Pokemon Go players beg devs to revert “annoying” AR changes

Pokemon Go implemented some AR changes after an update in April 2024, but players aren’t happy and are asking to go back to the old ways.

Pokemon Go is constantly adding new features and Pokemon to keep trainers entertained. However, not all additions are welcomed by players, as some features are abandoned shortly after their debut.

Now, players are complaining about a recent change that isn’t sitting well with the community. A Pokemon Go update in April changed the way players interact with their Buddy and wild Pokemon. The change made it difficult to interact with them due to the AR+ feature.

While players could disable certain parts of it to have a smoother experience, AR is now mandatory on the Go Snapshot screen. “Just let me use the stupid camera without STUPID AR!” commented one Pokemon Go player on Reddit.

Many trainers are complaining about this change, as it impacts some unexpected parts of the general gameplay. One explained that “if you want your surroundings to show up” while snapping pictures, “you are forced [to do so] with the AR+ option only.”

Players playing on a phone that doesn’t support AR or one that has AR disabled in the game settings can only see their buddy on a green screen, which one player thinks is “NOT FUN, not helpful and incredibly dumb!”

“This also means you can’t place your pokemon anywhere you want for a fun picture, it has to be a flat surface (that the AR recognizes as flat enough),” commented Reddit user ‘evrz5.’ Others added that having mandatory AR for snapshots makes it hard to do anything at night or in small spaces.

While some trainers think this is a minor issue, most of them agree that Niantic should find a middle ground. “They had both before. You could do No AR, AR, or AR+. Now it’s just No AR or AR+,” explained one player. Others feel it’s “creepy” that the game asks players to scan their surroundings every time they want to pet or feed their Buddy, and it shouldn’t be mandatory.

We’ll make sure to keep you updated if Niantic revert these changes to the AR feature in Pokemon Go. In the meantime, you can check out how to get Wailmer and how to get Tynamo in Pokemon Go now that they’re boosted during the Sizeable Surprises event.