Despite the popularity of Pokémon Go, the game is flaky at best. Numerous bugs and glitches not only make it difficult to find Pokémon—giving rise to Pokemon tracking sites like PokéVision—but also to play the game without it crashing periodically. Fortunately, developer Niantic has pushed out the first major update to Pokémon Go—an update that promises to kill several of the smaller, more irritating bugs, as well as nix features that were causing players issues.

The most surprising change—particularly since Niantic has been trying to shut down sites like PokéVision—is the removal of the footprint feature, which was supposed to help players find pokémon by displaying a set of paw prints in the nearby pokémon tracker. Unfortunately, the feature never worked, and rather than hack a fix together, Niantic has pulled it completely. Whether it makes a return or not Niantic isn't saying, but hopefully something comes along to replace it: currently the only way to find pokémon is through blind luck, or word of mouth.

Indeed, numerous players took to Twitter and Reddit over the weekend to express their frustration with Niantic removing the three steps feature and shutting down Pokémon Go tracking sites, leaving them with no way of accurately tracking down the pokémon they need. That said, while PokéVision has been shut down, the similar Trackémon website is still up and showing the real-time location of Pokémon.

So to fix the "three step glitch" @PokemonGoApp remove the steps all together. How are we supposed to track where he Pokemon are?#pokemongo — Swifon (@Swifongaming) July 31, 2016

@NianticLabs did you remove 3 step to fix it or is it gone for good? how are we meant to track our pokemon now?! you're killin us here guys — Stewy (r4z0r3) (@_R4Z0R3_) July 31, 2016

iOS players will notice that the battery saver feature has also been removed. The feature was supposed to dim the screen when the phone was held down by a player's side, but was instead the cause of numerous crashes. Again, Niantic has given no indication as to whether its removal is a temporary measure, or a more permanent solution.

Some level 20 players also report that the update resets their progress. There appears to be a fix by using an alternative Google account to login, but without having an account that has suffered from the issue we've not been able to test it (mine updated with no problems).

The latest Pokémon Go update isn't all bad, though, and for this player at least (on Android), the game has been noticeably faster to load, with sharper visuals and no crashes during play. Other useful features include the ability to edit the appearance of your trainer at any time, as well as prevent favourited pokémon from being sent off to the professor's glue factory.

Warnings have also been added whenever players open the app, reminding them to stay aware of their surroundings, not to trespass while playing, and not to enter dangerous areas. There's also a warning not to play the game while driving which—given the numerous Pokémon Go-related traffic incidents in Japan—is sound advice.

Finally, over the last few days the spawn locations of certain pokémon have been changed, and some pokéstops have been shifted around as well. The strength of various battle moves have also been adjusted, so if you've got a favourite place to pick up some pocket monsters, or a set of moves that you're into, it might be time to think up some new strategies.