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Pokémon Go: How to save power, end crashes, and fix server errors

12:09

What do you do when Pokémon Go drains your battery or crashes and you can't play? We've got a few tips!

Update: New versions of Pokémon Go mean old bugs get fixed, new bugs get introduced, and some old bugs come back. We've added the latest so, if you're having trouble, keep reading!

In grand Pokémon tradition, Niantic's new augmented-reality game has a few glitches, crashes, and bugs scattered in-between Pokémon Gyms, Pokéstops, and the creatures themselves.

These glitches run the gamut from momentary pauses in gameplay to getting stuck in a gym with your opponent at 1HP, and they take away from what is otherwise a delightfully fun game. It's somewhat to be expected, given the massive amount of people currently interacting with Niantic's Pokémon Go servers right about now, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Unfortunately, there's no magic button you can press inside the game to instantly get it working again, but we still have some a few tips for when you run into a bug or crash while playing Pokémon Go. Here's how to get out of crash mode as quickly as possible and return to catching 'em all.

How to stop Pokémon Go from draining your battery

Catching Pokémon may be delightful, but all of that location-awareness can wreak havoc on your iPhone's battery. Here are a few ways to keep that from happening quite so rapidly.

Turn down screen brightness

Among the biggest drains to iPhone battery life are screen brightness, GPS, and poor cellular or Wi-Fi connections. You need both GPS and Wi-Fi on to play Pokemon Go, and you need a data connection no matter where you go, so there's not much you can do about the radios. Screen brightness, though, has some wiggle room.

Yes, you will need to be able to see the screen, especially in bright sunlight, and that can often mean you need to have it on full brightness. But only when you're actively using it. When you're not, you can turn the brightness all the way down. If and when a Pokémon shows up, you'll feel a vibration, and then you can turn the screen brightness back up catch away!

Turn off AR

Augmented reality is a huge part of the game's appeal, to be sure: There's something delightful about seeing a Psyduck appear on your kitchen table. But AR requires turning the camera on, which puts extra strain on your battery. If you're out and about and focused on catching a bunch of creatures, you may want to focus your iPhone's longevity on that aspect, rather than on where the Pokémon were caught.

Use battery saver and/or low power mode

Pokémon Go has a built-in "battery saver mode" that you can turn on in Settings:

  1. Tap the Pokémon button at the bottom middle of the screen.
  2. Tap the Settings button at the top right of the screen.
  3. Tap Battery Saver.

Your iPhone also has a system-level Low Power Mode that'll reduce networking and other activity to try and save on battery life:

  1. Launch Settings from the Home screen.
  2. Tap on Battery.
  3. Switch Low Power Mode to On.

If you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 6s you can also press firmly (3D Touch) on the Settings icon to get a home screen shortcut straight to the battery page.

Get a battery case

It's not the best nor cheapest solution, but a battery case or power pack will go a long way to keeping your battery from exploding while hunting for Pokémon or battling at gyms.

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How to fix PokéStops, Gyms, Buddies, and Pokémon not appearing.

Sometimes you start Pokémon Go only to find your buddy blanked out or reduced to a sparkle and all the PokéStops, Gyms, and Pokémon gone for the virtual landscape. Unfortunately the bug that caused it in older versions is back and, in some cases, worse than ever.

You still fix it by force-quitting the app, only now you may need to force quit it up to three (3!) times before everything works the way it''s supposed to.

  1. Double-press the Home button to enter the multitasking screen.
  2. Swipe to the Pokémon Go card, then swipe up on the card to force quit the app.
  3. Relaunch Pokémon Go.

  4. Repeat until everything is working — usually takes 2-3 tries.

How to fix Incense and Lucky Eggs not working

If you try to use Incense or a Lucky Egg and nothing happens, there could be a couple things going on. First, you could have a bad network connection or be in the middle of switching from Wi-Fi to cellular data (for example, when you're leaving home or work).

