Pokémon GO update: what’s been added and removed in the new version

The arrival of the Pokémon GO app has been a huge success – taking the world by storm, encouraging budding trainers to head outside, and becoming so popular that its servers kept crashing.

But as with any software, bugs ended up appearing – and we’re not talking about Weedle or Caterpie. A new updated version of the game has been unleashed, adding and removing some features to help things run a bit more smoothly.

Here’s what’s changed in the software update.

1) The ‘foot tracker’ is gone

So far, hunting Pokémon in the app has been a mixture of thrilling and frustrating – the radar indicating which creatures are near and how far away they are appears to have been stuck. It wasn’t just you – everyone else found that those elusive monsters were just ‘three steps’ away.

In the update, the footstep system has gone – you’ll still see which Pokémon are near you (spoiler alert: they’re all Rattata and Drowzee), but you won’t know which is closest.

2) The battery-saving mode has been removed

As many players quickly found out, Pokémon GO is a real battery-drainer. Thankfully, there was a handy power-saving mode which allowed users to hold their phone upside down to turn the screen off, while still letting the app track your movement.

There was likely a problem with it, as the battery-save mode has now been removed from the iOS version. Has anyone got a spare power-bank?

3) Extra player warnings have been added

You’ve likely heard some of the stories that have gone around about Pokémon GO players getting into trouble in some way or another.

It seems the app makers have read them too, because the update gives you a warning every time you load it up. It’s all common sense stuff, telling you not to play the game while driving, and to be careful when in public places.

4) Some players seem to have lost their progress

Now here’s a Pokémon horror story – what if the game you’d sunk hours of play and miles of walking into, suddenly lost all of your progress?

Some players say this has happened to them with the update, but don’t panic just yet. Try logging out and back in to your Google account, and it should all be working again. Breathe.