‘Pokémon Go’ Update Guide: How To Use New Green Grass Tracking System

Niantic has heard our cries and given us a new nearby tracker in Pokémon Go , hallelujah! In today’s update on Android and iOS , Niantic fixed some spinning ball bugs, brought back battery saver and are: “currently testing a variation of the "Nearby Pokémon" feature with a subset of users. During this period you may see some variation in the nearby Pokémon UI.”

If you click on the "Sightings" tab on the right of the screen, a window pops up with green grass behind some Pokémon. The green grass seems to be the new footprint. According to some sleuths on reddit and some testing on my part, I can say that these facts are true about the new tracker:

• Pokémon on the tab are the ones closest to you.

• The app refreshes every 10 seconds, and any Pokémon within 200 meters or a little over two football fields, gets added to the list.

• If a Pokémon despawns or you move too far away from it, it gets removed from the list.

• It also looks like the ones higher up on the list are closer, just like the old three-step tracker had.

• Lured Pokémon won’t appear on the list.

• It isn’t as precise as the old tracker was, with players only able to estimate where exactly their Pokémon are.

See how Weedle appears first on my tracker and he’s the only Pokémon next to me?

Overall, I think it’s a solid step in the right direction for Pokémon Go . Niantic has obviously listened and given us a solid replacement to the old tracker. We still don’t have battling, trading or access to third-party apps, but at least it’s a step in the direction.

EDIT: Turns out, there's also an even bigger change for select users. It seems like players in the San Francisco area already have access to these new features alongside some lucky players around the world.

• Each Pokémon is next to a Pokestop, we need more testing in order to prove how close they need to be to pop up.
• When you click the Pokémon and then the "View" button, it pans out and shows you where the Pokestop is.
• It's a much more precise way to find Pokémon.

Here's a video of the whole thing in action: