Pokémon GO Update “Fixes” Three-Step Glitch by Completely Removing Steps

For a couple weeks now, many trainers have been pestered by Pokémon GO’s glitch that displays all Pokémon as three steps away, implying the greatest possible distance. Pokémon GO was meant to display Pokémon as either one, two, or three steps away. It was never actually made clear how far a “step” was, as it seemed Pokémon that were three steps away were actually miles away. This was made all the worse by the glitch that caused all Pokémon to be displayed as three steps away. Niantic has now released an update that “fixes” the glitch by simply removing the feature entirely.

Pokémon GO still displays nearby Pokémon, but it no longer says how far away they are. As it was never clear how the step feature actually worked to begin with, this likely won’t affect the majority of trainers’ experience. Niantic will presumably reintegrate the feature once it is working and, hopefully, easy-to-understand. It does suck somewhat for players, considering that the feature worked as intended when the game was first released, but was broken during further updates.

The update also brings with it the ability to customize your avatar after the initial creation. To do this, click on your avatar’s picture in the bottom left and then click on the button on the bottom right to bring up the “Customize” option.

This update also rebalances many Pokémon moves. You can find the full list of move power changes here, though most notably it’s resulted in Vaporeon—one of the strongest Pokémon in Pokémon GO —being nerfed by reducing the power of its main attack, Water Gun.

Lastly, upon first opening Pokémon GO after the update, you’ll be greeted with a slightly comical message that warns “Do not trespass while playing Pokémon GO” or “Do not play Pokémon GO while driving.” Okay Niantic, duly noted.