You can either get a little more distance and try again, or you can switch Wi-Fi off temporarily.. (You can't leave it off because it could prevent your location from being detected — something Pokémon Go requires to function.)

Incense and Lucky Eggs not working could also be caused by the clock on your iPhone being left on manual or not set correctly.

If you've messed with the clock to try and score some extra Lucky Egg time in Pokémon Go or for some other game or reason, you'll need to set it back to automatic for everything to start working properly again. Just like Pokémon Go requires proper location, it requires proper time.

  1. Launch the Settings app.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Date & Time.

  4. Switch Set Automatically to On.

How to fix PokéStops not spinning or "Try again later" error

There's a speed limit imposed by Pokémon Go: If you're traveling more than 30 KM an hour (~20 mph) you're locked out of PokéStops. It's designed to prevent people from playing while in a car.

So, if you're in a car or bus and you get a "Try again later" error when spinning a Stop, you need to slow down and try again. You can tell you're going slowly enough when you see Pokémon in your Sightings. The same lock that prevents Stops from spinning also prevents Sightings from working at speed.

There's also a bug where a PokéStop spins but doesn't change color from Blue to Purple, so you think it hasn't spun. If you attempt to re-sping, though, you'll get the "Try again later" error.

To get the proper state visuals back, you'll need to force quit and restart the app.

  1. Double-press the Home button to enter the multitasking screen.
  2. Swipe to the Pokémon Go card, then swipe up on the card to force quit the app.

  3. Relaunch Pokémon Go.

How to fix Pokémon Go crashes

Not sure whether your game has frozen or your internet connection's just being terrible? Look for the spinning white Pokéball in the upper left corner — the game uses the icon to signify to the player that Niantic's servers are being refreshed.

If your graphics freeze but that Pokéball icon is spinning, chances are the game is just trying to connect back to its central server, and everything should catch up within a few moments. (You can also check your iPhone's status bar at the top of the screen to see the strength of your internet connection.)

If instead, your animations resume but your buttons don't do anything and the Pokéball continues spinning, your game may have lost connection to the server and needs a reboot.

I've seen this happen several times over my last few days playing the game, but it seems to regularly happen in gyms when you bring an opponent down to 1HP. You may also catch this glitch when first launching the game, where you'll see no Pokémon nearby — nor any in your personal collection.

First, try to leave the app and come back

Sometimes a quick close and re-opening is all that you need to reconnect to Niantic's servers and get back to the game.

  1. Return to the Home screen, if you can, by pressing the Home button.
  2. Open a new app, and take a few minutes to do something else. (Or better yet: Explore the area where you've been searching for Pokémon without your eyes glued to a screen!)

  3. Double-press the Home button to enter the multitasking screen.

  4. Swipe to the Pokémon Go card.
  5. Tap on the Pokémon Go card to reenter the app.

With luck, you'll see the Gyarados loading screen and return to gym battling and creature catching in no time.

If there's an unfixable bug, reboot and bug report

If your game crashes, you'll unfortunately need to reboot Pokémon Go to get back to catching creatures. You may lose immediate data, but unfortunately, it seems like the only way to fix the bugs at present is to dump everything and restart. (On the plus side, if you crash during a gym fight, any damage your Pokémon have taken will be rescinded, and you'll return to them at full health.)

Here's what to do if you run into an unfixable crash.

  1. Return to the Home screen (if you can) by pressing the Home button.
  2. Double-press the Home button to enter the multitasking screen.
  3. Swipe to the Pokémon Go card, then swipe up on the card to force quit the app.
  4. Relaunch Pokémon Go.
  5. Visit the Pokémon Go bug report page and let Niantic know about your issue.

How to fix other issues

Maybe you're not running into crashes, per say, but you've found glitches with items, trainer progress, or location: If so, you might want to check out Niantic's known issues page, which offers solutions for several of the more prominent glitches and bugs in the game.

Questions?

Have any other problems with Pokémon Go? Let us know in the comments.

Pokemon Go



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