Catch up with the latest Pokémon Go news, new features and events.
Pokémon Go is constantly evolving, just like your Pokémon. Well, hopefully if you’re doing it right. Keep up-to-date on all the latest announcements here.
Here’s a summary of what’s happening in May, with more details below:
The latest news is that Alohan forms of Pokémon will start appearing in Pokémon Go over the next few weeks.
Rather than being entirely new Pokémon, these are Alola variants of Kanto Pokémon such as Ninetales, Raichu and Muk and quite a few more.
GO Fest will again be held in Chicago in Lincoln Park on 14-15 July 2018. Tickets are already sold out, and Niantic is promising that trainers all around the world will get to participate locally even if they can’t get to Chicago. Details will be coming soon.
Avid Pokémon enthusiast Doctor PoGo found himself on the same flight as Niantic CEO John Hanke and ended up with the scoop on new features coming to Pokémon GO. Here’s a summary of what’s confirmed and what’s in the pipeline:
Confirmed:
In the pipeline:
In order to give players more motivation to meet up, there is now a featured Pokémon to catch once per month on Community Day. The Pokémon has exclusive moves, and there are bonuses such as more XP or Stardust.
The next one is on Saturday 16 June (10am-1pm in the UK) and is rumoured to feature Larvitar. It’s also virtually guaranteed that there will be shiny versions to catch and evolve, too.
You can check the Community Day page to see the details of the next event. Note that you must evolve a pokémon during the event hours in order to get the exclusive move for the featured Pokémon. TMs will not give you the special move either during or after the event.
Below is a list of the latest Pokémon to available catch, hatch or evolve.
Whismur Loudred Exploud Nosepass Aron Lairon Aggron – also available as a Raid boss Numel Camerupt Torkoal Trapinch Vibrava Flygon Cacnea Cacturne Lunatone – regional exclusive Solrock – regional exclusive Baltoy Claydol Lileep Cradily Armaldo Shelgon Bagon Metagross Metang Beldum Rayquaza – in legendary raids until 16 March Kyogre – in legendary raids (not currently in game) Groudon – in legendary raids (not currently in game) Salamence
Following a discovery of quests in the game code a little while back, they were officially announced in a blog post. They’re called ‘Research’ rather than quests, but here’s what’s involved.
There are two types of research: Field Research and Special Research. There’s a brief description below, but much more in-depth detail in our Pokémon Go Research guide.
You collect one Field Research task by spinning a PokéStop. Doing this will give you challenges such as ‘Catch a Dragon-type Pokémon’ and ‘Win 3 gym battles’. And completing some of those challenges will give you rewards that you currently get only by successfully defeating raid bosses. Harder challenges will yield better rewards, including the chance to catch rate Pokémon such as Tangela.
On the main game screen, you access these challenges via a new binoculars icon which replaces the weather icon that has been moved to the top right of the screen.
Completing one Field Research task will earn you a ‘Stamp’. Collect seven stamps at your own pace – there’s no need to maintain a daily streak – to achieve a ‘Research Breakthrough’. This is a bigger reward: you get 2000 Stardust, 20 PokéBalls and an encounter with a Pokémon – the first is Moltres, the Legendary bird.
Being given rewards such as Technical Machines and the chance once per week to catch a Legendary will be a massive boon to rural players who might otherwise struggle to find enough players to beat a tier 5 Raid Boss.
The premise for Special Research is to find out if the strange happenings around the world are “connected to the Mythical Pokémon Mew”. You must complete tasks to progress through eight stages of the research, with the final stage being the opportunity to encounter and catch Mew.
Also, if you haven’t tried it yet, ARKit has landed in Pokemon GO in the form of AR+. Here’s a guide on how to use AR+.
The new mode provides an enhanced augmented reality experience with better tracking and general performances boosts. The catch? It’s available only to iOS users running iOS 11 on an iPhone 6s or newer. See how to update your iPhone here.
Niantic has officially ended support for the game on devices which can’t be updated to iOS 11. That means iPhone 5 and 5C (and all previous 32-bit models).
If you play on an iPad, it means the game will work only on iPad Air or later, and iPad mini 2 onwards. The full list of affected devices is here.
Basically, Niantic has stopped developing the 32-bit version of the app so it can focus on the 64-bit version, including adding more features and improving performance. This should also mean we see new features quicker.
Niantic clarified that you don’t have to update to iOS 11 to play: you simply need a 64-bit phone or iPad:
Top tip: If you are going to be playing Pokémon GO you are probably going to need a power bank. We highly recommend the Anker PowerCore 10,000 or Zendure A2 – pocketable, high-capacity batteries that charge your phone fast and are also pretty tough. If you’re taking out young kids who have tablets but not phones, it’s also worth considering Mi-Fi (mobile Wi-Fi routers).
There are now over 100 new monsters to catch from Gen III. A game update late in 2017 brought dynamic weather into the game, followed by the AR+ mentioned above.
Not only does the weather affect the visual effects and colour of the map, but it also effectively changes which Pokémon are likely to appear. So when it rains, you’ll see more Pokémon that prefer this weather such as Mudkip and Lotad. It also works well for Castform, a Pokémon which changes its form depending on the weather.
There’s a bonus too, as certain types of Pokémon are boosted by certain weather types. This increases their level (and Combat Power) and you’ll earn extra Stardust for catching weather-boosted Pokémon.
Here’s how sun, rain and snow affect the look of the map (which – incidentally – has changed from Google data to OpenStreetMap). You can read our guide to dynamic weather for more.
As explained in a blog post, the invitation system for EX Raid Battles has been tweaked again.
Here are some top tips on how to get an EX Raid pass, including which gyms are eligible.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara confirmed that both trading and PvP (player versus player) battles would be coming to Pokémon GO.
He said, “We’ve only accomplished 10 percent of what Pokémon and Niantic are trying to do, so going forward we will have to include fundamental Pokémon experiences such as Pokémon trading and peer-to-peer battles, and other possibilities.”
Legendaries aren’t out in the wild. So to catch one, you need to arrange to attend a Raid with at least 5-6 other players (more if players are below level 30).
It’s best to find a Battle at a Gym held by your own team since you’ll get more balls after defeating the Raid Boss at a gym you own.
You won’t be able to leave your legendary Pokémon in a gym to defend it, though.
If you don’t know enough people who play the game, download the Discord app. There are lots of ‘servers’ (groups) already set up for specific regions and areas for arranging Raids. You can also search for local Facebook groups.
Here’s how to get evolution items in Pokémon Go and how to use the search bar properly!
Gyms have been completely revamped since the game launched (not the battling mechanism, though).
