If you're a fan of the Pokémon universe then I'm pretty sure you would have heard of Pokémon Go. Who am I kidding, you probably have your own gym, hundreds of Pokémon, and consider yourself to be the next Ash Ketchum at this point.

The mobile phone game for Android and iOS allows you to become a trainer in your own neighborhood; scouting out virtual Pokémon wherever you go. It has become a worldwide phenomenon with new updates happening all the time, which add new items, events, and more and more Pokémon from all generations.

The game was published by Niantic, Inc. who collaborated with Nintendo by way of the Pokémon company. It was first released in July 2016 and is still going strong today!

As with the majority of video games, however, there are always cheats, hacks, and sneaky ways to either get the upper hand on other players or to simply make gaming easier and quicker, and Pokémon Go is no exception.

Although cheating is obviously not recommended or advised, we have compiled a list of some cheats for you to have a “look” at. This list will go through ten cheats that currently work in the game, as well as ten that have been banned!

20 Pro Tip: Get Out Of Driving Lockouts

The fact that Pokémon Go has a prevention method that bans people trying to use the app while driving is one of the best features about this game. However, one massive limitation of this is that it stops people playing the app while on public transport, which can be frustrating, especially if you're in a long line of traffic on a bus.

Don't Pokémon and drive! But if you are on public transport and wish to use the app, there is a way around it.

1. Go to the egg screen on your game and press the home button.

2. Don’t open any other apps, but also don’t let the screen go off.

3. Travel for about 10 minutes and open Pokémon Go again. You should see some distance gains.

19 Banned Cheats: Using Apps That Alter Your In-Game GPS

This is a very similar cheating method to spoofing, which I have mentioned above. By altering your GPS in the game, this allows you to have access to a whole new world of Pokémon that you would not be able to access normally.

Being able to access Western (Or Eastern) exclusives early is super cool and will make you one of the coolest trainers in your friend group, but…it is considered to be cheating and will get you banned!

If you want to go globetrotting, maybe hold back this time and continue exploring your own neighborhood for the time being.

18 Pro Tip: Bulk Evolving

The slow and repetitive method for leveling up your Pokémon in this game can be long. The most common method for leveling up fast is to catch a bunch of Pidgey, Weedle, or Caterpie, drop a magic egg, and evolve as many as you can before the egg timer runs out.

This allows you to have 30 minutes to max out your Pokémon’s XP. Some people have a cheat for it though: if you force quit the game and then relaunch it (which finishes the evolutions for you), you get extra time to quickly do some extra evolutions.

This could be seen to be a little bit of extra work, considering you only get to evolve a few more of your Pokémon, but it's worth keeping in mind.

17 Banned Cheats: Raid And Spawn Location Maps

The whole concept surrounding Pokémon Go is discovery. Players are adventuring around areas they live or travel to in order to "catch 'em all!" The odds of finding rare Pokémon by simply wandering around are extremely low, so it is understandable that players get frustrated by this.

Spawns and raids are the best methods to ensure that you are able to catch the elusive rare. Certain players implemented the use of third-party software or cheats in order to see where the raids and spawns were going to occur even before they happened.

However, this method no longer works due to the Pokémon Go API (Application Programming Interface) being changed. This means that maps have gone offline and this method of cheating can no longer be used.

16 Pro Tip: Only Evolving The Best Pokémon

As with any Pokémon game evolving, the “best” Pokémon are key to getting the best team. This is also the case with Pokémon Go, with the best Pokémon being defined by their IV stats.

The Pokémon Go game includes an in-game appraisal system, which differs depending on your team. This feedback tells you that your Pokémon has stats in the range of 80%-100%; however, that is a large range.

If you make note of how many stats are named (Attack, Defense, and Stamina), you can narrow this range down.

This won't land you at the exact number, but it will give you a smaller percentage. You can also use third-party apps to calculate it exactly, but this puts your account at risk of getting banned, so I wouldn't recommend it.

15 Banned Cheats: Using More Than One Account

Rather than using bots or the spoofing method to cheat others, you can do it by using multiple accounts. One of the biggest benefits of this method pertains to gyms. You defeat a gym, take charge, then fill it up with all your other accounts.

