The app's developer has told Engadget that it actually only accesses basic information and will change the permissions to reflect that in the future, but the whole business is sure to set off red flags for those concerned with privacy. Even if the developers have the best of intentions, the huge popularity of the app and its access to sensitive data would surely make it a target for hackers. The Android version of the app seemingly doesn't ask for full access to the user's Google account. Pokemon Go is topping app store charts on Android and iOS. UPDATE July 13, 6.30am: Niantic has indeed issued a new version of the app on iOS which has more limited access to your Google account. This will come into effect once you update the app. Pokestops are built on the work of Ingress players If you've been wondering how Pokemon GO knows to put pokestops at all the cool graffiti murals and local sights, even in the most rural parts of Australia, the truth is most of it is based on the people-powered augmented reality app Ingress.

Back when GO developer Niantic Labs was a part of Google it made Ingress — in which you captured points on a map to claim them for your team — using cultural landmarks like Big Ben or museums as its 'portals'. Many other portals were decided by scanning through geotagged Google photos, so if a lot of people took photos of a particular monument or area it would become a point of interest. The bulk of portals, however, were submitted by players of Ingress who wanted more content to play with in their specific neck of the woods. Unwittingly, those travelling around and finding good spots for portals over the past two-and-a-half years have populated the world of Pokemon GO, with the most popular spots becoming gyms and the rest becoming pokestops. It will take you to some weird places Now that you know how the pokestops and gyms are chosen, it might seem less weird that an ostensibly family-friendly game is sending players to places like sex shops and very creepy sheds. Actually no, it's still really weird.

Turns out not every place that attracts a lot of photographers or that was suggested by Ingress players is a suitable place to put down a lure module and hunt some poliwags. In fact, as Gizmodo points out, a surprising number of pokestops in the US are located at abortion memorials. Others are evidently located in some pretty sketchy places, with multiple reports indicating muggers are luring GO players to isolated areas at night using lures so they can rob them. It isn't exactly a Nintendo game Pokemon GO has had an incredible impact on Nintendo's market value, but you'd have to look hard to find the Japanese gaming giant's name in the app itself (it is there, in the 'about Pokemon GO' part of the settings). As it happens, The Pokemon Company — which partnered up with Niantic for the app — is a joint venture between Nintendo and two other gaming entities, Creatures and Game Freak. While big Pokemon games have only ever appeared on Nintendo hardware before, Nintendo proper does not make the games and was not deeply involved in GO's development.

Nintendo does now have its own mobile gaming business however, publishing Miitomo earlier this year and with Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem games still to come in 2016, and the success of Pokemon GO can only have helped its chances of success. It started as an April fools prank Despite the above, it is true that the idea for Pokemon GO probably started with the late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. A joke between Iwata, Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokemon Company and Tatsuo Nomura of Google Maps is said to have lead to Google's 2014 April Fools prank, called Pokemon Challenge. An augmented reality app that placed Pokemon across Google Maps and let you catch them with your phone, the prank bears no small similarity to Pokemon GO.

Loading It may come as no shock that Nomura would later become senior project manager at Niantic. Follow Digital Life on Twitter