Pokémon Go player finds puzzling lure module issue following latest update

Pokémon Go players received a surprise update from Niantic on June 27 that increased spawn distance—but there is one major feature absent.

Players initially thought the spawning of Pokémon at an increased distance was a bug, though it now appears that Niantic has pushed a quality-of-life improvement quietly into the game.

As part of the 0.274.0 update that has been rolling out across devices over several days, the spawn radius around player avatars has doubled from 40 meters to 80 meters.

Players have celebrated the positive update to the game but there is a catch, with one player discovering that the increased spawn distances are not applied to Lure Module spawns and are only applicable for regular spawns.

Lure Module spawns in Pokémon Go are a separate entity from the standard spawns, which explains why the update did not address them specifically, but it does beg the question as to why Niantic did not also look to increase the spawn radius of Lure Modules.

Not changing the spawn radius of Lure Modules leaves frustrating situations where players are close enough to a Pokéstop to use a Lure Module but, for some reason, not close enough to see the spawns.

We can only hope that the increased spawn rates for standard spawns are merely the start of a slew of changes from Niantic, with further updates addressing Lure Modules, Raids, and other location-based content.

As someone who lives close to a Pokéstop and a gym, but not close enough to activate either, I’d welcome such an update with open arms.