It's February 27, which means it's Pokemon Day. Spring is just around the corner, and the weather is warming up in many areas in the Northern Hemisphere. Say you'd like to enjoy this Pokemon celebration and take Niantic's popular mobile game for a walk with your brand-new Galaxy S24. You fire up Pokemon Go on your new flagship, and unfortunately, you can't play the game, as it keeps crashing.
You're not alone, and it turns out there's an explanation for this issue and a potential fix, too. It's not the Galaxy S24 per se that is at fault, but a combination of factors concerning the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and the Unity engine Pokemon Go is based on.
You probably need not be reminded of this, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 worldwide. The Galaxy S24 and S24+ rock the same Qualcomm chip in select markets and the Exynos 2400 SoC in most regions globally. For the record, the Exynos 2400 chip and Pokemon Go seem to be getting along just fine.
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According to Niantic (via @MishaalRahman), Pokemon Go has reportedly been crashing for many users due to “our underlying game engine Unity's support for these devices,” referring to mobile devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. In other words, this issue affects any device powered by this chip, such as the OnePlus 12.
A recent update may have fixed the issue
The bad news is that this Unity engine support issue that concerns the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can affect other mobile games, too. Not just Pokemon Go. The good news is that the crashing bug isn't permanent, and game developers are working on addressing the problem.
In fact, according to many users, Pokemon Go version 0.301.0, first released only a few days ago, appears to have fixed the crash bug for many Galaxy S24 users.
The alleged bug fix is not officially confirmed, so your mileage might vary. The changelog for Pokemon Go 0.301.0 on the Galaxy Store says it brings quality-of-life updates, minor bug fixes, and performance improvements.
Still, if you want to enjoy Pokemon Go on the Galaxy S24 for Pokemon Day, your best bet is to install the latest app update and try it out. Good luck, trainers!
