‘Pokémon GO’ Update: ‘Sightings’ Tracking Feature, Safety Prompts, Battery Saver

"Pokémon GO" received an update Monday that brought numerous minor tweaks to the app, the most significant of which, however, was rolled out to only some players as a test. This was “Sightings,” a tracking feature that Niantic is testing as a replacement for the now-defunct “Nearby” feature.

In the changelog for the iOS version of the app, Niantic lists this feature as “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.” Paul Tassi of Forbes was one of the people who got this feature with his update.

Tassi’s first comment on “Sightings” is, “It works. It actually works.” The feature works by scanning the area near the player every 10 seconds, Tassi explains, and says that “if implemented broadly without breaking the servers, this very well may be the permanent fix fans are looking for.”

Among other improvements is a safety feature that reminds trainers not to play while driving. “Trainers must confirm they are not driving in order to continue playing,” the changelogs for both iOS and Android say. Trainers also now have the option to change their nicknames but they can do so once only.

For iOS, issues with battery-saver mode have been resolved and the feature re-enabled, and the accuracy of the curveball throw has been improved as well. There are other minor fixes as well.

The version 1.3.0 download is 61MB for Android, while the iOS download is much larger at 106MB.