This is obviously unfair to other players in the game, so this method of cheating has since been banned. Here is what it says on the official Pokémon Go trainer guidelines under the cheating section: “Playing with multiple accounts (one account per player, please).” Players found to be using more than one account will be shadowbanned or soft banned for weeks at a time.

14 Pro Tip: Get The Raid Pass Early

This cheat works if you live behind the international date line. It also works if you've already used your daily Raid passes.

Once you have used your Raid pass for the day, simply change your time zone to one that is ahead, for example, New Zealand. After doing this, spin a Gym and get more free raid passes than you would have gotten the next day.

Make sure to choose a location that is already a day ahead and that by doing this, you can use tomorrow's free Raid pass today.

13 Banned Cheats: Selling/Buying Accounts And/Or Pokémon

Believe it or not, people really do sell Pokémon on some sort of Pokémon Go black market. Well…kind of. The dealings aren’t questionable or involve any private handshakes, but they are taking place. Hacked Pokémon, legendaries, regional exclusives, and all sorts have been sold between players, as well as actual Pokémon Go accounts.

Although this isn’t a cheat that involves an app or hacking, it is still cheating and has been banned by Pokémon Go. Again, it can be seen in the Pokémon Go Trainer guidelines and will result in your account getting a ban if you're caught! Maybe spend your pocket money on something else for the moment.

12 Pro Tip: Get Your Celebi Earlier

Certain Research Tasks for the Celebi “A Ripple In Time” quest could be seen to be laborious, and delaying tactics can prevent you from getting the legendary sooner. Tasks such as spinning Pokéstops for seven days and catching Pokémon for three days straight are a bit repetitive.

Some players have resorted to changing the time zone on their phones to jump ahead a few days to finish the tasks. Although changing your time zone is a good way to cheat the game, it is not always recommended due to many built-in functions of your phone relying on the time zone.

However, if you use this method correctly, you can jump forward in time to claim your Celebi a little sooner than expected.

11 Banned Cheats: Bot Accounts

Botting is a method used by some Pokémon Go players in order to cheat the game and use it to their advantage. This army of fake character accounts allows them to travel the Pokémon Go universe and collect high-level Pokémon.

This method is funded by ads, people who buy these accounts, and online map services. Obviously, as with most hacks, this gives the player an unfair advantage over other players; hence, why if you use this method, you will most likely receive a ban.

This ban could be anything from shadow bans (which prevents you from seeing anything except common Pokémon) to weekly, monthly, or even permanent bans.

10 Pro Tip: Skip The Raid Animation Scene

Everyone likes to save time when playing video games and this is no different when it comes to Pokémon Go. Traveling from one lobby to the next Boss battle in Pokémon Go raids does take some time, this is especially true if you have a slow network.

Don’t worry though, because this tip will let you skip the lobby and turn up right at the raid!

All you need to do is create an empty team, join a raid, pick the empty team, wait for the raid to start, and then BAM!, pick your real team.

You’ll get knocked back to the rejoin screen, and when you do, you are rebounded into the raid right away. Simple enough, and it will save you time for solo and specialty raids.

9 Banned Cheat: Using Modified Or Unofficial Software

As with most video game companies, they are never a fan of users implementing third-party software into the game to enhance, modify, or give them extra opportunities over other players. Pokémon Go is no exception to this rule, which is understandable.

There are many different software downloads available for Pokémon Go players, such as IV checkers and Spawn location maps, but using these will lead to a ban.

Again, this has been mentioned in the Pokémon Go Trainer Guidelines and is officially considered to be cheating; therefore, breaking the rules. Go catch 'em all the old way, no cheats!

8 Pro Tip: Catch Pokémon And Spin Stops Automatically

No matter how much of a dedicated Pokémon master you are, you can’t play the game all the time. BUT, if you want your walking, cycling, and other movements to count towards in-game activity, then here's the answer: buy a Pokémon Go Plus.

This device uses Bluetooth to record your traveling distance and lets it count towards egg hatching and other in-game activities. In order to catch Pokémon with the device, you press a button when it vibrates; however, by taping this button down, it will auto-catch the Pokémon for you!

Another device called Go-Tcha spins Pokéstops automatically and allows eggs to hatch without your phone even having to be on. You can “play” all day long without actually playing at all.

