By now most gamers are well aware of Pokémon GO, the massive mobile phenomenon that has been dominating the conversation for the past few weeks. Many are even engrossed in the experience, desperately trying to find any and every Pokémon type that they can.

To that point, many have likely spent much of their Pokémon GO time walking in circles or around blocks in the hopes of triggering a Pokémon spawn. By and large that can work, but with the tree-step glitch in play, there is a lot of guesswork involved. However, one helpful trick should help Pokémon GO players trigger Pokémon spawns nearly every time.

Pokemon GO and Ingress

The simple answer is that Pokémon GO players will be using developer Niantic’s other game, Ingress, to check information in the new game. Since Ingress has been around for a while the servers are much more stable, and the world is better populated with information. More importantly, Ingress and Pokémon GO share similar design DNA; Ingress was basically the proof of concept for what would eventually become Pokémon GO.

Obviously the first step is to install Ingress and open up the game on your mobile phone. You don’t need to know too much about the game, but those who want to check it out should know it’s actually quite fun. It’s basically a real life MMO.

Use Ingress to Find Pokemon

Once Ingress is downloaded and open, players will want to look for concentrations of XM, or exotic matter. In Ingress, XM is an important part of the game, but it’s also helpful for Pokémon GO.

Since Ingress and Pokémon GO share similar DNA, some have speculated that areas of high XM concentration are also places where Pokémon are more likely to spawn. It’s a theory that has been tested and for the most part works. So all players need to do is open Ingress, find an area where the XM dots are really concentrated, switch over to Pokémon GO, and hopefully a Pokémon will spawn.

Fixing the Tracker Tool

Granted, that doesn’t help when it comes to finding specific Pokémon, like the rare breeds out there, but those who are merely looking to catch as many as possible should use this trick as often as possible. Moreover, this trick will be very handy when players are in areas where region-specific Pokémon are said to spawn, as it will increase the likelihood of finding new types. For example, you could head near the water, check Ingress, and then catch all of the water types.

Eventually this Ingress trick won’t be necessary, but for now it can help work around the three-step glitch. When it did work, Pokémon GO’s tracker tool was actually pretty accurate, but now it’s nearly impossible to find the specific Pokémon players are looking for. Instead most are simply wandering around hoping that anything will spawn, and to better achieve that goal we’d recommend using Ingress.

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