A beginner guide to Pokemon Go with all secrets about combat mechanics and how to level fast

Below is a compilation of tips from a few days playing.

Gym Battles

How do i take part in Gym Battles?

To get involved in gym battles, you first need to get to level 5. If you click on a gym before level 5, you'll get some dialog that basically says, "Come back when you are level 5".
Once you are level 5, when you first click on a gym (even if its out of range), you will be asked to join a team (after a bunch of story text). I dont believe their are any differences in the team at present, so just pick your favorite color which is team red.
To actually take part in a gym battle, you need to get within range (just like a pokestop) and click on the gym.

What can you do at an enemy Gym?

When you goto an enemy gym, your goal is to take it over and make it your color. To do that, you need to lower the prestige of the gym so that the gym boots out the current occupants. Once they have been kicked out, the Gym will turn White which means its free for anyone to take over. The first person to put a Pokemon into the Gym will capture it for their team.

How many opponents are at the Gym?

When you click on the Gym, up the top it will say the level of the gym. The level determines how many Pokemon can be stationed at the gym. So if the Gym is level 3, there can be 3 Pokemon in the Gym. Just under the level, there will be a crown icon and maybe a few "dots" beside it. The Crown is the leader of the gym and the dots are the other Pokemon at the gym.
If you have clicked on the gym, swiping left/right will show you which Pokemon are actually in the gym and what their combat power is.
The Pokemon with the highest Combat Power (CP) is the leader - so if you add a Pokemon to one of your teams gym and your Pokemon has higher CP, you become the leader of the gym.

How do you lower the prestige of the gym?

To lower the prestige of a gym, you need to fight and win against the defenders. So when you get in range of the gym and click it, you will see a "boxing glove" icon down the bottom right. Pressing that will pop up a small screen that will show your best 6 Pokemon based on health/CP (so as Pokemon lose health, they will slip out of your top 6). If your happy with the team selected, just hit "Go".
Sometimes the game gets stuck between hitting the "Go" and before the fight starts - if it happens, restart the app and then just do the above again.
I still stand by my recommended strategy of simply tapping as fast as you can in the combat. It does make it easier if your team does "super effective" damage against the enemy. so if you can work that into your team compisition, it will make it easier. But i have not had much success with dodge or power attacks when tapping fast just seems to do the job.
As you beat the enemy Pokemon at the gym, the prestige of the gym will decrease. You need 2000 prestige per Pokemon stationed at the gym. So as the prestige lowers, there will be less Pokemon defending.

How does fighting work in the Gym Battles?

The big thing to realise is that the combat in the gym battles is not turn based, its real time. This has some pros and cons. The core thing you need to know is that the faster you tap the screen, the more attacks you are doing. So against the AI, you are simply attacking more times then them by tapping fast. I found i performed way worse if i tried to dodge / special attack.
So everytime you tap the screen to attack, you will build up the blue bars. When you have enough blue bars to cast your special (if you click on your Pokemon outside of combat, the number of blue bars next to their skill is the number of blue bars you need to cast the special), simply tap and hold the screen for about a half a second and it will register the special attack. Then i recommend going back to tapping :)
You may be required to dodge as Pokemon get stronger but for now, i still stand by my method of just tapping that screen as fast as possible.
If you are an experienced Pokemon player, if you can setup your team to have Pokemon that do "super effective" damage to the enemy Gym team, then the furious tapping of the screen will go much faster. But i've done alright by simply fielding my best 6 Pokemon and just tapping the screen.
I can only choose 1 Pokemon and not 6, what is happening?

If you are at a gym of your own team, you will only be able to choose 1 Pokemon and "train" it. If you are at an enemy gym, you can choose 6 pokemon, if your at a friendly gym, you can only choose 1 pokemon.
What moves can you do in Combat?

