Pokémon Go Gains New 'Appraisal' Feature for Highlighting Attack and Defense Capabilities - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Pokémon Go Gains New 'Appraisal' Feature for Highlighting Attack and Defense Capabilities

by

Popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go was today updated to version 1.5.0, adding new features to make gym battling more straightforward. New to the game is a "Pokémon Appraisal" feature, which will see in-game Team Leaders offering tips on each Pokémon's attack and defense abilities to help trainers determine which Pokémon to use in gym battles.

While longtime Pokémon players are often already aware of which Pokémon are ideal to use against other Pokémon in a battle, the appraisal tool offers valuable information on abilities and weaknesses for those who are newer to the Pokémon universe.

pokemonappraisal
According a blog post on the update, it also includes unspecified "minor bot fixes" and a promise that Niantic is working hard on "new and exciting features" that will be added to Pokémon Go in the future.

- Implemented Pokémon Appraisal: Trainers will now be able to learn about a Pokémon's attack and defense capabilities from their Team Leader (Candela, Blanche, or Spark) to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle.
- Fixed a bug that kept defeated Pokémon at 1HP; these Pokémon will now return as fainted Pokémon. We're working on rebalancing the training battle, stay tuned.fixes

Earlier today, a report suggested interest in Pokémon Go is steadily declining, so Niantic will need to implement new features to keep players interested. Daily active users, downloads, and the amount of time users are spending on Pokémon Go each day are said to be "well off their peaks and on a downward trend."

Pokémon Go can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Pokémon GO

Top Rated Comments

larrylaffer Avatar
larrylaffer
127 months ago
I went to downtown Long Beach last week. There are a ton of Pokestops there. At 10:30pm, the entire waterfront was swarmed with thousands of people hunting.

What was my first thought? Not "arg you damn kids", nor was it "I hate Pokemon". No, my thought was "My God look at all the calories being burned here!"

That's a positive, whether you like it or not.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
Kaibelf
127 months ago
+1. I don't play the game; however, I think the game can only be credited for exposing some peoples behaviour, not creating it.
Kind of how the internet exposes people who seem to have a need to assert their superiority over others with different interests, when in the offline world people generally grow out of that around age 18.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
CarlJ
127 months ago
Can't wait until this game dies off into the sunset. Game has created more morons than I care to count.
You think the game is responsible for that? Not the person's parents and teachers and the person themselves?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Speedy Dingo Avatar
Speedy Dingo
127 months ago
Overnight successes rarely last -- this game is an example of that. Gimmicky and lacking any lasting reason to keep playing. My kids were interested for about two weeks.
Again, so because your kids stopped playing, it somehow makes the game "gimmicky and lacking". Right. So the other millions of kids still playing it must mean what? Believe it or not other people are still enjoying it, and the game can only get better as new ideas from the franchise get implemented into it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
anzio
127 months ago
You think the game is responsible for that? Not the person's parents and teachers and the person themselves?
+1. I don't play the game; however, I think the game can only be credited for exposing some peoples behaviour, not creating it.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
bdavis89
127 months ago
They're being careful about testing new features thoroughly, since any misstep will earn them tens of millions of angry players and tons of news articles, and feature pieces on half the local TV news broadcasts across the country, so, yeah, new features are hard to implement.

But... why complain about Pidgeys? They're the Soylent Green of the Pokémon world - catch just 4 and you'll have enough candies (after transferring a few) to evolve one - and evolving is the fastest way to get XP, to level up.
Agreed in regards to testing new features. I'm not really complaining about the Pidgey's per-say, but rather thelack of ability to train and level up my starter Pokemon. For example, there's no way to level up my Charmander without catching other Charmanders. Chances are that I'll catch a better one, so won't even need my starter Pokemon anymore. Rather than straining to catch the occasional Charmander, I want to be able to level it up via training against wild Pokemon (Pidgey's, etc.). Just like the games.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Read Full Article
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in September With These 10 New Features

Saturday May 9, 2026 6:03 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
Read Full Article
MacBook Pro Low Angle Wide Lens

macOS 27: Two More Changes Leaked Ahead of WWDC Next Month

Sunday May 10, 2026 9:45 am PDT by
macOS 27 will have a "slight redesign" compared to macOS Tahoe, according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the design changes will help to improve the readability of macOS Tahoe's Liquid Glass interface:If you've used Tahoe, you're likely familiar with some of the quirks — particularly the transparency effects and shadows that...
Read Full Article • 135 comments