'Pokémon Go' update: Spawn times increase, giving you more time to catch Pokémon

The latest Pokémon Go update appears to make the game a lot less stressful by increasing spawn times — the amount of time before a Pokémon disappears — from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, or even an hour.

So the next time you're in a meeting and a rare Pokémon decides to materialize outside, you won't have to make up an excuse and run out of the office to catch it. (Not that that's ever happened to me. Nope.)

How much longer do you have to catch that Lapras before it vanishes? On the Silph Road, Reddit's Pokémon fan community, user koerrie posted an analysis that showed the times it took for Pokémon in his area to spawn and despawn.

Pokémon Go update: How Reddit discovered the change in spawn times

The data for this analysis was gathered by koerrie, who runs a Pokémon mapping site for Pokémon Go. The data was gathered in Belgium, and is based on observation of 7,087 different spawn points in Pokémon Go. A spawn point is where the Pokémon enters the game world and sits until it's either caught or vanishes/despawns.

"Of the 7,087 valid spawn points, 6,387 points turned out to be 30-minute spawns and 700 turned out to be 60-minute spawns," wrote koerrie. If his data is correct, it suggests that 15-minute spawns have been patched out of the game, at least for now.

Pokémon Go update could make it way easier to catch Pokémon

That means you have a better chance of catching a Pokemon before it despawns, because you won't be running against a harsh 15-minute clock. 

Pokémon Go players shouldn't celebrate the extra time just yet. "Data is from Belgium," writes koerrie. "Could be different in other parts of the world?" That's unclear, but other players are reporting 30- and 60-minute spawn times in the comments of koerrie's post, suggesting it's not isolated to one region.

Pokémon Go hacks, tips and tricks

If you're about to start setting timers and tracking Pokemon spawn times, you may also want to check out our Pokémon Go guides. Here's everything you need to know about creating new PokéStops, setting up the best gym attackers, the best gym defenders, how to maximize your chances to catch Pokémon and how to track nest migrations.