You can do 4 things in combat:
Tab the screen = Attack
Swipe left/right = Dodge
Tap and Hold = Special Move (You require 1 bar of blue built up which is done by attacking)
Swap the current Pokemon (so far, this just makes you take way too much damage as combat is real time - just constantly tap the screen for now - may change once Pokemon are stronger)
An example Gym Takeover - From my run around tonight

So you rock up to an enemy Gym and find out its in range and its a level 3 Gym with 3 Pokemon stationed with a reputation of 6000. You swipe left to see the relevant Pokemon stationed and you believe you can take it out.
You decide to fight and for this first fight, you will need to beat all 3 Pokemon to win. Because you are awesome, you do win the fight and the gym loses 3000 prestige. So the Gym's prestige goes down to 3000. Now 3000 prestige is only a level 2 gym, so the lowest level Pokemon gets kicked out as the Gym can know only support 2 Pokemon
Because you are feeling good, you decide to fight the gym again. You still get to select 6 Pokemon but it will automatically select your best 6. This time, the you only have to beat 2 Pokemon (the enemy Pokemon are restored to full health between fights) before you are declared the winner. You breeze through this challenge and win the fight, the gym losses 2500 prestige. This leaves it with only 500 prestige which takes the gym down to level 1. This means the gym can only support 1 Pokemon so the worst Pokemon is booted out.
Now this gym only has 1 Pokemon defending it and its the leader. So you once again challenge the gym and this time you easily crush it with your 6 Pokemon team. This loss takes the prestige of the gym to 0 and so the enemy team is booted out of the gym and it becomes white (neutral)
When you click on the gym this time, down the bottom left you will see an icon which will allow you to put one of your Pokemon in the gym to claim it. Doing that and the Gym is now your teams color.

What happens to the Pokemon that i station at the Gym?

The Pokemon that you add to a gym will become unavailable for you to use in any other gym fights and you will be unable to power up or evolve them until they have returned to your Pokemon list.
When they do finally get defeated by another player, they will return to you with only 1 health so you will need to heal them up again before they will be useful.
You are also only able to add full health Pokemon to gyms, the app wont let you assign non-full health Pokemon to the gym.
For each Pokemon you have stationed in a gym (it doesnt matter if you are the leader of the gym or not), you are able to claim rewards from the shop. You get 10 gold coins and 500 stardust for each Pokemon stationed at gyms. It only counts up to 10 Pokemon, so there is no real benefit to having more then 10 Pokemon stationed at gyms at one time except for world domination.
If you are just after the shop bonus, maybe its better to put in a Pokemon that you were about to turn into candy from the professor so you dont need to heal it when it returns.

What can you do at a friendly Gym?

The goal when you goto a friendly gym is to reinforce the gym so that its harder for enemies to take it over. To do this, you need to add a Pokemon to the gym. However, the gym will only allow 1 Pokemon per gym level to be stationed at the gym.
It requires 2000 prestige per gym level, so if the gym is already "full" for its current level, you wont have the option to add a Pokemon to the gym.

How can i raise the prestige of a friendly gym

To raise the prestige of a friendly gym, you need to "train". You do this the same way you take over a gym with the following MAJOR exception, you can only choose ONE Pokemon to fight. So if you want to add a Pokemon to a gym that already has 2 Pokemon from your team in it, you need to train a Pokemon that can beat both of those 2 Pokemon.
If you just beat one Pokemon, the gym's prestige will still rise but not as much.
You need to repeat the training until you have added enough prestige to the gym to make it level up (It takes 2000 prestige for each level of the gym).
Once the gym has received enough prestige, you will see the icon to add a Pokemon to the gym (bottom left) becomes available.
Do my Pokemon take damage from training?

Yes - the exception is that your Pokemon wont faint/die even if you lose during training but they will need to be healed still with the purple potions. But you wont ever have to revive them as they stop training right before they reach that point (i guess :) )
If you lose a fight againt an enemy gym, your Pokemon will faint/die and will need to be revived before healing.
What does training do for the Pokemon?

The short answer is nothing - Pokemon dont level up or get stronger by fighting or training. However, their are some badges that are rewarded for you training X times. Beating 1 Pokemon is counted as training. So if you train at a gym with 2 Pokemon, and beat them both, that counts as training 2 times.
Can i put multiple Pokemon in a gym?

