This is why Pokemon Go’s footprint tracking feature was killed

By Hugh Langley

Pokémon Go’s latest update left players disgruntled after removing some of the game’s key features, including the footprint tracker, and Niantic has finally explained why.

Writing on its Facebook page, Niantic gave a few reasons for the recent changes, also explaining why it had requested third-party tracking tools be taken down.

Niantic said the ‘3-step’ display, which broke before being removed entirely, was “confusing” and did not meet the company’s goals. In its beta phase, Go actually told you the precise meter distance away the Pokémon were.

That system was changed in the full release, indicating a Pokémon’s distance with the number of footprints beneath it. While we didn’t think the footprint system was bad, it’ll be interesting to see if Niantic finds something better.

But for now, we don’t even have any third-party options. Niantic recently requested these third-party maps that tap into the game’s internal APIs, such as Pokévision, be removed due to the strain they were putting on the servers.

“We have limited access by third-party services which were interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon Go to users around the world,” said Niantic, adding that a rollout in Brazil is on …read more

Source:: techradar.com – Gaming