Monster Hunter Now

Is Monster Hunter Now safe?

Monster Hunter Now is reasonably safe for teenagers and adults, and it is not meant for children. You walk around your neighbourhood, monsters appear on a real map, and you fight them on your phone, alone or with players nearby. Its tracking label is shorter than most free games, and we found no fine or regulatory action against it since it launched in September 2023. The two things to weigh are your precise location, which the game needs to work, and the gems shop.

We score it 59/100, one point below its sister game Pokémon GO (60). Monster Hunter Now shares less for advertising but has no children's accounts and puts strangers in the same hunt more often. Monopoly GO (55), from the same owner, tracks far more.

Who owns it now

Niantic built Monster Hunter Now with Capcom, which owns the Monster Hunter series. On 29 May 2025 Scopely completed its $3.5 billion purchase of Niantic's games business, which included Monster Hunter Now, Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom. Scopely is a wholly owned company of Savvy Games Group, the games investor owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The publisher is now called Scopely Explore.

Its privacy policy, effective 20 August 2026, says the rename brought "no changes to how we use or share data". It also says your data is likely to be stored outside your home country, including in the US. We found no evidence that data from the game has gone anywhere it should not. Still, ownership is the main open question for a game that records how its players move.

What location data the game collects

Apple's label is short where it matters most for advertising: identifiers are the only data listed as used to track you across other companies' apps. Linked to your identity are purchases, precise and coarse location, email address, contacts, customer support records, user and device IDs, usage data and diagnostics. Google Play's data safety section says the app shares no data with other companies.

The policy explains how location is used. The company collects your device location "as you use our Services", including how you move around, and, if you switch on background tracking, while you are not playing. Targeted ads appear only outside the US, and in the game advertising takes the form of sponsored gifts, which players can switch off. The policy says the company does not sell or share personal data as California's privacy law defines those terms.

Strangers, streets and age limits

Scopely Explore's rules set an age floor that Pokémon GO does not have. No children may play Monster Hunter Now: under 13 in most countries, under 16 in the EEA and under 14 in South Korea. There is no parent-verified children's account, and the help centre lists an error that blocks sign-up below the age requirement. A determined child can still enter a false birthday, so the phone's own age settings matter.

Contact between players is mostly physical. When a large monster appears, you can choose "Solo hunt" or "Hunt with nearby hunters", and the game can send "Join hunt!" notifications to players in range. Hunts marked with a paintball can be shared by QR code with people standing close by. Apple's rating lists messaging and chat. This is less exposed than the open voice chat of PUBG Mobile, but it does put strangers in the same place. The help centre's own advice is to move somewhere safe before you start a hunt and to stay aware of your surroundings, because fights take your eyes off the road.

Spending and account theft

The game is free and sells Gems, from $1.99 to $29.99 on the US App Store, plus a Prime Hunter's Pass at $9.99. Gems unlock Premium Quests, which expire and, according to the help centre, cannot be refunded. Apple's listing does not flag loot boxes.

Account theft is the main security risk we found. The help centre warns that offers of free currency in exchange for a login are fake, that some unauthorised apps ask for your Google login token, and that bought or traded accounts can be banned. Scopely's paid bug bounty on HackerOne does not list Monster Hunter Now; Scopely Explore points researchers to a vulnerability disclosure page instead.

How to play more safely

1. Set location access to "While using the app" unless you want the game to work in the background.
2. Turn off sponsored gifts in the settings if you do not want location-based ads.
3. Turn on purchase approval: Ask to Buy on iPhone, or a password for each Google Play purchase.
4. Stop walking before you fight, and keep the game closed while cycling or driving.
5. Join group hunts in public places, and never share your login or Google token with a third-party tool.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (87) is the strongest factor, as we found no fine or order in three years. Transparency and control (64) and scams and harmful content (64) are helped by optional background tracking and a firm age floor, and held back by refund rules and hunts with strangers. Privacy (47) is the weakest, because the game links precise location to you by design.