No - Each player can only put 1 Pokemon in a gym regardless of the level of the Gym. So if a Gym is level 3, and has a space for another Pokemon, but you already have one in it, you want have the option to add another Pokemon. Someone else from your team needs to add a Pokemon to strengthen the Gym
Any sneaky tricks to training

If you takeover a gym, put a 10cp Pokemon inside. Then do training on that gym with a strong Pokemon and watch how fast you get those training numbers up. You only get a tiny bit of xp doing this so its only worthwhile if you are wanting to increase you "number of times trained" stat.
What is the point of taking over gyms / putting Pokemon in gyms?

Once every 20 hours, you can get some rewards from the shop menu. You get 10 gold coins and 500 Dust for every Pokemon that you currently have stationed in gyms (Up to a max of 10 Pokemon - so a total of 100 gold coins and 5000 dust per 20 hour cooldown). To claim this, goto the "Shop" and up the top right will have a Shield that shows the number of Pokemon you have stationed at gyms. Remember, other people can take back over the gym and boot your Pokemon out before you claim your reward - so work out the best time to claim if you are doing a run around a series of gyms.
Yes - Multiple people can attack a Gym at the same time!!

On the map, you can tell if a gym is currently being attacked as you will see some "fighting actions" happening on the top of the gym. To join the fight, just get in range of the Gym and attack it as you normally would.
The other players will also show up on your screen battling - the defending Pokemon will only attack 1 of the players at a time so anyone else can get free hits in. However, the last time we did this, we got stuck on the bug where the enemy had a tiny bit of health and tapping the screen did nothing.
What's the max gym level?

*The max gym level is level 10. The prestige cost per level is not linear and after the first 3 - 5 levels, will cost more then just 2000 prestige a level. For gyms that are completely filled out, you are going to need to chip away at them over time, or attack them with multiple people at once.
Finding Pokemon in the Wild

How do i find wild pokemons to capture?

Wild pokemons are all over the place. I believe there is some sort of time based setting where if you leave your phone for long enough, a wild pokemon is going to spawn near you regardless of where you are and regardless of what the "nearby" button says.
On the map, if you see areas where you get wild grass animating, pokemon are more likely to be around those areas. You will normally find multiple pokemon in those areas and your more likely to get multiple to spawn at the same time. Though i believe everywhere can spawn a pokemon potentially based on a timer since your last encounter with a wild pokemon.
I see a wild pokemon on the map, now what?

If you see a wild pokemon on the map, you want to try and double tap on it - this can be painful if they are right next to a pokestop/gym - as the pokestop/gym take preference and the app seems to "help" you select these rather then the pokemon.
Single click on the Pokemon model (not the circle underneath them) to initiate the capture. You know your "click" has registered as the pokeball and your player portrait will disappear. If this happens, just wait for the capture to start. I've had no issues starting a capture once i started only single clicking on the pokemon model.
What does the rustling grass mean on the map?

From my experience, rustling grass just represents an area where pokemon are near. Basically, if you see an area with multiple ruslting grasses, it means there is more likely to be pokemon around that area. You typically find these types on things in park like areas. You can still find pokemon anywhere, but if you head towards rustling grass, there seems to be a higher chance of an encounter especially if you just roam around those areas.
I can't see any pokemon around me, will some spawn near me?

If you leave your phone on , plugged in and running the app, you will find pokemon will eventually spawn on you without you actually moving. So i believe there is some sort of "timer" that if you havent had an encounter for X time, the game spawns one near you.
How Does The Nearby Pokemon Tab Work?

