Pokémon GO has established itself as the most successful mobile game in history, but a few of its features were so broken that a rewiring was quickly demanded by the large user base.
Developer Niantic Lab's latest update of the game tweaks the Nearby tool, in an attempt to get back on the good side of the community. The Nearby tracking system was crafted with helping users in mind, so that they can hunt for Pokémon in a logical fashion, removing the aimless walking and guesswork from the gameplay.
The changelog states that the Nearby tracking system was substantially enhanced via the addition of a Sightings feature, and is now under testing from "a subset of users."
So, how does it work?
After the update, the "Nearby" drawer contains two parts: Nearby and Sightings.
Nearby displays the tiny monsters that are located near a PokéStop. By tapping one from the list, gamers get the map zoomed up in an overhead view, which directs them to the appropriate PokéStop.
According to Niantic, the Pokémon that shows up in Nearby should be located in the vicinity PokéStop; user reports, however, point out that the actual distance between it and the PokéStop is one block, give or take.
Another thing to pay attention to is that PokéStops come with circles around them, resembling those encompassing around the player. Should a Pokémon be within the circle, the games will consider it as "Nearby" that PokéStop.
Pokémon in the Sightings part of the drawer are displayed with grass behind them, instead of a PokéStop image, meaning that they are roaming wild and are certainly not in the proximity of a PokéStop. So far, users who tap a Pokémon in Sightings will see no change or additional information. The adorable critters in Sightings are not displayed by distance, so all you do know about them is that they are not near a PokéStop.
For those of you who have just updated the app hoping to see the new Nearby section getting the update, read on.
The update is still in beta with the aforementioned "subset" of users, which sources say are mainly gamers in San Francisco. Multiple gamers reported on seeing only the Sightings piece, despite being near PokéStops.
Keep in mind that Niantic calls the system a testing ground, which means that it could suffer significant modifications before it goes live. If it reaches that point, that is. Insiders from the fan base have repeatedly complained that rural players are lacking PokéStops, and the new system does not seem to help them too much.
Take a peek below for a few extra details about the contents of the update, or read more about it in our coverage.
- Should a Pokémon despawn before you find it, it will completely disappear from the Nearby/Sightings drawer.
This is good news, as a previous bug used to cause despawned Pokémon to remain in the drawer until something else replaces it or you force-quit the game. This meant that players were led on to hunt pointlessly for monsters that were no longer there.
- Another positive change is that when a player distances from a Pokémon, it automatically disappears from the tracking radar.
- Those who are unlucky enough to start chasing a Nearby Pokémon and it despawns will immediately get a pop-up announcing that it is gone.
