The Internet is going crazy with Pokemon Go information. We cut through the noise and bring to you a simple guide to help you get started and master the most popular game at the moment.
Using Nearby
- When on the game home screen, a button on the bottom right of the screen will show you nearby Pokemon
- There are a few footsteps under each Pokemon which indicate the distance between you and the monster. One step means that it is close by while two or three steps mean that it is further away.
- If there are no footsteps, that means it’s very close by. Tap on it in the menu and it will appear on the map. Good luck capturing it!
- When capturing, don’t use the power and home button on your iPhone and iPad to capture a screenshot. Simply take the camera button and take a picture and it will be saved to your Photos app.
Capture difficult creatures with Razz Berries
Pokemon can sometimes jump out of a Pokeball after you capture them. Razz Berries make it easy to capture the tricky ones and save Pokeballs.
- Purchase Razz Berries with in-game currency or earn them by visiting Pokestops frequently
- Tap the Pokeball on the bottom of the screen, to access the sub-menu. Select Items in the sub-menu to use Razz Berries when capturing Pokemon.
Using Lure Modules
- Lure Modules attached to Pokestops attract Pokemon for 30 minutes. On the map, if you see it’s “raining” over a Pokestop, that means it has a Lure Module attached to it.
- So, either activate your own Lure Modules from your Items list in the sub-menu or look for Pokestops with Lure Modules attached by other players.
Always have an egg in an Incubator
Kill two birds with one stone. Before you begin your walk to capture new Pokemon, keep an egg in an Incubator. As as you walk across streets, parks, or malls, you are setting yourself to hatch these eggs to get new monsters.
Here’s how:
- Tap the Pokeball to access the sub-menu
- In the sub-menu, select Pokemon and then click on ‘eggs’ at the top
- Select the Incubator icon on the right at the bottom of the screen
- Place the Incubator on your preferred egg
To hatch eggs of rare Pokemon, you will have to walk longer distances, which will take more time. If you do not feel like walking between 2 to 10 KM to hatch an egg, then you can incubate an egg on a bicycle. You can trick the app into thinking that you are walking since it is slower than being in a car and faster than walking.
Know your collection
Have a 3D look and hear the sound to your captured Pokemon
- Tap on the Pokeball at the bottom of the home screen
- Select the sub-menu and select the one you want to see and hear
- Rotate the creatures left and right with your finger to get a 3D view
- Tap to hear it roar
Find out the time and date when you caught one
- You can also use the Journal to track when you caught a certain Pokemon or see how many you caught in a day. Tap the bottom left button on the home screen and tap the Journal button under the XP count to see the timeline.
Find out how much you have walked so far while playing the game
- Go to your profile and scroll down and tap on the Jogger achievement to see how many kilometers have you walked so far.
Throw Curve Pokeballs to win XP bonus points
- On the capture screen, spin the ball several times in circles. The Pokeball will lighten up and sparks will come out of it to indicate you are curving the ball correctly
- Then, flick it towards the creature
- Earn XP bonus points by capturing it with curve balls
- It is slightly difficult to get a curve Pokeball on target so be careful when capturing new/rare Pokemon
Earn ‘Great throw’ bonus points
- When capturing a Pokemon, you will see a shrinking yellow circle in front of it
- Throw Pokeball in the yellow circle and you will earn a “great throw” XP bonus.
Evolve to make them more powerful and win Gym battles
- Evolve your Pokemon by capturing the same one over and over again and earn stardust and candy. Once you have enough candy, you can evolve it to its next form to make it stronger
- After evolving it to its final form, power-up by using stardust and candy
- Powerful Pokemon fare better in Gym battles
- Don’t power them up until you have evolved them, since it requires a lot more candies to do so. You can later power up them easily with lesser candy requirement.
Do not get tired of capturing the same one, again and again. Each one of them is valuable, even the lower-level ones.
Earn more XP with Lucky Eggs
Earn some extra points with the following:
- Lucky Eggs let you earn double experience points for 30 minutes
- XP: catching and evolving Pokemon
- Catching new ones: 100 XP
- Evolving an existing one: 500 XP
- With Lucky egg in play, earn additional XP
- Capturing new ones: 200 XP
- Evolving an existing one: 1000 XP
Preferably, use Incense or activate a Lure Module at the same time as a Lucky Egg. It will attract Pokemon for 30 minutes, a perfect time for you to earn lots of Experience Points (XP).
Organization
- Tap the icon right corner at the bottom of the main Pokemon menu and it will display different sorting options to choose from.
- You can sort the list in alphabetical order, according to their Combat points (CP), Health Points (HP), by recently captured and so on.
- You can also rename them to whatever name you want.
Save Battery while playing
- Tap the Pokeball and go to Settings menu on the upper right corner of the screen.
- Click on Battery saver option to prolong battery usage.
- In the Battery saver mode, you can also flip your phone upside down to dim the screen to save battery.
- It is also wise to enable Low Power Mode on your iOS device to save additional battery life since walking around with GPS on and 3D graphics uses a lot of power.
Read our detailed coverage on how to save battery when playing.
Stay in touch with the community
It is a good idea to stay in touch with other players by using an app like RazorGo which lets you chat in one-to-one or group conversations with other players.
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