Nearby Pokemon is actually quite powerful once you know how it works. It basically seems to be a linear scale in regards to the distance to the Pokemon and the number of footsteps. The only one that i think may not be this way is the 3 footsteps. I think the 3 footsteps means 3+.
I added an image that shows the distances based on a test i've done. 100% of the time that the Pokemon has had 0 footsteps, when i have clicked it, it has spawned within 5 to 10 seconds. I have also 100% reproduced that once a Pokemon goes outside your circle range, it changes from 0 footsteps to 1 footstep

You should be able to use these tips to track down specific Pokemon that show in your nearby (aslong as they are atleast a 2 footstep as 3 may be a bit hard).
Capturing Pokemon

How do i capture the pokemon?

Once you are in the capture screen, the goal is to throw the pokeball so that it hits the pokemon on the full. If it bounces, goes over them or misses, well you have to try again. Each throw will take 1 pokeball so you dont want to miss. In saying that, you will eventually get your eye in where you can hit them with 1 shot 80% of the time.
To throw the pokeball, tap and hold the pokeball, then flick your finger with the right speed/power based on the distance the pokemon is from you.
Augmented Reality when capturing is cool, but can i turn it off?

I recommend turning of AR as it makes capturing pokemon easier and you will look less wierd when doing this in public. To do this, when you are in the capture screen, at the top right is an AR switch, just toggle that and AR will turn on/off.
What does the coloured circle mean?

The color of the circle represents the difficulty of the capture. Green being the easiest, red the hardest. A harder pokemon is more likely to resist capture and escape even after you successfully hit it with a pokeball.
After much testing, i believe the entire purpose of the colored circle is to tell you the difficulty of the catch and it also highlights the area you need to hit to get "Nice", "Great" and "Excellent" throws. Pokemon can still escape capture even if you do a "Excellent" throw.
I have not seen a difference in capturing chance when the colored circle is small or large (at level 16 lost a 80CP rattata on an excellent throw)
I have not seen a difference in "throw speed" if the circle is small or large.
You gain some extra experience depending on the type of throw you do and whether you hit that colored circle.
Curveball = 10XP
Nice Throw = 10XP
Great Throw = 50XP
Excellent Throw = 100XP
You only get 1 bonus per throw, so even if you do a curve ball and get a "great throw" , only the highest XP will show - so you will get 50xp and not 60xp.
The wild pokemon escaped my pokeball????

There is a random chance that the pokemon resists capture. Most of the time, they will stay around and you simply need to throw another pokeball at them to capture them. However, sometimes they will run away and they disappear from the map and you have missed you chance to capture them.
I have taken up to 5 captures to actually capture a pokemon before - mostly, if they escape capture once, the next time you get them with a pokeball, it will work. Its rare that it goes more then 2 times.
What are these curveballs i've been hearing about?

To do a curveball, you want to tap and hold the pokeball, rub in a circle so that the pokeball rotates, then flick it like you normally would (except its going to curve obviously). If you manage to hit a pokemon with a curveball, you gain an extra 10xp (you normally get 100xp from a capture - 600xp if its a pokemon you dont have yet).
I have had a pokemon escape capture after being hit by a curveball - i'm unsure if it effects capture chance or not, but its definitely not 100% chance to capture if you hit with a curveball.
But curveballs are quite fun.
I've found a difficult wild pokemon, can i make the capture easier somehow?

Once you get up a few levels, you will get some berries, you can use these berries to make your next throw have a higher chance to capture the pokemon. But it only effects the next 1 throw (regardless of if you hit or not).
Berries dont make it a 100% chance to capture, but i definitely feel a difference when i use them on harder Pokemon and it really feels like they dont escape hardly at all - but i have had it happen to me now once or twice.
As you level up, you get stronger pokeballs which make capturing easier as well.
Taking Care Of Your Pokemons

What actions cause my Pokemon to lose hitpoints / faint

Your Pokemon are only damaged when you take part in Gym fights at an enemy team's gym, Or doing training at a friendly Gym.
Your Pokemon will faint if you lose them when fighting an enemy gym (requiring you to revive them).
You Pokemon will only go down to 1 health if you do training with them (so they can just be healed)
Healing your Pokemon

