Pokémon Go beats porn on Google as game becomes easily one of the most popular ever

‘Porn’ has long been the high watermark for search interest – and it is finally being challenged by Pokémon

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The new Pokémon Go game is now officially more popular than porn, previously presumed to be the internet’s favourite pastime.

More people are searching for the new augmented reality game than are searching for pornography.

The search term “porn” has long been seen as the ceiling for searches, reflecting the relatively predictable and base interests of the internet. But very rarely some stories manage to break through that barrier and beat pornography – as Brexit did, for instance, in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the EU.

Pokémon Go, the new augmented reality game that lets people catch creatures in the real world with their phone, also finally managed to break through that ceiling on 11 June. It had been threatening to do so for the past week, since the game became hugely popular, but managed to do so over the weekend and has been pulling away from “porn” ever since.

Searches for Pokemon Go (blue) versus porn (red) over the last week

Most of those searches appear to come from areas that already have the game: the US, Australia and New Zealand. But there’s also huge amounts of search interest from places like the Netherlands and Canada – which notably don’t yet have access to it apart from through workarounds, and are presumably looking to find ways to play.

Pokémon Go has by many measures become one of the most popular apps ever. It even has more active daily users than Twitter and Tinder.

How to get Pokémon on Android and iPhone

iPhone

1. Log out of your current Apple ID on your iPhone. The fastest way is to open the App Store, click the Featured tab, scroll right to the bottom, tap your Apple ID and hit ‘Sign out’.

2. Go to Settings > General > Language & Region and change the region to the US, Australia or New Zealand.

3. Download any free app and you’ll be prompted to create a new Apple ID. Do so, and select ‘None’ in the billing menu. Add any US/Australia/NZ-based address.

4. Try searching for Pokémon GO again and it should now be there and ready to install. Time to start catching wild Rattatas in your local Sainsbury’s!

Android

How to get Pokémon GO on Android (slightly more tricky)

1. Download Pokémon Go from an APK download site such as APKPure.com, ideally directly on your phone but, failing that, on a PC (58.1MB file size).

2. If using a PC, attach your phone to the PC via USB and drag the downloaded file to your Downloads folder. On your phone go to Settings > Security and enable installation of apps from unknown sources. Now hit Pokémon Go in your Downloads folder to install the game.