or faked (as a backup plan). You have no right to it.
That's the whole issue - it's not the case anymorez now it's the ads that pay