Pokémon GO has received a small, unassuming update. This might help you identify rare monsters faster.
If you catch many monsters in Pokémon GO, you will eventually reach a point where your Pokémon box is full. If this is the case, you will inevitably need to sort out your box and send some monsters to the professor.
A new update that has just been released can help you with this and ensure that you can identify Pokémon you want to keep or trade faster.
Small Icons, Big Help
What kind of update is this? In the Pokémon box, you will see at a glance, via icons, which monsters are Shiny or Lucky Pokémon. You do not have to click on the monsters first.
The update has added 2 additional variants to these icons. These now indicate whether a monster has a special background and if it has a special background that was present at one of the major local events.
Pokémon that have a special background now have an icon made up of 3 symbols, while monsters with special backgrounds from local events have a globe as an icon.
You can see what this looks like in this post on Reddit:
What is the advantage of this? This small update now helps you to see at a glance which monsters have a special background. Previously, trainers had no quick way to do this and therefore had to give the monsters an appropriate nickname to quickly identify these Pokémon in the overview.
Additionally, this change can help you quickly sort out monsters. This can be particularly useful during events like Community Day when your box is full, and you want to catch more specimens quickly without sending away monsters with special backgrounds. You can find another tip for sorting here.
Also, this can be advantageous for trading with other trainers, as you can directly recognize the corresponding monsters at a glance.
Why can’t I see the icons yet? If you do not see the icons in your game yet, check to see if you can initiate the update for the game. Otherwise, you will have to be patient for a few more days, as Niantic likes to roll out updates gradually and not all players receive them at the same time.
The current month is once again packed with various contents. This includes events, raid bosses, as well as Dynamax monsters. If you want an overview of what content is currently upcoming, feel free to check out our overview with all events in March 2026 in Pokémon GO.
