Welcome back to our 9th teardown of Ingress APKs. This version only lists “bug fixes” as the official changelog on Google Play, but we can dig beneath the surface and see what’s really different.
Missions
In APK since 1.55.0
We saw two changes in the expected responses of various mission functions. The passphrase mission parameter clue was renamed to question, and the MissionStats response (the information you get when clicking on a mission) gained the numUniqueCompletedPlayers integer. So now we can see how many unique agents completed a certain mission.
There were only two changes to the server -> client functionality. The bulk of mission changes happened in the design and layout of them. We saw the addition of many strings which are related from passphrases to field trip cards.
ERROR_WHILE_VIEWING_FIELD_TRIP_CARD = “Failed to complete Field Trip card objective: %s”
TEXT_PASSPHRASE_DEFAULT_QUESTION = “PASSPHRASE:”
TEXT_PASSPHRASE_INCORRECT = “Incorrect.”
TEXT_PASSPHRASE_WAYPOINT_NULL = “Unavailable.”
TEXT_ONLY_ONE_MISSION_IN_PROGRESS = “Mission already in progress”
TEXT_HIDDEN_WAYPOINT_TITLE = “???”
Notable new layout classes are
missions-objective-passphrase-entry
missions-objective-button-down
missions-objective-button-up
nav-beacon
missions-list-item-waypoint-title-highlighted
As we’ve discovered this feature almost 6 versions ago the functionality is quite known. We can only sit and watch as the feature nears completion.
Ornaments
First noticed in the Handshake and Intel map around August 18, this change was expected to be hidden in this APK and sure enough made an appearance. Ornaments appear to be directly related to Anomalies. These ornaments attach to certain specified portals with one of the following four types (anomaly_cluster, anomaly_end, anomaly_start, anomaly_volatile). However, our perception of an ornament doesn’t help with understanding this feature’s look. Below are the images for each type of ornament as it would be laid over a portal.
Various types of ornaments
As you can see, this feature has now been located in both the APK and Intel Map. This might help provide agents quick access to identify cluster / volatile portals in the middle of an anomaly instead of cross referencing Google Plus. When an ornament is attached to a portal, additional attributes are attached to it. These are listed below.
designation
groupColor
pulseIntensity
rotationSpeed
scale
These attributes are quite broad and not hardcoded to anomalies directly which looks like they might play into future use where certain portals need to stand out from others.
Jailbreaking / Rooting
On our previous teardown of 1.58.2, we noticed a few new changes that may have locked out jailbroken/rooted devices. I’m proud to announce that as of 1.59.1 the below checks have been removed.
- canLaunchCydia
- hasSubstrateLib
- rooted
These boolean values were added in 1.58.2 and sent to Niantic as part of the Device handshake. It appears they got the data they wanted and didn’t want to lock out this percentage of agent user base. This code has been removed.
Glyph Hacking
Everyone has come across an agent who still doesn’t know what Glyph Hacking is. It happens to everyone. It appears that a new addition may help new agents discover this feature.
hack-progress-indicator
This feature references a DoubleSidedProgressBar which increases in value depending on how long the HACK button has been held.
As you can see above, whenever this feature is released new agents should discover Glyph hacking much quicker.
Direct Recharge Flow
Our Handshake and APK has now hinted at a “enableDirectRechargeFlow” change. In 1.59.1, the progression for recharging is now: find a Portal Key -> Recharge -> Recharge All / Pick a resonator to recharge. This method is now less button clicks after the jarring change in 1.58.2.
Nitty Gritty
- Build August 26
- Leaked August 28
- Handshake Changes
- [added] enableDirectRechargeFlow
- [added] enableHackLongPressIndicator
- [added] enableOrnaments
- [deprecated] enableNewsOfTheDay
Conclusion
Ornaments have caught my eye and I’m hoping they are live in time for Tulsa (Helios secondary site), as I’d like to see this feature live there. Lots of activity now with missions, direct recharge, and ornaments. This version is probably just a stepping stone for a bigger feature release of 1.60.0! Hack on agents, I’ll see some of you at Tulsa.
