Pokémon GO’s ‘Buddy’ update has begun rolling out

Are you still playing through Pokémon GO? Ever wanted to mount a Pikachu to your shoulder as you journey through an augmented world? Well, today is your lucky day!

Published yesterday to the official Pokémon GO Facebook page was an announcement by the developers regarding the games most recent update. Amongst the changes was the implementation of the ‘buddy system’ which allows players to select their Poké buddy and get rewarded for it with candy. Once your buddy has been selected, walking with your Pokémon GO app running will start generating that Pokémon’s candy for you. The amount of walking needed before you’re rewarded will change depending on which Pokémon you have selected.

Alongside the buddy system, a small collection of other changes went through with the update. These include:

• Made it easier to select smaller Pokémon on the screen.
• Fixed an issue where Eggs would sometimes hatch without displaying the animation.
• Improved performance reliability when a device switches networks to no longer cause the application to hang or stop updating.
• Pokémon GO Plus support
• Minor text fixes.

The ‘buddy’ change may seem small but it will be very useful for getting the last little bit of candy you need or perhaps you’ll think more long term and use the update to help you grind out a Dragonite or Gyarados. The update has begun rolling out and you should expect to have it on Android or iOS today.