How to Hatch Pokemon Eggs and Run Great at the Same Time
While Pokémon Go is great for interval training , it’s not always easy to play while you’re at a good distance: the app will underestimate the distance you travel and sometimes shut down unexpectedly. However, don’t let that stop you: you can still do a good job while laying your eggs – it only requires a few tweaks.
After all, running should be an effective way to hatch eggs in Pokémon Go . A two kilometer egg requires fifteen minutes of easy jogging (or less if you’re fast). But when I ran the app several times, I would stop dozens of times to catch the Pokémon and see if my egg had hatched. It took me ages to finish what should have been short. Although the intervals are great, I wanted to train at a steady pace that day. Ouch.
Find the best way to play on the run
In addition to hatching eggs, you can also catch Pokémon and collect supplies at stops. If you’re happy with these distractions, here’s how to take advantage of them without stopping or walking:
- Click on the stop while it is still in the distance and rotate it when you are near. This way you don’t have to quickly click and rotate.
- Don’t try to pop bubbles . It’s a cute animation, but as soon as you rotate the stop, these items end up in your inventory, whether you pop their little floating bubbles or not. You can simply hit the “x” at the bottom of the screen and move on.
- Click on the Pokemon you want to catch later . The little guy will stay on your screen no matter where you go, so you can catch him while you run, or even wait for the next water break. Until then, you won’t catch anything, so choose wisely.
- Disable AR (real world camera view) if you plan on catching Pokémon while running. With a little practice, throwing Pokeballs on the go isn’t that hard – just be extra careful with real-life dangers while your eyes are on the phone.
Honestly, the hardest part of playing Pokémon Go on the run is ignoring the little beeps that indicate a creature is nearby. If you are not going to run at intervals, consider jogging in an area with very few Pokémon – this is the opposite of what you would normally do.
Make a running plan for your Pokemon
Consider how your Pokémon game plan aligns with your running plan. Will you stop every few kilometers to swap eggs? Do you need to pause in PokéStops, or is it more important to maintain a fast pace without taking breaks?
Once you figure out if it’s okay to quit smoking and how often, check your egg inventory. How long will it take for you to hatch what you have? Here’s a handy table if you’re not used to thinking in kilometers:
- 2.0 km – 1.2 miles
- 5.0 km – 3.1 miles
- 10.0 km – 6.2 miles
If you’re using an app like Nike + or Runkeeper and you get updates on your mile, consider changing your settings to get updates every kilometer. Also, create a buffer: The eggs will likely hatch longer than anticipated because Pokémon Go doesn’t track distance as accurately as fitness apps.
Learn how Pokémon Go measures distance
You may have to run much more than two kilometers to hatch a two-kilometer egg. This is because the app does not use step counters and does not constantly ask for GPS satellites wherever you are. Instead, players figure out if the servers mark your distance from time to time. They will draw a direct line between your current location and your last location. This distance is what you get recognized for. If you drove this distance too fast, the game assumes that you were in the car and does not take it into account.
Since distance is measured in straight lines, it best matches your movements in the real world if you travel in straight lines. For example, if you are running laps on a track, the application may see you twice at about the same spot, unaware that you have run a couple of laps in the meantime. We know we hypothesized that small movements could register distance , but that hypothesis doesn’t seem to work.
The best way to set up an app to track your miles is:
- Run in a straight line , not in a zigzag or looped path
- Interact with the app as you change direction to nudge it to check your position. One way to do this is to tap on the PokéStop or gym (even if it’s in the distance) to let the app determine if you are within reach.
Even if you follow these tips, you may find that the app does not accurately measure your distance. So if you want to hatch a five kilometer egg, be aware that you may need six kilometers.
Keep the app running while you are there
Pokémon Go only tracks the distance you travel when the app is open on your phone. You cannot launch the app and then turn off the screen to go for a run; you have to find a way to keep the application open all the time.
This means that you must be very careful not to press on the screen. A wrist strap can be the best way to wear your phone to avoid accidentally covering the app with a body part or the headphone cord. Pokémon Go Extender for Android solves this problem in a different way: it uses the phone’s proximity sensor to detect when the phone is in your pocket and disables screen taps. The app is free, but this feature requires an in-app purchase for $ 1.49.
I have found that it is impossible to dedicate a given run to the game and my fitness – I have to decide which is more important. Sometimes I feel like I’m playing this game first and the side effect is running away. On other occasions, I put a five-kilometer egg in an incubator, tuck my phone into my pocket, and focus on the killer workout.
Illustration by Sam Woolley.