Can't play Harry Potter: Wizards Unite? Here's the fix!

Just downloaded Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, but having trouble playing? Don't worry. Bugs happen, but so do bug fixes. There are a number of things you can try to get your game back up and running again. Here's what you can do to resolve your issues playing Wizards Unite.

Force quit the game

Perhaps the easiest thing you can do to troubleshoot Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is to force the game to close. When you open it again, it will go through its entire startup process again, hopefully without any of the issues that kept you from playing.

  1. Open multitasking on your iPhone, either by clicking the Home button twice (iPhone 8 and earlier), or swiping up from the bottom of the screen (iPhone X and later).
  2. Swipe up on the app to quit it.
  3. Open Harry Potter: Wizards Unite once again to start it up.

    Open multitasking, swipe up to close app, open app

For repeated crashes

If force quitting the game won't work, then you might next want to try deleting the game, then re-installing it.

  1. Delete Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
  2. Open the App Store.
  3. Search for the game.

    Delete game, open App Store, search

  4. Tap the download button next to the game.
  5. Open Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

    Tap download button, open game

Can't download assets

In the settings menu inside the game, there's an option to download all assets, which allows you to download a file (that's approximately 300MB) that will help the game run slightly smoother, by storing some data on your phone. Unfortunately, right now there is a known issue with this feature that may cause the download to not function.

You may get an error that states "Your device does not have enough space to download all assets" or the download may simple just never finish. Both of these issues are know to the developers, and have yet to be fixed. If this happens to you, you'll just have to wait it out, and try again later. There's no official ETA on when a fix for this bug will be implemented

Connection issues

If you're connected to the internet and the game opens just fine, but you still find yourself unable to play, it's likely that the game is experiencing server issues and you won't be able to play at the present time.

If this is the case, there's nothing to do but just wait it out. That being said, you might want to force quit and open the app again every so often just to see if issues are still ongoing, as sometimes that's necessary to reconnect after server issues have been fixed, at least in my experience with other online services.

Battery drain issues

If you're successfully playing, but find that Wizards Unite is draining your battery, even when you're not actively playing, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you can force quit the game whenever you exit it. That could solve battery issues.

How to limit Harry Potter: Wizard's Unite's location data usage

You can limit the game's use of your location. If you previously set the game to always track your location, you might consider limiting it to whenever you have the game open. Here's how to do that.

  1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Privacy.
  3. Tap Location Services.

    Open Settings, tap Privacy, tap Location

  4. Tap Wizards Unite. Note that this is the name of the game in the Privacy section of the app, not Harry Potter: Wizards Unite or Harry Potter.
  5. Tap While Using the App to limit when the game can ask for your location. On iOS 13 later this year, you'll also have the option to require the game to ask permission every time it wants your location.

    Tap Wizards Unite, tap While Using the App

How to turn on Battery Saver

Wizard's Unite has a built-in Battery Saver feature, which keeps the app from putting too much strain on your battery. Here's how to turn it on.

  1. Open Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
  2. Tap on your suitcase in the bottom-center of the screen.

    Open game, tap Suitcase

  3. Tap the Settings gear in the top-left corner of the screen.
  4. Scroll down and tap the Battery Saver switch to the On position.

    Tap settings gears, tap switch

There's nothing on the map in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

Some people have experienced a problem with the Points of Interest (POI) — such as Inns, Fortresses and Greenhouses — loading in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, causing the map in the game to be completed blank. If this happens to you, it's possible that the game is having a trouble pinpointing your location, and a quick toggle of your Location Services might just do the trick.

  1. Close Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
  2. Launch the Settings app from your Home screen.
  3. Tap Privacy.
  4. Tap Location Services.
  5. Tap the Location Services On/Off switch twice. Once to turn it off and once to turn it back on. The switch should be green when you're done.

    Tap Privacy, tap Location Services, tap the switch to turn them off

Known issues in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

While a lot of common problems, like the game not loading, or the map being blank can be fixed by the troubleshooting steps above, there are some known issues with the game that are worth pointing out.

Daily assignment tracking issues

Players have been reporting an issue where Daily Assignments are not being tracked properly, and people are not getting their rewards. Niantic is aware of the issue and are working on a fix.

In the meantime there is a temporary fix, and all you have to do is open the Daily Assignments page, which seems to "restart" the tracking. So just open your Daily Assignments first thing when you load of the game each day!

Portkey Portmonteaus showing wrong distance

Portkey Portmonteaus showing wrong distance

The distance tracking on Portmanteaus is being rounded up and thus displaying the incorrect distance walked. Like the picture above, you may notice that the Portmanteau will say you've walked the required distance, but haven't opened yet. Niantic knows this is an issue and luckily all you have to do is keep walking, and your Portmonteau will open when you actually walk the required distance.

Navigation inside Portkeys is off

When you open a Portkey and you have to look around for Wrackspurts by adjusting your phone's position, some players have encountered that navigated the AR space is difficult, sometimes even inverting. If this is happened to you, try toggling the AR+ mode in the games settings to resolve the issue.


If you have any questions about getting Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to work, or tips on how you got it to work after a problem, let us know in the comments.

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