does pokemon go absolutely require mobile data
I recently downloaded and installed pokemon go on my galaxy s3 which for some reason is not available on the app market for this device...
on installing it succeeded with no problems on an unrooted unmodded device and it opened and ran through the screens of setup and logged in to the created club account. but once that process completed I am now stuck at a blue screen with a pink banner up top saying it cannot find gps signal.I returned to the home screen and the location icon did say it was still trying to find my location but when I pulled up my google maps app it was able to pin point me just fine....but the locating message was still present....this device is not presently active with any carrier but I use it on wifi which I was still connected to at the time...
is the app required to be connected to an active mobile carrier network and gps to work or is this more likely to be one of the many things that was botched by the samsung corp by using custom instructions "for security purposes" like how many apps will not be allowed to access external storage because of the programming?
could there be some other step I could try to get the app to work....I have heard of people making the game work by rooting and installing cm recovery images but I really dont want to do this to my phone....
71 Answer
The short answer to the question that you asked is no. You can run Pokemon Go without any cellular data plan.
Long answer: I regularly save my phone battery by logging in on my Samsung tablet when I'm at home. The tablet has no cellular connection, or even a chip, and connects via WiFi only, but does have GPS capability. I have no issues with getting in and doing things like transfers or item cleanup. I don't catch anything as I don't get spawns at home, but the game has no issue functioning without mobile data at all. All that is required is an active internet connection and GPS location.
This sounds more like an issue with your particular device. My kids play using a Galaxy s3 and s2 and, as I mentioned, my tablet is also a Samsung device. The flagship phone (even an older one) on the most popular Android brand is likely not to blame for the issue that you are experiencing. My suggestion would be to backup everything on the phone and perform a factory reset. It doesn't sound like the phone is used for anything more than gaming anyway, so putting the settings back to default would be a good way to start troubleshooting.
