Pokémon Go is already getting people outside, but the next update could give the app a bigger focus on health and fitness, by encouraging you to take your Pokémon for a walk.
Based on information data mined from the app it seems you'll soon be able to walk a 'Buddy Pokémon' and be rewarded with candy for it.
Candy is required to evolve your critters. At the moment it can be a grind to get, as currently you mostly collect it by catching duplicates of the Pokémon you want to evolve. But with only three candy received for each catch and sometimes hundreds needed for an evolution this process can take a long time, especially with rarer Pokémon.
Gotta walk 'em all
Being able to just take your favorite pocket monster out on a walk to get candy instead could be faster, more fun and feel more like you're training your companion up, which is an aspect of Pokémon that arguably hasn't translated to Pokémon Go very well.
Of course this update will also get people walking more, as previously the only real push the app gave to get you moving was to hatch eggs.
Based on the data mine it seems candy is the main reward for walking your Pokémon (other than your own health and fitness), but it's easy to imagine that stat boosts could also be granted – or that the stats of lazy Pokémon could decline.
The information, which was mined by AeonLucid's PogoProtos and covered by Pokémon Go Hub, suggests that you'll only be able to walk one Pokémon at a time and that the look of the Pokémon on screen can be 'medium size', 'big size', 'flying next to you' or 'on your shoulder'.
What's not yet known is how much candy you'll receive and whether there's a daily limit, but we should find out soon, as with all the code already present the new feature could arrive in next week's update.
- Just getting started? Check out our Pokémon Go beginner's guide
