‘Pokemon Go’ Version 1.23.1 & 0.53.1: What Did the Update Change?

'Pokemon Go' is available for iOS and Android devices. (Niantic)

‘Pokemon Go’ is available for iOS and Android devices. (Niantic)

A new Pokemon Go update has just been released.

Version 1.23.1 for iOS and 0.53.1 for Android contains just a few changes. The first one only concerns Apple Watch users: the screen will now be able to display eggs that are obtained from PokéStops.

The more significant update is that the distance tracking has been changed to, as the patch notes say, “better account for GPS drift.” GPS drift occurs when the game registers you as moving when you actually aren’t, and players would often take advantage of this in order to rack up distance traveled while sitting at work or school. Now, it seems, Niantic has fixed this, and GPS drift will no longer occur.

It’s been a while since the last Pokemon Go update was released; Niantic generally puts one out every two weeks, but the previous update came almost a full month ago. The long delay was almost certainly just due to the holidays, but this still created a lot of expectations among players who hoped that when an update finally arrived, it would be quite significant. So when it was announced that this week’s patch would simply adjust the Apple Watch app and remove the one glitch players actually liked, fans were not exactly thrilled.

“Wow I hope they didn’t work too hard on this update,” one Reddit user sarcastically commented.

Fans aren’t really angry that the update doesn’t have any new content, such as additional generation two Pokemon; rather, they were hoping that the patch would fix some of the glitches that persist in Pokemon Go, including the one that causes the game to freeze when players enter a gym.

However, these updates often tweak things without making mention of that fact in the patch notes. In the past, it has often been the case that Niantic does not say in their notes that they have fixed a glitch, but players soon realize that the update did exactly that. Also, these updates frequently feature lines of code that tell us what Niantic is planning further down the line, such as when players noticed references to “buddy” Pokemon in an update before that feature was even announced.

That has once again happened here, as in the hours after the update was originally released, the folks as The Silph Road discovered that there are lines of code related to 38 new moves in the latest update. These moves aren’t accessible right now, but clearly it won’t be long before they’re brought into the game. Those new moves are: Counter, Powder Snow, Charge Beam, Volt Switch, Dragon Tail, Infestation, Struggle Bug, Astonish, Iron Tail, Fire Spin, Bullet Seed, Extrasensory, Air Slash, Hex, Snarl, Close Combat, Dynamic Punch, Focus Blast, Aurora Beam, Wild Charge, Zap Cannon, Avalanche, Brave Bird, Sky Attack, Sand Tomb, Rock Blast, Silver Wind, Night Shade, Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, Overheat, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Futuresight, Mirror Coat, Outrage, Crunch and Foul Play.

The update also feature code related to evolution items, which are items used to evolve certain Pokemon. Once again, none of this is accessible in the game quite yet, but the fact that the code is here indicates that Niantic plans to launch this feature sometime soon. The evolution items in the update are Sun Stone, Kings Rock, Metal Coat, Dragon Scale and Upgrade.

Plus, the update’s code suggests a news feature may be coming soon, in addition to avatar customization, shiny Pokemon, and Pokemon genders.

Here are the full patch notes from Niantic:

Trainers,

Pokémon GO is in the process of being updated to version 0.53.1 for Android and 1.23.1 for iOS devices. Below are some release notes and comments from our development team.

Updated Apple Watch to display Eggs obtained from PokéStops
Changed distance tracking to better account for GPS drift
Minor text fixes.

—The Pokémon GO team


Read more about Pokemon Go in Spanish at AhoraMismo.com: