7 Tips for Playing Pokémon GO the Right Way

1. Adjust the brightness and volume of your phone.

One of the first things you need to do when you load Pokémon Go is to adjust your phone's brightness and volume. The reason is simple: the game is really hard to play if you're squinting at your screen in the dark and blasting your headphones to hear anything. Pokémon Go relies on visual and auditory cues for nearly all of its features, and if you can't see or hear the game properly, you're going to struggle with mastering the game's basics. In particular, you need to make sure notifications are on for Pokémon Go. It's the only way to be alerted when Pokémon or Pokéstops are nearby, and you'll miss a lot if you don't enable them.

2. Don't rely on the GPS

Pokémon Go, like any other game that uses your phone's GPS, will give you inaccurate information if you're wandering indoors. Whether it's a mall, a theme park, or a large building like a library or university, the GPS will drift indoors and send you on wild goose chases while you're inside. Many players have lost hours wandering indoors because they expected the game to work the same way indoors as it does outdoors. If you want to maximize your playtime, you need to be careful about where you're walking. If you're going inside someplace like a large mall or amusement park, you need to turn off the game's GPS before you enter.

3. Don't walk, use a bike or treadmill!

Pokémon Go is a game that relies on you having to move outside. There are a few ways around this problem if you can't walk, for example, if you have a disability or are in a wheelchair. You can be a passenger in a car or on a bike, or use a wheelchair or walker to get around. But for many players, walking is an issue because of the weather. If you find yourself in a place where temperatures are extreme, you're going to need to find a way to walk that doesn't put you at risk. You can use a bike, but you'll need to make sure you're not breaking the law while playing the game. Using a treadmill is the easiest way to play Pokémon Go while staying safe in bad weather. Just set up your phone to rest on the treadmill next to you, and you can play Pokémon Go while getting exercise.

4. Choose your Pokémon wisely

Pokémon Go has a system that suggests Pokémon to you. If you see a Pokéball icon next to your Pokémon, it's a sign that you should swap your Pokémon out for one that's recommended by Pokémon GO. It's not correct 100% of the time, but it'll give you Pokémon better suited to the situation and give you a better chance to win. If you see a Pokéball next to your Pokémon and you're in battle, you should switch the Pokémon for a better one before the battle ends. Pokémon Go will only suggest Pokémon once per battle, so if you see a Pokéball and don't make a change, you're stuck with your current Pokémon.

5. Train only in friendly gyms

One of the biggest mistakes new players make is training Pokémon in gyms controlled by the enemy team. There's nothing more frustrating than training a Pokémon only to lose control of the gym and watch your hard work vanish. If you want to level up and take control of gyms, there are two things you need to do: make sure your Pokémon are a high level and choose Pokémon that are good against the Pokémon defending that gym. Once you've done that, make sure that you train your Pokémon in a gym controlled by your team. If you're not sure what team controls a gym, there are two ways to find out. First, you can look at the gym and see the two team emblems hung above it. If you can't see them, zoom in in the Pokémon Go app to make them appear.

6. Don't waste stardust on rare Pokémon.

When you catch Pokémon, you'll notice that some of them have a blue bubble above their heads. These are rare Pokémon and catching them will net you extra stardust for your team. If you're a member of one of the three Pokémon Go teams, catching a rare Pokémon will earn your team more stardust than catching a non-rare Pokémon of the same type. If you play on Team Mystic, for example, catching a rare Exeggutor will earn you more stardust than catching a non-rare Exeggutor. Although this stardust is very useful to your team, don't waste it on rare Pokémon you're not planning to use. If you catch a rare Pokémon that you won't use to fight or earn candy, you'll just waste stardust that could have been earned by another Pokémon.

7. Make the most of raid battles.

Raid battles are a feature of Pokémon Go that allow you to interact with other players in your area. To start a raid battle, you need to select a nearby gym and hit the big button that says "Join a raid." Raids are limited to an hour at a time, so you can't just stay and accumulate experience like you can at other gyms. But if you want to interact with other players, raids are a great way to do so. You can join as many raids as you want, and you don't even need to win to get rewards. All you need to do is deal enough damage to the Pokémon for all team members to have a chance at earning rewards.