Niantic is offering players a small bonus for connecting their Pokemon Trainer Club account to Pokemon Go. However, some users are getting an error stating “Account Already Exists,” with the text “This account is already linked to an existing player” accompanying it. Unfortunately, this blocks you from getting the bonus but doesn’t keep the app from reminding you to link accounts. It’s also quite confusing for those who have only one Pokemon Go account.
How to fix the Account Already Exists error when linking Trainer Club in Pokemon Go
If you get an error stating that an account already exists when trying to link your Pokemon Trainer Club to Pokemon Go, there’s an easy way to fix it:
- In the Pokemon Go app, go to the settings
- Then scroll down
- Sign out
- Wait for the app to return to the main screen
- Now, sign in with your Pokemon Trainer Club account info.
You’ll likely find yourself logged into an account you created years ago and forgot you had. If that’s the case, you can’t unlink it from your Pokemon Trainer Club account, but you can delete it.
To do so:
- Go to Settings
- Select Advanced Settings
- Scroll down and select “Delete Account.”
- Confirm that you want to delete your account
Once you choose to delete your account, you’ll have to wait for an email to arrive. When it does, it’ll ask you to confirm you want to delete your account by replying with a code. Hit reply and send only the code provided as the body of the email.
The deletion process isn’t instantaneous. You’ll have to wait for Niantic to review your request to delete your account. However, once it’s gone, your Pokemon Trainer Club account will no longer have a Pokemon Go account attached to it. At this point, you should be able to link your primary Pokemon Go account to it without any further issues.
