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I have a couple of eggs that I've picked up from some Pokestops (I'm lucky enough to live above one).

I walk a lot. I get to work through a 2 mile walk / train journey every day, so I should be picking up loads of steps for the eggs I have. However, because I'm normally always running late... for everything, I have to rush everywhere, so I walk at an above average pace.

Today I've walked around 5 miles, but the game has registered 100 metres. Is this because I walk too fast, or because of something else?

It's worth pointing out that I have the app open when walking... mostly because I have to catch them all. (This made me miss a train this morning... luckily I was early :D)

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    The speed limit where things broke down in Ingress was around 30kph, so probably not. Jul 7, 2016 at 21:18
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    You need to have your app open, to register your walking distance.
    – gre_gor
    Jul 7, 2016 at 21:35
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    @KazWolfe Did anyone say it only counted walking or should only count walking? Running and cycling to hatch eggs are a part of pokemon games. Jul 7, 2016 at 21:50
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    @Studoku Allow me to clarify. There is no speedlock for game actions. You can spin Pokestops and catch all you want no matter the speed. Walking to hatch eggs, however, does have a max speed.
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Jul 7, 2016 at 21:53
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    @galacticninja Why should this be the duplicate instead of the other way around? This question & answer seems to be better worded & more popular than tha one you've linked.
    – Robotnik
    Jul 18, 2016 at 10:43

7 Answers 7

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Based upon my time playing Ingress (created by the same company and also using a lot of the same infrastructure it seems), you can go at least 15 mph (~24km/h) and it SHOULD still track you. (This is a little less than the 30 kph someone in the comments mentioned).

Note that 15 mph is a 4 minute mile (or 2.5 minutes per kilometer). This is a little slower than the record running speed, and still over the average biking speed.

It also doesn't tend to lock you until you've made multiple jumps at faster speeds, and it only does so to stop spoofers.

Therefore I doubt it is your walking speed.

If your game isn't registering your distance, I would assume it is either GPS troubles, the game in general, or server issues. The majority of this is handled by Niantic and will likely improve as the game progresses. Unfortunately, that means there is probably little you can do other than contact Niantic to let them know.

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  • You're right. I definitely don't walk that fast:) I think this is the best answer I can really hope for at this point.
    – Joe
    Jul 8, 2016 at 7:27
  • Can confirm that at approximately 30kmph, you do not register on Pokemon Go. Your character moves around the map, but it will no grab locations or spawn pokemon, and the distance does not contribute towards eggs.
    – user106385
    Jul 11, 2016 at 3:33
  • @Timelord64 - Likewise, cruising at 20km/h while my friend holds both phones we were able to find Pokemon & hit Pokespots with relative ease. Anything higher than 25 it started to jump around.
    – Robotnik
    Jul 11, 2016 at 3:51
  • I can hit them going in a car even at 50 mph, but it stops counting for my eggs far before that. Jul 11, 2016 at 3:56
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    The mechanic (at least in Ingress) relied on a "circle of valid movement" over your first registered position via your device's GPS. Your next GPS "ping" would check if the position was inside this circle of valid movement. If it was then the distance between your first and second ping was recorded and the "circle" would move not to your new position but at a fixed speed in the direction you are travelling. P-GO I hear takes into account in built pedometer/accelerometer but have not got any technical confirmation. Let me know if you want gifs explaining the Ingress movement mechanics.
    – elzaer
    Jul 11, 2016 at 4:28
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I went for a 5km run and it only tracked a little over a 1.5km. Had the app open the whole time and slowed down or stopped several times to catch pokemon. I dont know if the stopping threw the tracking off or the changing of speeds. I'm hoping it just a bug in the game right now and will be fixed, because I would prefer to go for my daily runs and catch pokemon than have to walk the whole time.

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I noticed earlier as I was walking, it stopped showing my character walking. I just closed the app and reopened. Perhaps that could be your issue.

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Saw a video where someone said the max speed allowed is about 8km/hr which is about 5 mph. Which is about the pace of speed walking. However My brother said 20 mph which means you could probably ride a bike and you should be fine.

I was driving a car in city around 30mph and it did not count the distance towards my egg hatching. GPS tracking also does matter for this. Servers could also be an issue. The PokemonGo app MUST be ON to while walking/jogging/running/biking/etc.

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I have gotten the impression but have not run tests to check, egg hatching is faster when you walk/jog in a straight line. For instance was walking around in a cemetery taking lots of turns and retracing my route and it wasn't counting efficiently, but when I walked from one end of Main Street to the other it got that.

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The max speed the game works at and max speed to which the tracker works are different. I've kind of noticed about 5-10 mph being the max register for walking (incubation).

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  • Do you have a source, or possibly some research to share?
    – two bugs
    Jul 12, 2016 at 19:22
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Were you walking neer a road at any time? I have noticed wether it's car,bike or walking, it dos t like to register if your character is on a road"past the white outline" if I hold my phone against the window in the car it registers off the road sometimes and my distance increased greatly, the. If I'm walking on a sidewalk and my character is on the road it won't register or barely at all.

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  • This is a good theory !
    – Mr Rubix
    Aug 8, 2016 at 17:30

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