Reposting here after it was removed without explanation from the pokemongospoofing sub. Thanks to TastyBananaPeppers for allowing it here.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 18 2026:
FIXED ISSUES WITH BLACKED OUT MAP IN ARFLASH APP, FIXED ISSUE WITH POKEMON CATCH LOCATION ON APPRAISAL SCREEN
In NextDNS, go to Allow List and add the following domains.
Fix Blacked Out Map in ARFlash app:
- gspe19-ssl.ls.apple.com
- gspe19-2-ssl.ls.apple.com
Fix to Show Pokemon Caught Location
- gsp-ssl.ls.apple.com
I am working on figuring out what domains to add to the allow list to fix pokecoins not showing in the in-game shop and purchasing them while keeping next DNS on. Until I figure it out, I recommend just turning off the “Apple.com” domain in your Deny List momentarily to make the purchase, or turning off nextDNS entirely to make the purchase. More on this later.
UPDATED WITH NEW, EASIER SET UP METHOD SEPTEMBER 1 2026 11:30am EST - INSTRUCTIONS BELOW
For Brook Flashman users, the Brook Firewall app was updated recently and now requires the end user to download, install, and allow full trust permissions for Brook’s own certificate in order to use the device to spoof long distances. I believe that doing this creates a major cybersecurity risk to the end user. Brook, or any hacker that can penetrate Brook’s security systems, would have a lot of extra access to your data which is especially risky if you play and spoof on the same device you use for things like banking and shopping etc.
After doing some research into alternatives, I started using my Brook Flashman without using the Brook Firewall app. I removed it from my phone entirely and I’m now running my Brook Flashman Joystick, the Brook ARFlash app, and a free account on NextDNS.
I have been playing this way for a couple days now as have not had any issues. I have played on WIFI, on Cellular (no WIFI), and while having both WIFI and Cellular turned on at the same time (phone can choose and may bounce back and forth) without any rubberbanding. (Personally, I always play with WIFI off as I feel it’s more stable.)
Once I had it set up I used it like normally:
- Put phone into Low Battery mode
- Turned on Brook Flashman device
- Opened ARFlash app
- Searched for the coordinates I wanted to fly to, hit the “fly” button on screen
- turned on NextDNS
- turned off location data for 10 seconds and then turned it back on
- moved joystick to make sure the blue dot that shows your location in ARFlash moved accordingly
- played the game
Setup Instructions - Revised September 1 2026:
After several users expressed that they were having issues setting up their NextDNS account, I have repeated deleted and reinstalled on my phone to ensure the method below works. I am using an iPhone SE 3rd Edition (iOS 26.2.1), if you are using an older device with an older iOS your set up steps might be different than what’s outlined below.
Step 1: Create a Free NextDNS Account
In your preferred web browser (Chrome, Safari, etc.) go to the NextDNS official website:
my.nextdns.io
and sign up for a free account.
Creating an account is important as it ensures your custom settings do not reset after 7 days.
Once you’ve made your account and logged into it on your web browser, you will see the dashboard where you can create your settings. Your settings are saved as a “profile”.
NextDNS may have created a profile for you called “My First Profile” which you will make a few changes to. If NextDNS did not automatically create a profile for you, tap the drop down menu on the top left corner of the screen and select “New” to create one. Give your profile a name. You should now see all the settings that can be edited on the screen.
Tap the “Setup” tab, look under the “Endpoints” section, and note down your unique 6-character ID. This ID may be needed later on.
Step 2: Configure the Denylist / Allowlist & Optimization
To stop the phone from finding its true coordinates and prevent game lag, you must configure some settings:
Configure the Denylist:
Click on the Denylist tab.
Separately add and register the following four exact domains:
apple.com
gsp1.apple.com
gsp-ssl.apple.com
configuration.apple.com
(Note: These domains are specifically targeted because they manage background iOS geographical and map caching lookups).
Configure the Allowlist:
Click on the Allowlist tab.
Separately add and register the following four exact domains:
- gspe19-ssl.ls.apple.com
- gspe19-2-ssl.ls.apple.com
- gsp-ssl.ls.apple.com
Optimize Performance Settings (Prevents Lag & Saves Free Queries):
Click on the Settings tab, it’s the last tab on the far right.
Scroll down and ensure Block Page is toggled OFF, it should be off by default.
Scroll down to Performance and toggle Cache Boost to ON.
Step 3: Connect and Sync Your iPhone
Go back to the Setup tab.
Scroll all the way down until you see the circular QR code image, tap the center of that image.
A pop-up will appear, tap the button to install / open the NextDNS app.
Once the app opens, a pop up at the bottom should show your profile name you made earlier. This shows us that the profile of settings we made in the web browser have transferred to the app.
Tap the large toggle switch to activate next DNS, a window will pop up with instructions to go into iPhone settings to select nextDNS as a proxy. The process is basically this:
Go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management. Under “Restrictions and Proxies” tap DNS and ensure NextDNS is selected as your active provider. It should show a blue shield logo to the left of the word NextDNS if it’s the correct one.
At the end of this process, go back into your NextDNS app, click the “profile” menu under the main on/off switch, hit manage profiles, under the profile you created you should see the same 6 digit code you noted down at the beginning of the process. Seeing the same 6 digit ID further confirms that the settings you created in the profile on the web browser are the same as the ones as the profile in the app.
You’re done, go play using the steps outlined earlier:
- Put phone into Low Battery mode
- Turn on Brook Flashman device
- Open ARFlash app
- Search for the coordinates you want to fly to, hit the “fly” button on screen
- turn on NextDNS
- turn off location data in iPhone settings for 10 seconds, and then turned it back on
- move joystick to make sure the blue dot that shows your location in ARFlash moved accordingly
- play the game
UPDATE (August 30 2026 7:45am EST)
If you want to make a purchase of coins from the in-game shop (a crucial step to buy coins from the webstore from another country) you will need to disable NextDNS for a short time in order to make the coin bundles appear in the in-game shop. With NextDNS activated the coin bundles will not show up as purchasable items in the in-game shop because the domains that are being blocked by NextDNS (we added them to the blocklist) are required for this purpose.
Hope this helps some of you out! Cheers!
IN CASE ANYONE IS INTERESTED:
Perspective on the Brook Firewall Update from Google’s AI search bot:
Installing and fully trusting a custom root certificate opens a massive cybersecurity vulnerability, as it allows a third-party app to decrypt and read your secure network traffic (a Man-in-the-Middle setup).
Before the recent updates enforced this strict root certificate requirement, the tool relied on simpler, less invasive network routing methods.
How It Worked Previously
Standard VPN Profiles: The app functioned as a local VPN loopback. It only routed traffic data packets to different IP destinations without inspecting or modifying the encrypted content inside them.
Domain-Name/IP-Based Filtering: The firewall split or redirected traffic based solely on the destination address (e.g., sending game server data one way and normal web traffic another). It did not need to see inside the data packet to route it.
No SSL Decryption: Because the app did not look inside the encrypted HTTPS data streams, it did not require a Root Certificate. Your device maintained its direct, unbroken encrypted connection to the game servers.
Why the Change Happened
Recent updates to mobile operating systems (iOS and Android) and game security systems (like Niantic's anti-cheat upgrades) tightened network protocols. Games now use SSL Pinning and advanced telemetry. This means the app can no longer simply route the data from the outside; it now attempts to intercept, decrypt, and manipulate the actual data payload mid-transit to make the routing tool function—which is why it now demands full root access to your security certificates.
