Niantic's 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' Augmented Reality Game Shutting Down - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Niantic's 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' Augmented Reality Game Shutting Down

Niantic has experienced major success with augmented reality game Pokémon Go, a title that still has a loyal fanbase, but unfortunately, its Harry Potter-themed game has not fared as well. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is going to be shut down on January 31, 2022 as a result.

wizards unite harry potter
First introduced in June 2019, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite allows players to join the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to explore Wizarding World locations in the real world, similar to Pokémon Go.

Players need to go to landmark locations in the real world to track down magical artifacts, creatures, and enemies to battle and level up. The game uses augmented reality to project portals and other items onto real-life landscapes, and there are real-time cooperative elements involved.

harry potter wizards unite
The game will be removed from the App Store on December 6, 2021, which is also when in-game purchases will be disabled. As a last hurrah, starting on November 2, several changes will be implemented to make gameplay more fun.

Daily assignments will provide increased rewards, potion brewing time will be cut in half, the daily cap on sending and opening gifts will be removed, and various items and ingredients will appear on the map more frequently.

November and December will also see the launch of several events involving Dolores Umbridge, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix LeStrange, and Voldemort, along with a holiday event. The game will wrap up, with the Calamity coming to an end before the app is shut down for good.

Players who invested money in the game will not be able to get a refund, but they will be able to spend their remaining balances and use their items before the January end date.

Popular Stories

Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple CEO Tim Cook Stepping Down, John Ternus Taking Over

Monday April 20, 2026 1:33 pm PDT by
Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple's chief executive officer, and hardware engineering chief John Ternus is set to take over, Apple announced today. Cook will continue on as Apple CEO through the summer, with Ternus set to join Apple's Board of Directors and take over as CEO on September 1, 2026. Cook is going to transition to executive chairman, and he will "assist with certain...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in September With These 10 New Features

Monday April 20, 2026 7:13 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

macOS 27 Will Mark the End of an Era

Saturday April 18, 2026 6:45 am PDT by
During its Platforms State of the Union segment at WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that macOS 26 Tahoe is the final major macOS version for Intel-based Macs. The upcoming macOS 27 release will be compatible with Apple silicon Macs only, meaning that you will need a Mac with an M-series chip or a MacBook Neo with an A18 Pro chip in order to install the software update. macOS 27 should be available...

Top Rated Comments

58 months ago
"several changes will be implemented to make gameplay more fun"

Maybe they should have done that earlier?
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
58 months ago
And the crowd goes mild
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
58 months ago
augmented reality seems like a no go for a lot of things
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
m4mario Avatar
58 months ago
i used to play this when it came out. Had me hooked for a week or so. Made me walk around the park and all. Then it felt like I was doing more and more of the same without much story progression. Then I deleted it.

Collecting digital stuff can’t be a game in itself. The digital stuff has to unlock something more than the ability to collect more digital stuff.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
58 months ago
**** was wack as hell spent 20 mins and deleted it so fast.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
58 months ago
Yeah, this game kind of seemed like a failure the second it launched.
kind of feel bad for anyone who used any in app purchases though, barely getting three months of notice before the app completely closes is kind of crappy.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)