Portal Scans Count
in General
Can someone explain to me how the scanning works?
Case 1:
portal had >200 scans, now there are 18
Case 2:
portal has 106 scans all the time (for more than a month)
Does the number of scans reset? No one else is doing any action on these portals...
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Comments
Scans expire after 30 days, however the display only updates after someone uploaded a scan. In case 1, someone uploaded 200 scans, which have expired after 30 days, and on Day 31+, someone uploaded 18 scans.
In case 2, it's very likely that these 106 scans have expired as well, but as no one has uploaded a scan yet, it still shows 106 scans. If you want to try it out, try uploading a single scan, the display should update and you should be granted Scout Controller with one scan only.
Controller staus lasts 30 days. However the display lasts until someone else takes controller.
If someone did 200 scans, they would (probably) be controller for the whole 30 days. The portal display would say they're controller, with 200 scans. For those 30 days, you'd have to do 201 scans for controller to move from them to you. However, starting day 31, the display is still the same (so-and-so is controller with 200 scans) - but they are not really controller anymore, and you could become controller with one scan.
In your case, AgentA did 200 scans. Sometime from day 31 to day 999, AgentB took controller with 18 scans. You might have looked at the portal at day 100, when AgentA was listed as controller, but was not actually controller.
The display agent/counter isn't cleared - probably on purpose. Niantic thought we'd argue over controller - that it'd be a point of pride. That you wouldn't be able to stand that someone else is listed as controller on a pet portal - and you'd do howevermany scans it took to unseat them, in a couple days time, not 31+.