• Guide

How to claim a Niantic ID for Pokemon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and more

Niantic will be shifting to a universal ID system for its library of games and here's how you can reserve your existing username for yourself.

Ozzie Mejia

November 4, 2021 11:45 PM

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Mobile players have come to recognize the team at Niantic for some of portable gaming's biggest titles. Their lineup includes Ingress Prime, Pokemon GO, and the recently-launched Pikmin Bloom. To help keep everything in line, Niantic is allowing users for any of its games to claim a unique Niantic ID, which will make it easier to keep track of friends. So how does one go about claiming a Niantic ID for themselves?

How to claim a Niantic ID

A Niantic ID will be a user's primary identity across the publisher's full library of games. This allows users to carry over their profile information and Friends Lists from game-to-game. This will also presumably include any future Niantic titles. The best way to reserve an ID is to visit the Niantic ID reservation page. From there, a user will be instructed to sign in using Apple, Facebook, or Google.

There's good reason to jump on this sooner than later. First, this is a limited time offer. The reservation window for usernames will only be open until November 26, at which point the opportunity to reserve usernames closes. The other reason is that once a Niantic ID is taken, it's gone. If a username is already claimed or if a Niantic ID does not follow the company's guidelines, an error message will appear.

What if I want a different Niantic ID?

While the window to claim a Niantic ID that matches your current username is only open until November 26, things are different if you want a different username. Niantic is promising more information on registering different usernames for Niantic IDs at a later date. Here's what the Niantic FAQ has to say:

At this time, players are only able to reserve a Niantic ID for a username they already have in one of our games. Players will not be able to choose an entirely new Niantic ID using the reservation system. This is to ensure that players that have existing accounts with us have priority for Niantic IDs. If you wish to select a Niantic ID that’s different from your existing in-game username(s), there is no need to use this system. You will have the opportunity to select a different username for your Niantic ID in the future.

The other thing to note is that Niantic IDs won't go into effect right away. According to the FAQ, the Niantic ID will be integrated into games over the next 6-12 months.

That's how to reserve a Niantic ID that you're currently using in any of Niantic's library of games, whether it's Pokemon GO, Ingress Prime, or Pikmin Bloom. We'll have more to say about Niantic's library of games in the weeks ahead, so keep it on Shacknews for the latest.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?