Why should I "watch" a nearby Pokémon?
At the bottom right of the playing screen, there is a small banner that displays 3 Pokémon. Selecting it brings up a screen that details all the nearby Pokémon.
Previously caught Pokémon show in full colour, uncaught Pokemon show as a silhouette, and doubles can be displayed. When I select any of these Pokémon and click the footprints the Pokémon becomes circled in purple on the previously mentioned banner.
Why would I want to "watch" a Pokémon in this way?
I have observations and assumptions, so far, but nothing concrete.
Best Answer
"Watching" a Pokemon allows you to get the distance to it (measured in footprints) on the main screen. It's purely a time-saver to keep you from having to constantly open/close the Nearby screen.
Additionally, Watching a Pokemon will cause the nearby screen to have a green "blink" when you're headed in the Pokemon's current direction. You can also do this without selecting a watch, as Pokemon will move around the menu, with the nearest always being in the top left.
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What does it mean when a Pokémon is nearby?
Nearby sits in the "sightings" section at the bottom right-hand corner of your display. This has always shown Pokemon that are near you, or thought to be near you, but it's never really been very useful.How do you attract Pokémon nearby?
If there are no Pokemon nearby, you can still use incense and it will attract Pokemon. The spawn rate might be lower than it would have been if there were lots of Pokemon nearby. It's also worth mentioning here that not all Pokemon that are nearby will show up.What determines Pokémon spawn locations?
In theory, the same groups of Pok\xe9mon (usually ranging in the same one or two types, such as rock or ground, with common to very rare spawns within them) will spawn in the same radius - the radius being a small point, or a large area.What do the colored rings mean in Pokémon go?
The ring's color indicates the difficulty level of capturing the Pok\xe9mon. A green ring indicates the capture is low difficulty, orange indicates intermediate difficulty, and red indicates extreme difficulty. You have the greatest chance of capturing the Pok\xe9mon while the colored ring is at its smallest diameter.Hokey Pokey - Kids Dance Song - Children's Songs by The Learning Station
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Answer 2
Most of the answers here are outdated because the system has changed since they were posted.
The Nearby pokemon are only the ones that are currently near pokestops that are near you. If there aren't any stops it will simply show the pokemon that are somewhere near you and is of little use. Although then you can use it as in the older configuration; disappearing from nearby means either that the pokemon is in the opposite direction and is too far to be visible or it has just disappeared.
When you want to catch a pokemon that is nearby and by a pokestop, by clicking that pokestop it will show you on the map where related to you that pokemon is and you can more easily get there. Also it will start tracking that pokemon and will notify you if that pokemon disappears before you get there so that you don't go there in vain. Although some times you might get notified that that pokemon isn't there anymore because of bad connection or when you are already quite close to that stop (from personal experience).
Answer 3
Here's the answer.
Footprints are representative of your pulsing search circle diameter. Zero means it is in your immediate circle. ONE means it is one circle diameter outside yours, and so on and so forth.
Zero= 0 One= 00 Two= 000 Three= 0000
With you being in the center of the first circle and the pokemon being within the vicinity of the adjacent circle in an ever growing circle.
Assuming you're walking in the right direction, a pokemon 3 footprints away would be no more than 4 circle diameters from your current position.
Hope that makes sense.
This was verified by several reddit users and myself through quite a bit of walking and field testing.
Answer 4
When 'watching' a pokemon, if you're walking in the correct direction the box pulses, much like you have a pulse around your avatar but much smaller.
This appears ot be more reliable than waiting for the number of footprints to adjust - something which doesn't always work - it also pulses at a faster rate than the footprints update
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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