Working Guide to Spoof in Pokemon GO Android [No Root]

Are you looking for a working method to spoof in Pokemon GO without rooting your Android device? You have come to the right place as here we have an easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial to help you spoof your location in the game using a joystick app without getting banned.

From the very beginning of the release of Pokemon GO on Android, we at BestForAndroid have been covering various methods and tricks to help you cheat in Pokemon GO by spoofing your location and catch Pokemon from virtually all around the world while in reality, you are sitting comfortably on the couch.

Now, on the countless request from our readers, we are back with another working strategy to spoof in Pokemon GO using an original and unrooted Android device. It is completely safe, and easy to follow, and all you need to have is an Android smartphone or tablet device running Android Marshmallow, Nougat, or Oreo regardless of the Android security patch level.

IMPORTANT: It is important to note here that this unrooted spoofing trick is only possible to achieve on Android devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Android 7.0 Nougat, and Android 8.0 Oreo. If your device has received an update that took it to the most latest Android version, i.e., either Android 8.1 or Android 9 then most probably you won’t be able to spoof using this method. However, you can still try this trick though. Who knows, it might work! 😉

For those of you who are attempting this spoofing trick on your Android devices, you might be interested in knowing how this is actually going to work. So the strategy we are using here is to downgrade the Google Play Services on your Android device to the specific version that allows you to use the mock location app through Developer options without letting Pokemon GO find out that you are using an app to spoof your location.

Yes, this truly works and will continue to work as long as you don’t update the Google Play Services and your current Android OS to the latest version. You can see this unrooted spoofing trick in action in the screenshots attached above.

Step 1 – Download the old version of Google Play Services for your Android device

First, you need to download an old version of Google Play Services for the specific model of your Android device. Here, to be able to spoof without root, the recommended version is 12.6.85 or older. The link for that is available below.

Download Google Play Services version 12.6.85

Now, when you open the provided link, you will see a list of variants and each variant has a set of variable numbers inside the brackets. You need to look at the first six digits inside the parentheses. You need to find a variant whose number matches the current version of Google Play Services already installed on your device.

Here’s an example:

Currently, my Android phone has the Google Play Services version (040306) installed. So I will look for the same when downloading an older version of Google Play Services using the provided link. As highlighted in the screenshot.

Step 2 – Download and install the location spoofing app of your choice

There’s a limited number of location spoofing apps that are currently able to let you spoof your location in Pokemon GO without requiring you to have root access. This means, the apps featured in these steps are the only ones using which you can spoof in the game without having root access.

FGL Pro by LTP PRO LLC:

GPS JoyStick by The App Ninjas:

Fake GPS GO Location Spoofer by IncorporateApps:

Fake GPS Joystick & Routes Go by IncorporateApps:

You are free to download and install any of them or all of them and then try to spoof using each app one by one and find the app that suits your needs and let you spoof without showing you the location not found error message. Though, at the moment, you just need to download and install the app. And move onto the next step.

Step 3 – Disable Find My Device on your Android device

Here in this step, you will have to disable the Find My Device feature on your Android smartphone or tablet device because if this feature is enabled, then you won’t be able to downgrade or modify the Google Play Services. In case you don’t know, here is how to do that:

1. Go to Settings and scroll down until you find Security option. Tap on it.
   
2. Tap on Device administrators.
   
3. You will see Find My Device option, which most probably will be enabled. Tap on it to disable it.
   
4. A new page will open, and you need to tap the option “Deactivate this device administrator.”
   

Once you have successfully disabled the device administration, here is how it will look like.

You may now proceed to the next step…

Step 4 – Uninstall Google Play Services updates

This step will guide you with the uninstallation of the Google Play Services updates and revert it to its default factory version. Here is how you can do this:

1. Go to Settings and then find the Apps option. Tap on it.
   
2. Once you are under the Apps section, tap on the menu button located at the top-right corner.
   
3. Tap on the Show system option to see all the system apps.
   
4. Now scroll down and look for Google Play Services. Remember, the apps are in alphabetical order. Once found, tap on it.
   
5. Tap on the menu button located at the top-right corner.
   
6. Tap on Uninstall updates.
   
7. A popup will appear asking you if you want to replace this app with the factory version? All data will be removed. Tap on OK button to proceed with the uninstallation.
   
8. Uninstallation process will now begin.
   

Once Google Play Services has been successfully uninstalled and reverted to its factory version, you can then move onto the next step.

