Pokémon Go just dropped its brand-new "Weekly Challenge" co-op feature, but it was yanked offline mere hours later! A nasty bug left some players who completed the challenge with frozen games, unable to log in, and even jokingly dubbed their phones "bricked." 
This whole mess couldn't come at a worse time, as the game is gearing up for its biggest update in five years – a massive level cap increase to 80! Naturally, players are now sweating whether this will delay the highly anticipated patch.
Niantic's original vision for the "Weekly Challenge" was a cool new co-op quest: teams of four would band together to catch 500 Pokémon in a week for sweet rewards. It went live early this morning, but within hours, reports flooded in about a critical error. Players who finished the challenge found themselves staring at an unclosable mission complete screen, effectively freezing their game interface and making it impossible to play. 
As the chaos spread, Niantic quickly took to social media to confirm they'd temporarily disabled the feature. Their statement read: "We're aware that some Trainers are unable to close the Weekly Challenge completion pop-up, preventing them from continuing to play. We've temporarily disabled the 'Weekly Challenge' feature while we investigate the issue."
But here's the kicker: even with the feature offline, some affected players are still stuck, suggesting this isn't just a simple UI glitch. Over on the Reddit community "TheSilphRoad," countless Trainers reported that restarting, deleting, or even reinstalling the game did absolutely nothing to fix their predicament.
Player Gerkenator shared their frustration: "I tried using the back button on my old Android tablet to close the screen, and while it temporarily exited, the same screen popped up every time I reopened the game." Another Trainer quipped, "Niantic really turned Pokémon Go into 'Go Play Something Else' this time." 
The timing of this snafu is incredibly sensitive, with the official "Level 80 Update" slated to drop in less than 48 hours. This monumental patch will mark the first level cap increase in five years, boosting players from Level 50 to 80 and completely overhauling the XP system. The new version promises fresh challenges, rewards, and quests, while phasing out some older content. Existing player levels will also be reallocated based on the new curve, with most players expected to automatically level up.
As of now, Niantic hasn't provided any updates on the fix or confirmed whether this will impact the planned update schedule. The player community remains glued to the developers' announcements, hoping for a swift resolution before the massive revamp arrives.
via： IGN