Pokemon GO news: HUGE flaw found after Gen 2 Christmas update
POKEMON Go's Gen 2 December update encourages players to walk more, which is exactly what the Niantic app needed, according to new research.
Pokemon Go fitness tracking benefits
Pokemon Go may be one of the most popular apps of all time, but its fitness benefits are flawed according to new research.
Developer Niantic just released a Pokemon Go Gen 2 update featuring new characters that are hatched from eggs.
While this should encourage players to do more walking, a Harvard University study (via the British Medical Journal) has revealed that Pokemon Go only had a short-term boost on the number of daily steps taken by players.
Pokemon Go players recorded more steps in the week of launch, but this number dropped back to pre-install levels after a six week period.
According to the BMJ: "By the sixth week after installation, the number of daily steps had gone back to pre-installation levels. No significant effect modification of Pokemon GO was found by sex, age, race group, bodyweight status, urbanity, or walkability of the area of residence.
The conclusion states: "Pokemon GO was associated with an increase in the daily number of steps after installation of the game. The association was, however, moderate and no longer observed after six weeks."
Prior to the release of the latest Pokemon Go Gen 2 December update, Niantic was rumoured to be reducing the number of steps required to hatch eggs.
This was reportedly in order to combat the effects of the cold weather, meaning players wouldn't have to venture out for quite so long.
Instead, Niantic released seven Baby Pokemon that can be hatched from eggs, as well as alternative versions of Pikachu wearing Santa hats.
Pokemon Go Baby Pokemon include Igglypuff, Magby, Elekid, Cleffa, Pichu, Smoochum and Togepi.
More Pokémon are appearing on Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go developer Niantic has issued a new update that makes essential changes to the Pokemon hunting app.
The new Pokemon Go update makes it possible to transfer multiple Pokemon to Professor Willow in a single transaction.
This massive time saver improves on the previous system, where users would have to transfer Pokemon individually.