Pokémon Go’s avatar update in April was panned by a majority of the community and led to massive backlash for Niantic that still hasn’t died out weeks later. But now there’s distance from the initial disaster, the community has found one benefit to the madness.
Over the last several weeks, the Pokémon Go community has pointed out some players had their trainers reset to what equates to a default appearance after the avatar update. This, paired with the new look and broken clothing, played a big role in the community calling this update “visual doomsday,” though there is one bright side. Since a chunk of players had their avatars altered, it is easier than ever to find who is inactive.
As noted by PoGo Central, if you are actively looking to clean out your Pokémon Go friends list to make room for new, active players who can help you grind XP, the avatar change made this easier than ever.
If you scroll through your Pokémon Go friends, you’ll likely see the same default avatar images multiple times. This shows those players likely haven’t touched the game in nearly a month to change their trainer’s looks with new customization options.
You will need to be careful because some players might have just not changed their avatar since the update, but for the most part, those default profiles should help you sniff out inactive players you can remove from your list to free up space before you reach the friend limit. There are also other players reporting other default options you can also be on the lookout for, though either way this method should save you tons of time while spring cleaning your list.
This is not, however, distracting players from Niantic’s continued silence on the “unpolished” avatar changes that have plagued Pokémon Go, nor the other updates that have launched and immediately broken the game.
