Pokemon Go's newest update is live and with it comes a major change to the game's "nearby tracker". The tracker originally helped players locate nearby Pokemon with the use of small footprint icons undernath a Pokemon's picture in the tracker's window. As a player got closer to a Pokemon, the footprints would disappear to let the player know they were getting close.

Niantic disabled the tracker a few weeks ago, allegedly due to the strain it put on the game's servers. The "three step bug" became a major frustration for players and led to the creation of several unofficial tracker apps/websites like Pokevision that let players see exactly where nearby Pokemon were. The new update gets rid of the "three step bug" entirely....namely by getting rid of the footprints.

Niantic Labs didn't fix the problem and it appears they've made the game harder for fans. While the game originally continued to show Pokemon for 100 meters after they were encountered, the update now only shows Pokemon for 70 meters afterwards. (The original article mistakenly stated the TRACKER showed Pokemon within 70 meters, which would have improved the game, but the actual change makes it harder for players to find Pokemon.)

We're still testing the new nearby tracker out, but it also appears that the Pokemon are arranged in no particular order. The first Pokemon in the nearby tracker's window isn't necessarily the Pokemon that you're closest to. Take that observation with a grain of salt, though.

It's not the fix that many players were hoping for, but the new nearby tracker may make things a bit easier on Pokemon Go players. We'll have to see if Niantic brings back the nearby tracker in a future update.