New Pokemon Go update removes footsteps, resets progress

Aspiring Pokemon trainers may want to hold off on downloading the newest update for Pokemon Go, as players are reporting several issues with the game post-patch, including their progress being reset and the removal of the game’s tracking feature.

Players on the Pokemon Go subreddit have reported many of the bugs, including problems with the GPS system and their trainer levels being reset to zero, but fans are more angry about the removal of one key feature.  The “footstep” feature, which used a scale of one-to-three footsteps to give players an idea of how close they were to their target, has been completely removed.  While many derided the footsteps system as difficult to read and somewhat inaccurate, its removal means that players have no way of knowing how far away they are from Pokemon.  This, along with the shutdown of the tracking app Pokevision, makes catching em’ all much more difficult.

Also among the changes made in the new update for this year’s most popular smartphone game is the removal of the battery saver function from the iOS version, some changes to the damage values of various attacks, and a few minor visual tweaks, such as the ability to customize your trainer at any time.

For more on Pokemon Go, check out our editorial on what made it so popular.