By now it’s pretty clear that Pokémon GO is the biggest mobile gaming phenomenon in quite some time, and it isn’t showing any sign of letting up. However, while kids and adults alike are devouring the product, most agree that Pokémon GO is not without its flaws. One especially has been causing problems for its players, making it very difficult to track those rare Pokémon.

As we have already detailed, using the tracker tool in Pokémon GO is fairly simple. Check to see the number of footprints attached to a desired Pokémon, walk in any direction until those footprints decrease, and then hopefully said Pokémon will appear. It’s a pretty simple process, but a recent bug has made it a little more difficult.

According to many players, there is a bug within Pokémon GO that keeps all nearby Pokémon locked at a distance of three footprints. And no matter how much the person moves in any direction, those footprints don’t change. It’s actually something that we have encountered while playing, but it’s not a consistent problem. The bug creeps up and then goes away without any rhyme or reason.

The good news is that the bug doesn’t lock the player out of catching Pokémon – some will still appear on the map regardless – but pursuing a specific type of Pokémon may prove pointless. Our best suggestion to fixing the problem is restarting the app, but even that isn’t a guaranteed fix.

As of right now developer Niantic has not acknowledged whether this is, in fact, a bug or just some sort of random occurrence. But the amount of players reporting the problem suggests it could be something worth looking into, and hopefully fixing.

It could easily be that the server struggles of Pokémon GO are causing the three-step lock, and that once things ease a bit the issue will go away. With massive popularity like Pokémon GO’s, there is bound to be a ton of stress put on the servers, and in turn elements of the always-online experience will be affected. Not to mention when a DDOS attack cripples the servers.

Although Pokémon GO has enjoyed tremendous success in its first few weeks of release – including $14 million in the first days of sales – there are still many areas where the game can improve. Obviously, players want to see new features that add to the depth of the game, but first is making sure the servers can handle player load and bugs like this don’t persist. Then we can start talking about Pokémon trading.

Source: Kotaku