Secret new Pokémon Go feature solves biggest special evolutions headache

Niantic quietly added a new feature to Pokémon Go in a small update yesterday that makes it easier for players to track how many items and candies they need for special evolutions. In the past, players had to keep tabs on these items and quantities themselves. Now, the menu has an extra section showing how many of these things are needed.

The community noticed it immediately after the update on July 12.

One player used an example of Rhyhorn on the Pokémon Go subreddit to show that the new feature pointed out how many Rhyhorn Candy, Rhyhorn Candy XL and Sinnoh Stones they were holding, which are required to evolve it into Rhydon and eventually, Rhyperior. Another player followed suit on TheSilphRoad subreddit, using Onix as an example.

It was praised for being a “great update,” although there were concerns it made the menu look a little bloated. Others went on to point out it took Niantic such a long time to add the feature, which really should have been included when Pokémon Go launched in 2016.

When it was all said and done, the feedback was mostly positive. It even sparked a bit of hope that other quality-of-life changes could be coming soon too, such as ditching the appraisal feature and showing the information on the bottom of the screen by default instead, but players aren’t holding their breath.

Niantic has implemented a number of changes this year to streamline things, such as adding routes, which had been on the community’s want list for a long time.

It might not make up for the controversial remote raid pass changes that soured things for a lot of players and even seemed to cause a noticeable dip in the Pokémon Go player count, but it’s a step in the right direction.