Pokemon do not heal naturally over time , which is a shame, but they also only take damage when you do a Gym battle. But below are the ways i have found to heal them.
There are 3 ways to heal your Pokemon:
Using a heal (purple) potion from your items
Powering up your Pokemon (Will restore 1 hp each time - yay!)
Evolving your Pokemon restores it to the full health of the next level Pokemon
Reviving your Pokemon

Your options once a Pokemon has been killed is to either turn them into 1 candy of their type, or heal / revive / evolve them if you want to continue to use them.
There are 2 ways i've found to revive your Pokemon
Using the revive (yellow) potion from your items - restores Pokemon to half health
Evolving your Pokemon - revives and gives them full health
How do i get healing / revive potions?

You get these potions as rewards from pokestops. Its random chance whether you get pokeballs, potions or a mix of both.
The items you get from a pokestop are based on your level, so you will only start getting potions once you get above level 5.
You also get some when you level up at certain levels, but that takes time obviously.
Turning your unwanted Pokemon into candy

If you have decided that a Pokemon is no longer a use, you can turn them into 1 candy of their type. To do this, do the following:
click on the Pokeball
click on Pokemon
click on the Pokemon you want to convert
scroll down and hit the "transfer" button
You will lose the Pokemon to the professor and he will give you 1 candy of their type in exchange.
How do Eggs work?

What are these Eggs people are talking about

Eggs are items that will hatch a Pokemon after you have walked a specified distance. But the only egg that will count the distance being walked is the egg in the incubator.
Where do i find eggs?

I have only received eggs as rewards from pokestops. Its just a random chance.
Starting the incubation process

As soon as you find your first egg, you need to add it to the incubator ASAP. If you dont add the egg to the incubator, its not doing anything and not progressing to hatching.
How do i get an egg into an incubator?

Click on the pokeball
Goto "Pokemon"
Up the top right, there is a tab called "EGGS" - click that
Tap the Egg you want to hatch (the longer the distance required, the better chance of getting better Pokemon)
Press the "Start Incubation" button
Select a free incubator - everyone starts with 1 incubator that never expires. You can buy / find incubators that expire after 3 uses (so you catch be incubating multiple eggs at a time).
How is distance registered in the app?

For distance to register, you need to have the app open and running. If you minimise it or lock your phone or anything, the distance you walk will not count. There is a "Battery Saver" mode that will black out the screen but keep the app active which does record distance correctly and saves battery.
Their is a max speed where if you travel faster then that, any distance travelled will not count. For instance, being on a train with the app open will only record the slow parts of the trip (arriving and leaving a train station). The fast parts dont count.
Some goes with driving obviously, I've been told the speed limit is 60kmph, but i've only tested myself at 20kmph which works fine. So doing a lap of your local gyms, late at night, doing 20kmph, will count as walking. I'll try confirm the max speed at some point. I tried 40kmph and it didnt register - so the max speed is between 20kmph and 40kmph.
Just so its clear, yes the app needs to be running an open for any walking distance to count. Riding too fast on a bike can also cause distance not to count. Best to check your phone after travelling for a bit to see if the distance is being recorded and adjust accordingly.
What happens once you have walked the distance required by and egg?

You will get a full screen message with a picture of the egg. Tapping the egg starts the hatching process after a bit of an animation
If i walk while i'm trying to capture a wild pokemon, does that distance count?

Yes - i did a 1km test of this. Basically started a wild capture, walked 1km , then captured the pokemon - my egg registered the 1km that i walked. So no need to stop completely to capture a wild pokemon (unless there are multiple around and you want to catch them all).
What rewards do you get from the egg?

Well you get a random Pokemon obviously, but you also get quite a bit of stardust and candy. For instance, i hatched my 10km egg tonight and i got an Omanyte, 2701 Stardust and 27 Omanyte Candy. Rewards for getting fit, hard to complain.
Whats the difference between an egg with a bigger distance to unlock?

After hatching multiple 10km, 5km and 2km eggs, i can confirm that the eggs that take longer to hatch give better rewards. There is always a random element to it, but you get stronger Pokemon, more candy and more dust in the eggs that require more distance.
Can you only hold 9 Eggs at a time?

