At Niantic, we strive to create a friendly and fair gameplay experience for all players. To that end, we would like to inform you about an upcoming policy change that will be going live in the coming weeks.

As part of our commitment to fair play, we will soon be adapting our Ingress discipline policy and enforcing a three-strike policy for violations to our Terms of Service and/or Ingress Community Guidelines. This policy provides offenders with a series of disciplinary strikes that gradually increase in severity, offering multiple opportunities for players to change their behavior. If offenders reform their ways, they are welcomed back into the game.

Keep in mind some violations may require immediate account termination without three strikes or result in your inability to post messages to the in-game COMM. If you have questions about an action taken against your account, this article may help you understand what happened.

Disciplinary strikes, when they occur, will escalate as follows:

Strike 1 - Warning: If this strike is issued, you will see a warning message in the Ingress Scanner informing you that we have detected a violation on your account. You must acknowledge this warning in the Scanner before you can continue playing Ingress. This warning will last for approximately 7 days. After the warning has expired, any further violations will result in additional escalated punishments. You will not receive another warning.

If this strike is issued, you will see a warning message in the Ingress Scanner informing you that we have detected a violation on your account. You must acknowledge this warning in the Scanner before you can continue playing Ingress. This warning will last for approximately 7 days. After the warning has expired, any further violations will result in additional escalated punishments. You will not receive another warning. Strike 2 - Suspension: If your account is issued a second strike, you will temporarily be unable to log into or play Ingress. This will last for approximately 30 days. After that period, you will need to acknowledge a warning for your account access to be restored. After the suspension, further violations will result in permanent account termination. You will not receive another warning or suspension.

If your account is issued a second strike, you will temporarily be unable to log into or play Ingress. This will last for approximately 30 days. After that period, you will need to acknowledge a warning for your account access to be restored. After the suspension, further violations will result in permanent account termination. You will not receive another warning or suspension. Strike 3 - Termination: If you receive the first and second strikes and continue to violate the Terms of Service or Ingress Community Guidelines, your account will be permanently terminated. You will have the opportunity to appeal this decision if you believe this action has been taken in error. We will respond to your appeal after a complete investigation of your account and the situation.

If you receive any of the above punishments on your account, your access to Scanner [REDACTED] will be disabled and you’ll be unable to play until your punishment has ended. You must use Ingress Prime to read and acknowledge any punishments on your account.

We are committed to making Ingress a fun and safe experience for all players and for everyone in the real world where Ingress is played. We are implementing this change to improve the experience for all and will continue to evaluate the success of and adapt this enforcement policy to build upon this foundation.