Pokémon GO Player Reports a Shiny Aipom Running Away

A screenshot from the report shows a journal entry for an Aipom with CP 399 and a shiny-style icon next to it.

Bojan Kicevski48 minutes ago

0 12 1 minute read

Pokémon GO Player Reports a Shiny Aipom Running Away

A Pokémon GO player reported that a shiny Aipom ran away during a wild encounter, raising questions about what happened. The report came from Reddit user /u/el_Gatito_2000, who said the encounter had taken place less than two minutes earlier.

The attached screenshot shows the in-game Journal recording “Aipom ran away” with CP 399 and the timestamp 03/08/2026 17:52. The Aipom entry also displays the sparkle icon associated with a shiny Pokémon. A separate Slakoth encounter at CP 227 is shown as having run away at the same time.

That image confirms what the player’s Journal displayed, but it does not establish whether the encounter was caused by a bug, a connection problem, a speed-related restriction, or another game mechanic. It is also only one player’s report, so there is no basis yet to call this a wider Pokémon GO issue.

The report is especially surprising because many Trainers expect shiny encounters to be protected from fleeing. However, the circumstances around this encounter are not included, such as whether the player was moving quickly, using an accessory, or experienced a network interruption. Those details could matter when determining why the Aipom disappeared.

For now, the screenshot is best treated as an unusual discovery rather than proof of a confirmed change to shiny encounters. More reports or an explanation from Scopely would be needed before the cause becomes clear.

Shiny ran away???
byu/el_Gatito_2000 inpokemongo

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Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that uses GPS to let players locate, capture, train, and battle Pokémon in real-world locations. Players explore their physical surroundings to find PokéStops for items, battle at Gyms for team control, participate in Raid Battles cooperatively, and compete in the Go Battle League's player-versus-player format. The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases and features Pokémon from across multiple generations of the franchise.