In Pokémon GO you can expect changes to the AR features. We summarize everything important here.
What is changing in Pokémon GO? As Niantic announced in the “Pokémon GO Help Center”, some changes will be made to the augmented reality features of Pokémon GO. This affects the functionalities that connect your camera to the game – for example, when you want to take photos of your buddy monsters in the “real” world, or when you want to catch wild monsters.
AR in the Wild: Here Niantic announces that you no longer need AR for special Pokémon like Celebi or Mew. These monsters were directly linked to the feature when caught.
However, trainers noted that there now appears to only be the “AR+” feature when catching in the wild, no longer the “normal” AR feature. The difference here is that AR+ places the monsters at a fixed point in the environment and integrates them into the real world. You can then walk around them, among other things. However, you first need to find them by clicking on grass animations on the screen.
The “normal” AR mode basically just replaced the normal catch screen with your camera image, and the Pokémon simply appeared in the middle. This no longer seems to exist.
For catches completely without AR, nothing changes for now. Those who do not generally use the feature will notice no difference.
AR with Buddy: Here too, you can now only use “AR+”, no more “normal” AR. However: With the buddy, you can also completely disable AR in the settings, which is new. Then the background simply looks like this:
AR Photos in the Collection: Monsters in your collection can now also only be photographed with AR+, as it currently appears. If you want to take a quick snapshot of them, you can briefly select them as buddies to use the disabled AR function.
Trainers speak of advantages and disadvantages
In the reddit community for Pokémon GO, “TheSilphRoad”, the changes among trainers are already causing discussions. They currently see an advantage but also a disadvantage regarding the innovations (via reddit).
As an advantage, some trainers mention that they no longer have to take buddy photos with any strange backgrounds from the real world to get the hearts they need, to increase the buddy level. Now they can simply use the AR off option and thus utilize the neutral background. However, those who liked the “static” buddy photos now have to give them up or use AR+.
Regarding the disadvantage, however, players are reporting who enjoyed using the “normal” AR mode for quick catches. The AR mode saved some catch animations and thus made the catching process a bit quicker. This was especially helpful when searching for Shinys, as you wanted to quickly click through many monsters to find the shiny versions.
Now, you always have to look for a suitable surface to find the Pokémon or, in the buddy case, to place it.
What do you think of the changes? Tell us in the comments. And what else is happening in the game this month is shown in the overview of all events in Pokémon GO in April 2024.
