I know I am a few months late to the big Pokemon GO craze, but since I am a big Pokemon fan, I wanted to try it out. I'm a simple woman and I would just like to play Pokemon GO. However, I am having a strange issue creating an account.
At first, I was getting the "GPS signal not found" error, which I fixed by running Google Maps in the background. All seemed good and well until…
After I put in my birthday and try to log in with a Google account, it gives me a "Unable to authenticate" error after taking a long time to load. I'm connected to the Internet and all of my other apps work fine. I've tried reinstalling the app, removing and adding back permissions, and I've even tried creating a Trainer Club account and signing in with that, but the same issue occurs. My Trainer Club account is verified, so this is not the issue. I've also tried force stopping the app, but to no avail. I also have tried to use another e-mail by removing my original from my phone and adding an alternate, but I get the same error. Any ideas on how to solve this?
I'm playing on Samsung Galaxy S7 phone with version 6.0.1.
EDIT: I tried last night and I've checked the servers. They're fine, so I don't think that's the issue. Also, I'm pretty sure my phone isn't "rooted" since I have no idea what that means.
EDIT #2: I have also tried the "airplane" mode fix as described by Timmy Jim. I still get the same error.
Best Answer
There a few reasons why you can be getting this error. Here's some of them, and potential fixes:
According to Niantic (the game makers):
As you've said, you've already checked the servers and they appear to be fine. You've already tried these options above, so there's no point in trying again really, though you can if you want to.
Here are some other things it could be and for you to check:
You're on an incompatible device. You're using Android 6.0.1 which should work just fine for the game. You need at least 4.4 or up.
You've been banned. This doesn't really apply to you since this is your first time trying to play.
You're using a rooted device. Based on the comments on the other answer and your edit, you're aren't. So no need to worry about that.
The permissions that are set for Pokemon Go on your device are blocking something. It sounds like you've fiddled with this already, but you may want to look into it again. If you have multiple Google Accounts, its possible that the game is using a different one on your phone to log in, causing the error. To fix it, remove all Google Accounts from your device, and put the one you want to use to for Pokemon Go on it only.
Your devices carrier could be potentially causing the problem. Besides switching carriers, there's not a whole lot you can do to fix this, nor is it really possible to tell if its because of the carrier or not.
(Source)
Here is another potential solution - one I would try after the above:
If this doesn't work, maybe try using a different device (a friends phone perhaps) and see if you can authenticate and play for a bit. If you can't, I think you can at least say that there is something else going on with your account or phone.