Pokemon GO’s Adventure Sync (AS) is the one feature which lured me back as a trainer. I recently discovered a boundary to what is allowed. It makes sense in most cases, but of course, it stinks to be in one of the few cases where it should work but does not.

For trainers with multiple accounts on a single device, AS distance will be awarded to the next account which polls the server for status updates. For trainers with multiple devices, amazingly, Pokemon GO could run simultaneously on multiple devices. This trick has been used to maximize the number of evolutions with a lucky egg. I do not know if running simultaneously is still allowed, but a single account will run on different devices, allowing people to log in for a friend to catch a rare pokemon. That trick has already been restricted by capping virtual travel speed. In the case of one person with multiple devices, running on either device at different times is convenient, but just do not let AS know about that.

Currently, AS pushes notifications to your device, essentially as a billboard pleading, “please play with me!” The notification is a courtesy to let you know your egg has hatched, and you may start incubating another. AS push service requires device registration, found via Settings. AS should award distance only once; however if you register multiple devices, AS will complain and rescind the award – poof! So to play nicely with AS, the trick is to enable AS on only one device. My wish for a better solution is that AS will pull instead of push the award status update, just like any other update, and avoid the complication over pushing to multiple accounts. The courtesy notification would have to change; maybe just say “you may get X km with AS on next login,” and I will have a good idea whether an egg has hatched. My wish on top of that would be the 3.5 km that Pokemon GO thinks I did not do.