'Pokémon Go' Gyms Under Construction: Update replaces PokéStops with new gyms, players report

Even though it's only a year old, Niantic's mobile game Pokémon Go has found a lot of ways to spice things up for the one-year anniversary: There's a weeklong fire and ice event that's ending Tuesday, an upcoming live event in Chicago and a massive gym overhaul they're rolling out.

If you've been noticing some strange things happening with PokéStops, don't worry — it's a good thing. Here's why.

Pokémon Go gym update: Players report Pokéstops becoming gyms and here's what that means

According to a post on the Silph Road, multiple users have noticed that Pokéstops are becoming inactive due to a network error, only to be replaced by gyms. A lot of posters on the Silph Road were excited about this change, remarking that now they could see anywhere from 10 to 14 gyms from their house.

As we've previously reported, a massive change to how gyms operate is coming to Pokémon Go. Gyms are now capped at six Pokémon, and none of them can be duplicates. This means that more gyms are going to be necessary to make up for the reduction. The motivation system reduces your Pokémon's CP the longer you leave it at a gym, which will hopefully result in higher turnover at gyms.

If you're still concerned about an upswing in gyms reducing the amount of available PokéStops for you to get your spin on, don't worry. As part of the update, all gyms are being outfitted with a photo disc. This means that gyms will now operate as full PokéStops as well, including yielding raid passes that can be redeemed during special cooperative events for items and powerful Pokémon.

Even if you're not interested in taking advantage of the new gym update, you can rest easy knowing that the spontaneous PokéStop-to-gym conversion won't affect your ability to get items or take advantage of those PokéStop streaks in the slightest.

More Pokémon news and coverage

Read more coverage on Pokémon, including Nintendo's comments on the rumored Pokémon Stars Switch game and news about GameFreak putting up a "now hiring" sign. Watch how well Sun and Moon could translate to Switch and why we won't see the game come to the home console this year — but at least we're getting portable Pokkén and Gold and Silver again.