How to take snapshots in Pokemon Go

❘ Updated: 2024-04-02T19:16:09

Pokemon Go snapshots of Hoothoot, Jessie, and James

Niantic

Pokemon Go is loaded with AR features and snapshots allow you to get pictures of your favorite Pokemon in real-life settings. So here’s how to take snapshots in Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go allows players to take snapshots of the countless Pokemon in the game. Players love to snap pictures of their rare shiny Pokemon, Lucky Pokemon, Shadow Pokemon, and Legendary Pokemon.

Learning how to take a snapshot in Pokemon Go is essential for completing several Research tasks. Here’s how to take snapshots of your Buddy Pokemon, the Pokemon you’ve caught, or even wild Pokemon.

Contents

How to use snapshot feature in Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go players can increase their friendship with Buddy Pokemon by taking a snapshot.

How to use snapshot feature in Pokemon Go

To take a snapshot in Pokemon Go, your device must support the AR feature. The minimum requirements for this are:

iOS – iPhone 6 and above with iOS 11 or above.
Android – Devices with Android 7.0 and above should be compatible with ARCore.

Assuming that your device meets these requirements, here’s how you can take different types of snapshots in the game.

Snapshots of caught Pokemon

Follow these steps to take a snapshot of a Pokemon that you’ve caught:

Launch Pokemon Go and tap on the Pokeball icon in the middle to open the Main Menu.
Select the Pokemon option which should open the list of all the Pokemon you’ve caught.
Search for and select the Pokemon that you want to take a snapshot of. This should open the Pokemon’s summary that showcases their CP, stats, and moves, among other things.
Click on the camera icon in the top-right corner to open the AR mode.
If you’re using AR+, you can choose the perfect spot to place your Pokemon and tap on the camera icon in the middle to take a snapshot.
For players who do not have AR+, the Pokemon will be automatically placed on a surface.

From April 2024, taking photos of previously caught Pokemon will require AR. This applies to photos of any Pokemon in storage except for Buddy Pokemon. If the device doesn’t support AR, players can disable AR to take photos of wild Pokemon.

Snapshots of wild Pokemon

Follow these steps to take a snapshot of wild Pokemon in Pokemon Go:

Launch Pokemon Go and start walking. Wild Pokemon should randomly start appearing near your character.
Tap on the wild Pokemon you want to take a snapshot of.
Tap the camera icon at the top of the screen.
Tap on the camera icon at the bottom of the screen to take a snapshot.

Keep in mind that Niantic are implementing some changes to AR that make Snapshots for encounters like Mew and Celebi no longer require AR.

Snapshots of Buddy Pokemon

Follow these steps to take a snapshot of your Buddy Pokemon in Pokemon Go:

Launch Pokemon Go and tap on your Buddy Pokemon. The icon for it is located in the bottom-left corner of the screen, beside your name, level, and trainer’s avatar.
In the Buddy Pokemon menu, simply tap on your Buddy to enable AR mode.
Find a flat surface to place the Buddy Pokemon in AR+ settings.
Click on the camera icon in between to take a snapshot.

As of April 2024, taking photos of your Buddy Pokemon will require players to have AR enabled on their devices and in their Pokemon Go app. If AR is disabled, or the device doesn’t support AR, trainers can disable AR completely and take snapshots of Buddy Pokemon against a static background.

At times, wild Pokemon photobomb your Pokemon Go snapshots. Currently, Smeargle is the only species that does so, but this can change during events like Community Days. Remember you can save, share, and delete your snapshots as well.

This was everything you need to know about snapshots in Pokemon Go. For more Pokemon content, check out some of our other guides: