So you know all of those apps and tricky workarounds folks are using to help them catch 'em all in Pokemon Go? Well, according to a recent interview with Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke, the team really isn't too fond of such shenanigans and, in the future, may take steps to halt cheating.

This week we reported on the fact that you can finagle your smartphone's clock in order to get more mileage out of Incense, an item in Pokemon Go that lets you draw in more of the pocket-sized monsters. But while that little trick is due to a design oversight on the part of Niantic, there are other more obvious cheats folks are using that require outside applications.

It turns out that Niantic CEO John Hanke isn't too happy with those apps, as explained in a recent interview with Forbes. In case you're not familiar with the apps in question, folks have created companion tools for Pokemon Go that quite literally tell you where a Pokemon is and how long they're going to be there. Some of these apps are extremely robust, too, showing pictures of the Pokemon exactly where you'll find them, as well as the locations of Gyms and PokeStops.

So how, in a game that seems to place Pokemon so randomly, are these apps able pull back the curtain on the magic formula? Well, in short, by illegally hacking the game. When asked what he thought of these apps, John Hanke was pretty direct and even gave a fair warning to those who make them.

Yeah, I don't really like that. Not a fan. We have priorities right now but they might find in the future that those things may not work. People are hurting themselves because it takes some of the fun out of the game. People are hacking around trying to take data out of our system and that's against our terms of service.

I can already hear some folks groaning and rolling their eyes, but Hanke has a point here. Sure, some players may not feel like it's "hurting" their experience to cheat the system, but that's definitely not the way the game was meant to be played. On top of that, as Hanke stated, it's completely illegal, which you think would be enough to convince folks to give it a rest.

We find ourselves in Hanke's court on this one. I mean, the game isn't all that robust to begin with, so it's going to have a limited lifespan until the updates start rolling out. Why would anyone want to shorten their time with Pokemon Go by cheating their way into finding certain Pokemon? Can you really brag about a collection that you didn't earn? Can you even enjoy the game when the mystery is taken out of the equation?

Of course, we're open to all opinions and invite you to share your thoughts on Pokemon Go in the comments section below.