I hit level 37 two days ago while traveling and every since coming back home I cannot find or see Pokemon. They rarely spawn, and when they do they're just commons. Even when I'm standing in my city center with hundreds of Pokestops around, there is only one shown on the tracker at a Pokestop (and the stop isn't even close to me, usually 10+ blocks away) and then maybe 1-2 on the nearby, not by a Pokestop, just shows up on sightings.
I can still do raids fine, battle and do everything at gyms, and spin Pokestops normally, but just nothing is spawning or being shown when there is tons around. I made a Pokemon trainers club account from the login screen and the second I loaded that up everything spawned right there for that account. I've tried restarting the game and force closing, but it doesn't fix my account.
I think I have been shadowbanned by niantic, but I don't get any messages when opening the game and haven't spoofed or used IV checkers
Has anybody had this problem or any experience with it? It is Christmas, so not sure when I will get an answer from Niantic.
Best Answer
This feels like a shadow ban, if you can see common Pokemon but not rares ones, then you're most likely shadow banned. One quick way to check is check with someone else who's playing the game, if they can see a rare nearby while you can't, then welcome to your shadow ban.
Shadow bans are temporary though so if you resume normal activity, it should resolve itself and the ban should be lifted.
Also, I am sure there's no foul play involved, but in case there is, make sure to remove access from any 3rd party apps and change your Pokemon Go password.
If this the shadow ban doesn't get lifted soon, you can also contact Niantic.