Yes - so you will stop getting egg drops from the Pokestop once you have 9 eggs. So you need to incubate those eggs as soon as possible if you are full so you have a chance to get a 10km Egg.
Evolving Pokemon

How does evolving work?

Certain Pokemon can be evolved to stronger forms of themselves. To do this, you need to pay between 6 and 400 (lol) candy. Typically, it costs 50 candy to evolve a Pokemon to their final form.
What happens to the pokemon's Combat Power (CP) when it evolves?

The way CP works is that each Pokemon has a max CP. If you click on the pokemon, at the top you will see a semi circle with a percentage of it white. The more white the semicircle line is, the more CP you have.
So when the Pokemon evolves, the % of the CP semi circle that they have filled stays the same, but because the evolved version of the Pokemon has a higher max CP, the pokemon will have more CP after they evolve.
Since the current CP that the pokemon has does not effect the cost of evolving, you should try and evolve the pokemon who is closest to having a full CP semi circle.
When a pokemon evolves, do their skills change?

Yes - well they dont always but they can. This is why if you are looking to min/max your pokemon, you wont know if you got the perfect pokemon until they have evolved to their final form. This is one reason why its recommended to not power up any pokemon until they are fully evolved (so you dont waste dust / candy)
Is there a difference between powering up before or after evolving?

No - The cost stays the same and the % of the bar that is filled each time you power up is the same. So its better to get the pokemon to their final form before you power them up. So focus on evolving the pokemon, and if you deem it a good pokemon after they are fully evolved, spend you candy and dust on powering them up.
Why does Magikarp take 400 candy to evolve?

Magikarp is one of the weakest Pokemon who then morphs into one of the strongest. So to simulate the fact that he is soo weak and takes a long time to level up in the original Pokemon games, he is given a high number of candy to evolve causing you to take a long time to get enough to evolve him.
If you are wondering what he looks like, hes the Pokemon that shows on the "Loading" screen that you should all be familiar with by now :)
Should i evolve X Pokemon?

Evolving takes a different amount of candy depending on the type of Pokemon. I'm a hoarder in games so i have a hard time spending my currency, but i would only recommend evolving a fairly strong Pokemon. I think its better to hold onto the candy until you have a decent Pokemon before evolving.
I would also not spend candy on powerup's until the Pokemon is max "evolution" as it just delays how quick you can build up your Pokemon. I didn't see an increase in the "Power Up" cost after evolving so i dont think you need to consider powering up before evolving.
The evolved Pokemon uses the same candy as the un-evolved Pokemon
The only difference between evolving a high CP Pokemon and a low CP Pokemon, is that you need to spend more dust/candy to "Power Up" the low CP Pokemon after its been eveolved. So it will just save you dust and candy if the Pokemon you evolve has the highest CP you can find.
Pokemon Size (XL vs XS) - The differences

Does the size of the Pokemon effect the stats? (i.e. XS vs XL)

YES - from my testing, it seems that XS Pokemon will end up with more CP but less HP then the XL version. I have tested this using multiple pokemon i.e. Powering Up pokemon that are the same CP but different sizes and seeing how it effects there upgraded stats and comparing 2 pokemon that have the same CP but different sizes and comparing their HP and the distance of the semi circle that has been filled in.
So the smaller the pokemon, the more CP you are going to end up with, but you'll have less HP - I've listed some examples below.
Caterpie Example

I've included an image of 2 Caterpie that i have that have similar Combat Power but have different HP and a different percentage of the Combat Power line filled in. Basically, the smaller Caterpie has less of the Combat Power line filled in (which means you can Power it up more) but it already has more CP then the bigger Caterpie. However, it has almost 25% less HP.
2 Different Sized Caterpie

Zubat Example

Coming Soon
Spearow Example

Coming Soon
Pidgey Example (This one breaks my theory!!)

