Pokémon Go vision radius increased in new update

Niantic finally made a change players aren’t mad about

Update (27 Jun. 2023): It was fun while it lasted. Niantic says that the increased radius for seeing and interacting with Pokémon was indeed not an intended feature, but a bug, contradicting earlier statements it made towards creators.

Some Trainers may have experienced an increase to the current interaction radius. This was the unintended effect of a bug fix intended to improve the Pokémon encounter experience when your device is experiencing GPS drift. While we’re reverting this change, we will take your…

— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) June 27, 2023

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Original (27 Jun. 2023): It’s rare nowadays that Niantic makes changes to Pokémon Go, which the mobile game’s fans are actually happy with, but the latest update for the title achieved this feat: Once you update the game to version 0.275.0, you’ll immediately notice that you can see Pokémon spawning much further away from you, which dramatically increases the amount of Pokémon you can catch at any time. There are no more spawn points around you than before, but thanks to the enhanced vision radius you have gained access to many more.

While it’s always prudent to assume that anything in Pokémon Go, be it positive or negative, may be a bug, Niantic has confirmed towards influencers that this feature is both intended as well as permanent.

Players, whose relations with Niantic have been heavily strained ever since the controversial remote raid nerfs, are really happy with this change. It’s especially great for community members with physical disabilities, who were greatly affected by the remote raid nerfs, as this guarantees them better access to more Pokémon – though not the coveted Legendaries.

However, the update also seems to have introduced a new bug in connection with this change: Pokémon near the limit of the new range seem to stick around on the map even after they have been caught, so players have to tap them again to make them vanish or have their map slowly filled by Pokémon that technically no longer exist. It’s an error that’s more annoying than harmful, but hopefully Niantic will move swiftly to remedy the situation.

It looks like auto-catchers like Pokémon Go Plus are still only able to automatically net Pokémon inside the old range, but it’s possible that the upcoming Pokémon Go Plus+ device might come with the ability to use the full range.

In any case, Pokémon Go players are happy with being able to actually enjoy a positive change for once instead of having to fight the developer tooth and nail about its plans.

If version 0.275.0 is not automatically downloading for you, try going to the App Store to force an update. Otherwise you may simply have to be a bit more patient and wait until it rolls out in your area.