Pokémon GO Update Improves Distance Tracking and Apple Watch Version

I think it's likely they'll be fixing the glitch which has left some (Android) Pokémon Go players unable to play the game all throughout the New Year event. I know at least a couple of people in my Facebook group have only been able to play the game again for the first time last week.

Awesome! GPS drift has been bugging me for a while. I can clear a gym by myself pretty easilly... but after 3 or 4 battle drift causes an error & I have to wait an hour before facing the same gym again.

Now there's only one Pokémon thing left to update...

@AlexSora89 Battling, trading, Gen 2 or are we talking about Pokémon Bank. Not sure Niantic can do the last one.

@DanteSolablood
I said Pokémon-related, not Pokémon GO-related.
I would totally Bank on an update on other Pokémon software.

The change to GPS tracking may not be an improvement at all... GPS drift is virtually negligible while you're moving around... it balances itself out... it's when you're stationary that it causes the issue, and is what quite a few people exploit to hatch eggs without leaving their house (record player, ceiling fan, Pringles can, etc.).
What they're likely doing is actually just creating a buffer to ignore smaller changes in location, regardless of whether or not they're a result of drift... meaning that the distance it detects you as having travelled will likely be lower than it would have been before the update.

I'm still getting my daily catch and PokéStop bonuses, but other than five or six continent-exclusive or hard-to-evolve Pokémon, I've caught everything the game currently has to offer and I'm definitely bored. This game really could benefit from a Gen 2 branded shot in the arm.

@DanteSolablood I don't think the issues you're talking about are to do with GPS drift.
I know of someone who also couldn't play the game once the new years event started... but their problem was with their account... they contacted Niantic and got it sorted in no time.
And the gym issue I've had as well... it's a bug with the game itself that appears to be caused by the internet connection dropping out while you're challenging a gym... you're game will think the battle ended, while their system thinks it's still going, preventing you from starting another battle at that gym until their system sorts itself out.

@DragonEleven Oh, I didn't think the issue with people not being able to play was GPS drift, that was a separate issue. To be fair, I could still log into my game... just took me 3-4 tries before the game stopped freezing on me when launching. Still does this now pre-update.

As for the gym battle issue it does seem odd as I have full bars & 4G, is it the connection to the servers that's dropping out rather than my phone?

@DanteSolablood Data connections are very rarely completely stable... it's just that most services that use them are designed to compensate for it without you noticing... they just don't seem to have gotten this right in Pokemon GO, particularly with gyms.

PokeStops can actually cause a similar error... causing a successful spin to appear as if it failed when it didn't... you still get items, but it doesn't tell you, and the PokeStop remains blue until you restart the app or wait 5mins for the PokeStop to reset and spin it again.

Gen 1 baby! I don't play pokemon go anymore though cause of course red blue and yellow are better!

@ZurapiiYohane64 Yes. People do still play Pokemon GO. Video games don't have expiration dates!

I caught my 98th pokemon just today Still switch it on every week or so

I haven't missed a day of playing yet!

@SanderEvers
I wouldn't bank on it being as soon as I wish it was, though.

@bezerker99
So true! I'm still playing Pac-Man 37 years later but a game from last year as if, lol.

There's a lot more involved in this update, apparently the APK was datamined (as they always are). How much of that is preperation for future updates, I don't know.

I don't play the game, I play pokemon moon