Coming Soon
Player Level

Player Level is King

I wrote a post with more detailed info on how player level effects the game and why i deem it important. You can read it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/comments/4sb61f/player_level_is_king_focus_on_xp_leveling/
Does my player level effect the wild pokemon that spawn?

Yes, the higher the level, the stronger the wild pokemon that spawn seem to be. So i would definitely look to focus on leveling up the player.
Does my player level effect items i get from the pokestops?

Yes - as your level increases and passes certain points, you start getting different items at the pokestops. For instance, once you hit level 12, you start getting great pokeballs.
Candy

How do you get candy?

You can get candy through a few different means:
Everytime you catch a pokemon, you get 3 candy of their type. This is why i recommend catching every pokemon you see - for the candy and dust.
You can "transfer" a pokemon to the professor and he will give you 1 candy of the type of pokemon that you transfer - but you lost the pokemon permanently obviously.
When you hatch an egg, you get quite a lot of candy of the type of pokemon that hatched. For intance, i got 27 candy from 1 egg hatch. Note that the longer the distance required to hatch the egg, the more candy it rewarded.
What is candy used for?

The main purpose of candy is to power up and evolve your pokemon.
Evolving your pokemon only requires candy of the same type of pokemon - typically it costs around 50 candy (each pokemon is different).
Powering up your pokemon increases the amount of CP that they have and it will cost 1 - 2 candy plus stardust.
Stardust

How do you get Stardust?

There are a few ways to get stardust - the most common will be to catch Pokemon.
Each Pokemon caught will grant 100 stardust and 3 candy of the caught Pokemon type
You can get stardust from leveling up your character
You get stardust once per day from the "shop" - for each Pokemon you have in a gym, pressing the shield icon in the top right will give you 500 dust - up to a max of 5000.
What is Stardust used for?

Stardust is used to power up your pokemon. It requires dust + candy to power up your pokemon and its going to be the dust that limits your pokemon progress. So you want to get as much dust as possible.
Pokestops

What are pokestops for?

Pokestops are where you can collect various items that you need to catch and heal your pokemon. You get between 3 and 7 items each time you activate a pokestop. Getting 5 or less items on the Pokestop will get you 50XP, 6 or more will get you 100xp.

Does your level effect the items you get from a pokestop?

Yes - as you hit certain levels, you start getting different items appearing. So you want to try and level up your player as a priority.

I've clicked on the pokestop on the map and it shows an image in a circle, now what?

To activate the pokestop, simply swipe your finger across the circle image so it spins - and out will pop the items.
You DONT have to click on each item once its spawned by the pokestop, just click the "X" and it will close the screen and pickup all items - save those extra few seconds :)

Why are some pokestops pink?

Pink pokestops are ones that you have already visited and you cant activate them again until they turn blue.

How long does it take for a pokestop to turn back to blue?

5 minutes - so if you have an area with a few pokestops, you can just do laps of them to collect items and catch pokemon. There is no limit to the number of times you can activate a pokestop in the same day.
A Pokestop looks like a party is happening on it (Lots of petals showering it), what is that about?

If someone uses a lure on a pokestop, it looks like its throwing a party. This causes pokemon to spawn at the pokestop that may be from a different area completely. If you have the time and you are looking for pokemon, its worth hanging around these pokestops to catch pokemon (especially if there is a few in the same area).
Pokemon Combat Power

What does CP of a Pokemon mean

CP is the combat power of the Pokemon, the higher the CP , the stronger the Pokemon.
You can increase CP by Powering Up your Pokemon (it can only go as far as the semicircle line above your Pokemon - once its full white, thats it).
You can also increase your CP by evolving the Pokemon - which converts it into the next evolution of the Pokemon which comes with increased CP
Inventory Tips

My Bags Are Full, What should i do?

You have to either buy more bag space or delete some items. For the team, i pressed the "bin" icon on my pokeballs and hoped that it didn't delete them all - it didn't, it asked me how many i wanted to delete so i could throw away 30.

My Bags are full, what happens when i goto a pokestop?