7 Banned Cheats: Spoofing

Arguably one of the most common methods of cheating in Pokémon Go is to use the spoofing method. This involves faking your GPS location so that it can jump around anywhere to ensure that a certain desired Pokémon can be caught. These Pokémon are usually high leveled.

The team at Pokémon Go has recently been cracking down on this cheat, which involved them soft banning or shadow banning accounts that are detected to be using this cheat.

Other methods of banning include allowing players to catch Pokémon and then slashing them out, rendering them useless anyway.

There are tutorials online showing players how to bypass this and still successfully spoof; however, this is not recommended due to the risk of having your account blocked.

6 Pro Tip: Skip The Catch Animation

As lovely as the catch animation within Pokémon Go is, sometimes you’re in a rush and don't have time to watch it. Here's a quick cheat that lets you skip it:

1. Click the Pokémon to open the encounter screen, select the ball you want, then press on the ball icon and drag it to the left of the screen.

2. While keeping your finger in place, throw it towards the Pokémon as normal.

3. Once inside the ball, remove your finger, which will open the ball menu.

4. Close the menu and click the runaway icon.

5. Click on the Pokémon that you just encountered (if you get an error it means you successfully caught it), if you see the encounter screen, you will have to try again.

5 Banned Cheats: IV Checkers

Bots aren’t the only thing that are being banned in Pokémon Go. IV checking Pokémon using third-party software will also result in your account facing some sort of ban.

This is a controversial one with online forums stating that these apps are extremely useful when it comes to knowing your Pokémon’s IV; however, it does offer an unfair advantage. Apps that are known to trigger a shadow ban on your account include: IVFly, IV Go, AIIG IV, and Blossoms Pokémon Go Manager.

You can cheat the ban though! One way to avoid or reverse the ban that is put on your account from using this IV software is to change your Google password and revoke account access to these apps. You didn’t hear that from me!

4 Pro Tip: Speeding Up Egg Hatching Time

As I’ve mentioned a few times now, the animation sequences in Pokémon Go are beautiful and lovely to look at; however, sometimes you’re in a rush and simply don't have the time. Another example of this would be the egg hatching animation scene. There is a way to skip this, however: all you need to do is pinch the screen together instead of tapping it before the egg hatching animation starts. Note: Some users have been reporting this trick no longer works on their device, but we're still waiting to find out more.

This handy cheat will save you some in-game time to catch more Pokémon and explore! There isn’t currently a cheat to skip the evolution animation, but you never know if there might be one around the corner soon.

3 Pro Tip: Incense Cheat

It becomes infuriating after a while when you use an incense and all it seems to do is spawn more Pidgey and Rattata. You start seeing more common Pokémon than you know what to do with!

This is due to the fact that cities and rural areas are considered to be the biggest “Biome’s/ Habitats” in the game for these types of Pokémon.

This cheat will allow you to spawn any type of Pokémon in the game instead of the usual commons. You need to make sure you are a minimum of 1km away from any Biome/Habitat due to the item spawning Pokémon based on your biome location. Areas that have no Biome are ones far from cities.

2 Banned Cheats: Know Which Gyms Belong To Which Teams

Wouldn't it be great if you knew all about the gym before you challenged it? Such as which team any gym belongs to at any moment? Well, there was a cheat for the that with the use of bots.

It could even tell you what level the gym was, what Pokémon you would be facing, and the recent history and previous battles of the gym! Sweet huh?

Obviously, the nature of a cheat is to give you a particular advantage over others, this one did just that, which has resulted in its banned status. Just like the spawn and raid cheat, the API change makes this cheating method useless. Guess you'll just have to be brave and venture into those gyms blind.

1 Banned Cheats: Deactivating Hacked Pokémon On Your Account

Certain players found methods of hacking particular Pokémon into Pokémon Go that either haven’t been released yet, were legendary, or just extremely overpowered. Although this may be cool for the player that owns this hacked Pokémon, it does give them an unfair advantage over players who go about the game the way it is intended to be played.

Niantic, Inc. (the company who developed Pokémon Go with Nintendo) is removing these hacked Pokémon from players' accounts by rendering them useless.

The Pokémon are marked with a pink line over them, which disables their ability to battle, earn candy, level up, or be used in any other aspect of the game.