Pokemon Go Eggs May Not Work the Way You Think

If you keep a close eye on your eggs in Pokemon Go, you may have noticed some discrepancies in how Pokemon Go tracks distances. Some players have noticed that they get credit for walking when the GPS signal jumps in game, even though they haven't moved at all. Other players have complained that they need to walk more than the five kilometers needed to hatch most eggs.

Today on /r/pokemongo, a longtime Ingress player named "Davedamon" shed some light on Pokemon Go's tracking system. While most players presumed the game used a phone's pedometer to track steps, the player noted that Pokemon Go used a phone's GPS to determine distance instead.

Davedamon also noted that the game used Ingress's refresh displacement system to determine distance instead of continuously tracking a player's movement. Basically, Pokemon Go periodically checks a player's position and charts the distance between their last position to determine how far they walked. That means that a player walking in circles or on a winding path may not get credit for the full distance walked.

Basically, this means that those tricks we showed you last week only work if your GPS signal is a little jumpy. If you want to hatch your eggs as quickly as possible in Pokemon Go, be sure to walk in straight lines as much as possible!

Pokemon Go is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe.