John Alas
Pokémon GO Update Removes Battery Saving Mode and Footprint Tracking
Time to buy a portable battery.
08.02.16 - 8:43 PM

Pokémon GO's latest update has removed the battery save mode (on iOS only) and the footprint tracking system. While those are the two most substantial changes, there have been more tweaks to the game including nerfing overpowered Pokémon such as Vaporeon and Lapras, giving the 'favorite' feature more functionality, trainer re-customization and safety warnings.

With the footprint tracking system now completely gone, the nearby map simply shows up to nine nearby Pokémon. While this makes it more difficult to find a specific creature (not that it was very accurate to begin with), it appears that Pokémon now have to be closer to appear on the map. The battery saving mode is another feature that will be going away with the latest update. Some players had complained in the past that battery saving mode made their game unresponsive by not responding to touch screen input while animations would continue to run. While the battery saving mode was useful for power conservation, it is now no more. (All the more reason to buy a battery pack for those long outings!)

pokemon go logo

A few more notable changes included the relocation of the transfer button, a change to the favorites feature and warnings. When going to view a Pokémon's description, there is now an additional button on the lower right corner of the screen that will bring up 'favorite' and 'transfer' options. The 'favorite' feature now has the ability to prevent a pokemon from being transferred, making it far less likely that players will accidentally get rid of valuable Pokémon. Safety warnings will now pop up on the screen every time the you boot up the game, mainly common sense reminders such as, "Do not trespass while playing Pokémon GO" and "Do not play Pokémon GO" while driving.

Lastly, many of the third party Pokémon scanning services such as Pokévision have shut down for the time being. Pokévision released this tweet saying that it is respecting Nintendo and Niantic's wishes by taking its map down.

Pokémon GO has been a global phenomenon and we at RPGFan have been part of it. Check out our feature to read more about some of our staff's experiences with this game.


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