If your bags are full and you visit a pokestop, you wont get ANY items but you will still get the XP
My bags are full, what happens if i level up?

If your bags are full and you level up, you get ALL the items that are rewarded for that level, and you bag will be "over capacity". So you will need to use / delete items until you have space. But its good that they allow you to go over capacity in this instance.

Incense Item

What does Incense do?

Using Incense will make it active for 30 mins from that time - even if you are offline. I used an Incense, got booted from the server, and when i finally got back in, it was down to 15 mins.
I saw a slight increase in number of wild Pokemon that popped up, but i was expecting more - hard to tell how much it does though.
Using Incense will make a pink swirly cloud appear around you

Lure item

What does a Lure do?

You use a lure on a pokestop and it causes pokemon to spawn at it. These pokemon may not normally spawn in the area without a lure.
Lures last for 30 mins and they work for all players. So its worth hanging around a pokestop with a lure on it if you have the time.

Login Tips

I hate having to enter my email in again, any tips for this?

I save my email to my clipboard so atleast i only have to enter my password when it happens.
But, the best way to prevent this is to actually close the app if it looks like its timing out. For instance, when you try to login, the first section of the progress bar is all about confirming your account on the pokemon servers. If the bar doesn't progress after 5 seconds, close the app. When you re-open it, it will attempt the login again - rinse and repeat until you are logged in.
Your settings are only wiped if you get to that "our servers are busy, try again" screen. So if you kill the app before it gets there, you dont need to re-enter the login details.

Troubleshooting Stuff

I'm stuck on the pokeball screen after just getting a Pokemon - help

Unfortunately, i have not recovered from this screen. I've left it for 5 mins but it never moved on - i have always had to restart the game in which case i lost the Pokemon i just caught. Though it seems sometimes you get to keep the Pokemon - either way, restart and hope for the best.
I just started a gym battle but its stuck before it shows my pokemon - Help

This happens every now and then when you try and start a gym battle, if the screen stops moving for more then 5 seconds, you need to restart the app and just restart the gym battle.
Restarting is your friend

To go along with the above, anytime you are getting stuck, i've found it better to just restart the app as i have not recovered from any "stuck" screen.

Battery Saver Mode

Recommend you turn this on , click the pokeball -> click top right settings -> then activate the battery saver mode. It means while the phone is upside down, the screen will turn off but everything else still runs. Just hold onto the phone with earphones in and it will vibrate when a wild Pokemon is near or make a noise when you get in range of a pokestop.
Upside down = the TOP of the phone is pointing to the ground and the BOTTOM of the phone is pointing to the sky. This will make the screen black apart from a faint Pokemon Go logo (provided your phone has a gyro).
Flipped = The SCREEN is facing the ground and the BACK OF THE PHONE is pointing to the sky - this does nothing and wont activate battery saver mode.
Note: when i went to demo this, the app had turned off my setting and i had to turn it back on. So just double check your setting is enabled if its not working for you.

Augmented Reality (AR) Mode

You can turn off AR mode when you are catching Pokemon and i RECOMMEND you do it. When you are in an area with people or late at night, having someone point their phone at people and "swipe" on it looks sooo dodgy. When you are in the Pokemon catch screen, at the top right is an AR switch, just toggle it and you can safely point your phone at the ground and catch those Pokemon. AR mode is cool, but it makes you look creepy in certain circumstances.

Those 1 Handed Pokemon Go Players Who Use Their Thumb

Due to the way our hand is built, when you try and catch Pokemon one handed with your thumb, it naturally will curve the pokeball throw. Just offset this curve by rotating your phone in your hand a bit so that when you swipe with your thumb, it goes dead centre.
Alternatively, use 2 hands and just swipe straight with the other hand :)

My AR and Battery saver settings keep resetting - why?

When you get the screen to login with Google, it seems like the app wipes your local settings. Actually the wiping probably happens before you get the Google login and the login token is part of the local settings that are wiped. Either way, once you get that login screen showing, all your local settings are gone.