Pokémon Go is currently experiencing a bug where the game incorrectly throws up an error for people trying to add their Pokémon to a freshly claimed Gym. Basically, one person can go in fine, but anyone and everyone else has to wait 10 minutes before they can add their Pokémon and help defend the Gym.
It's super frustrating to players who attack Gyms in groups. Pokémon Go developer Niantic says the bug is know and the company is working on the fix. In the meantime, here's a fix you can apply right now!
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TL;DR: How do you fix it?
- Have everyone put their Pokémon on all at the same time.
- Or, if you miss it, manually your phone clock 10 minutes forward to temporarily fool the system.
- Make sure you set your phone clock back to automatic afterwards or it could screw up your Raid timer.
How do you know it's an error and that Ninatic is working to fix it?
Niantic has stated the error was a known issue both on Reddit and on the company's support website:
Trainers incorrectly receive an error message when attempting to assign a Pokémon to a Gym Some Trainers may experience a bug where they are unable to assign a Pokémon to a Gym shortly after the Gym was claimed for their team. Attempting to assign a Pokémon returns the error message: "The Gym is under attack! Try again later." The issue could take up to an hour to resolve itself. We're actively working on a fix.
What if everyone places a Pokémon on a Gym at the same, then it doesn't trigger the bug?
Nope! If you're taking a Gym as a group, simply have everyone select a Pokemon but wait at the confirmation screen. Then, when everyone is ready, start counting down from 3 and have everyone place their Pokémon at roughly the same time.
You may still get a network error but all of your Pokémon will get on the Gym.
What if you miss that brief, beautiful window of simultaneity?
Sometimes one of you will crash or otherwise error out, or you may simply roll up on a friendly Gym with open slots that was taken only a few minutes ago and the error will still keep you out. Luckily, there's there's on more trick you can try: setting your clock forward.
From The Silph Road:
If a gym gets flipped but you're unable to add your Pokemon due to the gym-is-under-attack error (a.k.a. the 10-minute lockout), change the clock on your phone 10 minutes ahead and you can add your defender.
I tested it several times and with several other people and it worked each and every time.
How do you change the clock on your phone to avoid the Pokémon Go Gym bug?
If you get the "The Gym is under attack! Try again later" error in Pokémon Go you typically have to wait 10 minutes before you can add your Pokémon to the Gym. The thing is, though, you don't actually have to wait. You can fool Pokémon Go into thinking you've waiting simply by setting your clock forward 10 minutes.
- Launch Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap on *General**.
- Tap on Date & Time.
- Toggle Set Automatically to OFF.
- Make sure the *Time Zone** doesn't change. If it does, set it back to your local time zone.
- Tap on the Current Time.
- Spin the Time ten minutes ahead.
Once you're done, go back to the Gym and add your Pokémon. Then reset the time on you're phone.
Can you use this trick to get Raids to start sooner or last longer?
Nope. Sorry. In fact, if you don't set your clock back to automatic ASAP you might get weird count down errors when you start your Raids and miss out.
Why is this error message even in the game?
Pokémon Go hasn't said. Initially some thought the error may have been created so that, if a Gym was under attack, people couldn't simply throw more and more Pokémon on it in an effort to stall or frustrate the attack. But it doesn't seem to be preventing that at all — you can still add Pokémon to a Gym that's actually under attack if you time it right, you simply can't add them to a Gym that's no longer under attack.
Others have theorized the error was to prevent multi-account cheating, where one person with several devices or several accounts on the same device tried to fill a Gym all by themselves and squeeze legitimate players out, or shave/cycle the Gym by knocking a friendly Pokémon out with an alt-account and replacing it with one of their own. It doesn't seem to have slowed them down either, though.
The first answer is likely the correct one, but we'll have to wait for it to be fixed to see how it's supposed to work.
Any Pokémon Go questions?
If you have any questions about this or any other Pokémon Go bug, drop 'em in the comments below!
