Looking for the best Pokémon Go hacks and cheats? We’ve rounded them up right here so you can find the Pokémon you need and catch them as effectively as possible. Here’s our handy guide to hacking Pokémon Go.
If you’re one of the diehard Pokémon Go fans still obsessed with Niantic’s game, you’re likely at a point where the whole walking around thing is getting a tad dull.
Luckily, there’s a load of hacks you can use to limit the walking, and still ensure you come across the right creatures while racking up the mileage to help your eggs hatch.
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1) Turn off augmented reality
This is a hack that’s so basic we don’t even know if we should mention it, but if you’re using augmented reality to play Pokémon Go then you’re making life far too hard for yourself.
Although it’s cool being able to see a Pokémon sitting around in the real world, having to wave your phone around to hunt for it is a chore, and it adds precious time when you just want to catch something quickly.
So do yourself a favour, and turn it off at the first opportunity. There’s a button to do so on the top right of the screen when you’re in catching mode that’ll let you easily do so.
2) Make friends
Although real-world friends have always been a fun addition to the world of Pokémon Go (seriously, nothing makes the grind pass faster), they recently became a much more crucial addition to the game thanks to the addition of in-game friends.
Once you’ve exchanged friend codes with someone, this opens up a world of possibilities. You’ll get ‘gifts’ from PokéStops which you can give to friends to get exclusive 7km eggs and -more importantly – you’ll finally be able to trade Pokémon at long last.
Having useful friends takes a little bit of work. Each friendship has a ‘friend level’ which increases as you interact. This reduces the amount of stardust you have to spend in order to trade, and will also give you attacking bonus when you do raids together.
Make no mistake, friends are an essential part of the raid experience in Pokémon Go. Sure, you can probably tackle low-level raids by yourself, but if you want to handle the high-level battles (which will net you legendary Pokémon in the process) then you’re going to have to approach them as a group.
Of course, if raids sound like too much effort, you can always…
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3) Use field research to catch rare Pokémon
Field research is one of the easiest ways to get access to some of the rarest Pokémon in the game.
Every time you complete a piece of field research you earn a stamp. You can only earn one stamp a day, but if you get seven stamps then you’ll unlock that month’s ‘Research Breakthrough’, which typically is a legendary Pokémon that you could previously only get through difficult raid battles.
There have been some great Pokémon available through this method. At the time of writing (July 2018), you can get a Snorlax using this method, but next month you’re going to be able to get your hands on Raikou.
Completing a research task a day can seem a little daunting, but it gets a lot easier once you realise you can delete research tasks with no penalty. So delete any that you don’t think you can handle on your daily commute (for example) and then easily complete whatever’s left. You pick up more research tasks whenever you have a spare slot when you spin a PokéStop.
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4) Tap into community knowledge about spawn locations
This one’s a little variable based on where you live in the world, but for a while now the Silph Road has had a community maintained atlas which keeps track of ‘nests’, where you’ll be able to find certain Pokémon.
However, because this map is community maintained, it relies upon people manually reporting where they find various creatures, it might not be reliable if no one in your area is using it. It’s not an automatic service like we saw back in the early days of the game’s initial release.
Still, if there’s no one around you using it, then why not be the person to start?
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5) Beat the grind by being clever about your Lucky Eggs and evolutions
Lucky Eggs are an item in Pokémon Go that doubles the amount of XP you get throughout the game. From the game’s early days, these eggs have been a crucial part of grinding for XP, and that’s still the case now. The only difference in 2018 is that you now have a lot more options for how you can earn XP, and hence you can get a lot cleverer with how you use your eggs.
The evolution trick is still one of the best in the book. Evolving a Pokémon gets you 500 XP, so if you’re using a Lucky Egg then this doubles to 1000 XP. You can maximise your gains if you do all of your evolving when you’ve got Lucky Eggs active, and it works especially well if you’re evolving a Pokémon into a creature that you haven’t caught before.
But if you want to get really clever with Lucky Eggs then you can time a number of high XP activities to occur within the same double XP window. Why not try timing your day seven daily bonuses for PokéStops and first catches of the day and maybe even catch a Pokémon using a curved throw as well to really eke everything you can out of that one egg?
Speaking of curved throws…
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6) Curve balls almost double your catch chances
You’ve got a lot of options if you want to catch difficult Pokémon, and the numbers are only going up as the game receives more and more updates.
Originally you could use Great or Ultra Balls to increase your chances. a Great Ball would increase your chances by 1.5x and an Ultra Ball would double them to 2x.
You could also time your throws to get Great or Excellent Throws which would give you a 1.3x and 1.5x bonus appropriately.
Later, Niantic added Razz Berries, which increased your chances as much as a Great Ball.
The problem with all of these, is that they’re finite resources that you have to work quite hard to get, and there’s a much easier way to increase your chances.
They’re called curve balls, and you pull them off by spinning the Poké ball before you throw it at your target. Doing this gets you a 1.7x bonus, which is better than both Razz Berries and Great Balls.
Of course, if you’re really desperate (or if you’re trying to catch a Pokémon that’s really high level), then you can combine these tactics to devastating effect.
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7) Know what berries and items can do
Since the game originally launched, Niantic has added a number of new items to the game which you can use in your quest.
The most common of these are berries. Razz Berries (as outlined above), increase your catch chances to 1.5x (Golden Razz Berries increase this chance yet further). Pinap Berries double the amount of candies you get from catching a Pokémon (useful if you’re trying to evolve something rare) and finally Nanab Berries calm Pokémon down to make them easier to hill with your Poké Balls.
There are also a number of items that offer exclusive evolutions for your Pokémon. These will drop randomly from PokéStops, but you can increase your chances by getting the daily PokéStop bonus seven days in a row.
Here are the specific uses for each of the evolution items:
- Sun Stone: Evolve Gloom to Bellossum or Sunkern toSunflora
- Kings Rock: Evolve Poliwhirl to Politoed or Slowpoke to Slowking
- Metal Coat: Evolve Onix to Steelix or Scyther to Scizor
- Dragon Scale: Evolve Seadra to Kingdra
- Up Grade: Evolve Porygon to Porygon 2
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8) Wearables aren’t perfect, but they can help if you’re committed
Neither the Pokémon Go Plus or the Apple Watch app will completely revolutionise how you play Pokémon Go, but they can be useful additions if you know how to use them.
In essence, the problem with both is that they haven’t really kept pace with the new features that have been added to the game over time. Although you can catch Pokémon using the Pokémon Go Plus accessory, you can’t use any of the new items to make your job easier, and you’ve never been able to see exactly what Pokémon you’re trying to catch.
The Apple Watch app is a little more useful since it shows you what Pokémon you’ve encountered, but you can’t catch the creature from your smart watch.
Neither wearable gives you the ability to view ‘Sightings’ in order to move towards Pokémon you want to catch.
That said, both can be useful so long as you keep your expectations in check. If you’ve got Eggs you want to hatch then both can be a great way of racking up the miles, and the same is true of using your buddy to earn Candy.
It’s not the most useful functionality in the world, but it can be a good way to squeeze play sessions into a packed day.
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Got any other nifty Pokémon Go hacks to share? Let us know @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