Step 5 – Install an old version of Google Play Services

Do you remember that you downloaded an old version of Google Play Services back in step 1 during the beginning of this tutorial? We will now guide you with the installation of that apk file.

1. Open any file explorer of your choice to browse to the Downloads folder where the apk file is located. You can use the built-in file explorer too. Here I am using ES File Explorer.
2. Go to the Downloads folder.
   
3. Tap on the downloaded Google Play Services apk file. The package name will be com.google.android.gms.
   
4. A popup might appear, tap on the Install button to begin the installation process.
   
5. The installation window will appear, tap on Install button.
   
6. Your selected Google Play Services will now begin installing.
   
7. Once installed, you will see the following page. Tap on the Done button.
   

You can now head over to the next step.

Step 6 – Disable Background Data Usage of Google Play Services

In this step, we will disable the Background Data usage of Google Play Services so that it won’t have access to the Internet connectivity and cannot automatically update itself to the latest version on its own. The steps are pretty much identical to the ones you followed in Step 4 above.

1. Once you are in the Apps section, look for Google Play Services in the list and tap on it.
2. Tap on the Data usage option.
3. Tap on Background data to disable it.

Once disabled, it should look similar to the screenshot shown below.

Step 7 – Disable Google Play Store

This step is necessary because Google Play Store is designed to automatically update Google Play Services as well as other system apps without your consent due to security reasons. And there is no way to disable the auto updates other than completely disabling the Google Play Store. It’s easy, and here’s how you can do that:

1. Go to Settings and then find the Apps option. Tap on it.
2. Once you are under the Apps section, tap on the menu button located at the top-right corner.
3. Tap on the Show system option to see all the system apps.
4. Now scroll down and look for Google Play Store. Remember, the apps are in alphabetical order. Once found, tap on it.
   
5. Tap on the Disable button.
   
6. A popup menu will appear asking you, if you disable this app, other apps may no longer function as intended. Simply tap on the Disable App button.
   
7. Another popup will appear that asks, replace this app with the factory version? All data will be removed. Tap on OK to proceed.
   

Once Google Play Store has been disabled, you will see the toast message as shown in the screenshot below.

Step 8 – Run GPS spoofing app and start location spoofing in Pokemon GO

This is the best step, as here we will use the location spoofing apps that you downloaded in Step 2 above. Since you are not rooted and using the Android in its original state, so we will make use of the mock location feature of Android in Developer Options to spoof our location in Pokemon GO.

But before attempting to experiment location spoofing in the Pokemon GO game, we will recommend you first to try to spoof your location in Google Maps to check and see how the joystick actually works in changing your location and how reliable and accurate it really is.

For the sake of an example that how well this method really works, we will use an app GPS JoyStick by The App Ninjas. So here are the simple steps that you need to follow to begin location spoofing in Pokemon GO:

1. Launch GPS JoyStick app and tap on the menu button located at the top-left corner.
   
2. Tap on Settings.
   
3. Tap on Developer Options.
   
4. Scroll down and look for Select mock location app. Once found, tap on it.
   
5. A Select application popup will appear, tap on GPS JoyStick.
   
6. Go back to the GPS JoyStick settings page and tap on Enable Indirect Mocking.
   
7. Now get back to the GPS JoyStick home screen and under the section Select an option to get started, tap on Set Location option, and then tap on Click here to open the map.
   
8. You can now either use the search bar to search for the location where you want to spoof or manually zoom and scroll to your favorite location. Once you are there, tap on Select this location.
   
9. A popup asking you, Use this location will appear. Tap on Select option.
   
10. Now, you need to enable GPS on your Android device and select High accuracy mode.
    
11. Go back to the GPS JoyStick and tap on the Start button to begin spoofing to your selected location.
    
12. Starting JoyStick loading popup will appear.
    
13. Now, to test if the location spoofing is really working, launch Google Maps.
    
14. Google Maps will show that you are in the selected location.
    
15. You can use the on-screen joystick to move your location in any direction you want, and the blue dot in the Google Maps should move too.
    

Once you are completely satisfied with the joystick and learned how to use it, you may then proceed to the Pokemon GO game, start spoofing in the game to any location of your choice and begin catching all those rare Pokemon without any limitations.

In case you have any questions or come across any issue while going through the tutorial to spoof your location in Pokemon GO without root then feel free to leave your queries in the comments section below and we will get back to you with a possible solution shortly. Happy spoofing! 🙂