Catching Pokémon

Obtaining Pokémon in the wild involves two processes, Tracking it down and Catching it in a Pokéball.

Tracking
There are a couple ways in which Pokémon can be found on the world map. Sometimes they randomly spawn immediately in range of your location, which can be encouraged with incense and lures. And sometimes they spawn elsewhere on the world map, waiting for a trainer to track them down with the help of the "Nearby" tab.
 * Footprints (an indicator of the potential distance between the Trainer and the Pokémon)
 * Blue Ring (indicates the Pokémon you are currently focused on tracking)
 * Silhouette (indicates a Pokémon you have not yet registered in your Pokédex)Nearby Tab 3.gif

Footprints
Note: this feature is currently experiencing issues, and shows three footprints at all times, regardless of the Pokémon's distance from you.

The footprints in the Nearby tab can give you an idea of how far away a Pokémon is, and whether you are moving towards or away from it. Zero footprints means you are within catching range, 1 footprint is just outside of that range, 2 and 3 footprints means you are farther and farther away. If a Pokémon you are tracking changes to zero footprints, simply stop where you are and wait, it will appear on your world map in a few seconds.

Right the distances seem to be the following Source

Focus Ring
When you tap on the Nearby tab, it opens up to show you any Pokémon in range. Tapping on a specific Pokemon in that screen will make it the focus of your interest, and change the Nearby tab to show just that Pokémon and its footprints indicator. Opening the Nearby tab again will now show that selected Pokémon with a blue ring among all others in range. This can be helpful in determining your distance and direction from the target Pokémon since you can now see it relative to the other Pokémon in range.

A good strategy that can be used to track down where the targeted Pokémon is is the following



Catching
Once a Pokémon is visible on your world map, you may attempt to catch it in a Poké Ball. Tapping on the Pokémon will bring you and the Pokémon into the capture screen.

Legend
The picture to the right shows the screen that appears when attempting to catch a Pokémon. Each item is listed with a description below.
 * 1) Give Up - your trainer will run away from the Pokémon, leaving it to be captured at a later time, as long as the Pokémon does not disappear (Pokémon stay up for a maximum of 15 minutes after they spawn).
 * 2) AR Switch - switching this to On will utilize your device's camera to show the Pokémon in "real life". You may have to move your device to "face" the Pokémon. Leaving it off will keep it on the default screen, shown in the image to the right, and moving your device will not have an effect on the Pokémon's image.
 * 3) Target Pokémon details - The Pokémon's name, and CP is listed. CP will sometimes appear as ???.
 * 4) Difficulty Ring - This appears when holding down on the Poké Ball. Its size will change, and the smaller it is when the ball is thrown, the better the chance of catching the Pokémon. Its color will also represent how difficult the Pokémon is to catch, bright green being the easiest, and a dark red being the hardest. Using a higher quality Poké Ball will change the color if selected.
 * 5) Pokémon - A visual representation of the Pokémon.
 * 6) Pokéball being used - The type of Poké Ball selected for use will appear here. To select a different type, select the "Items" option (8).
 * 7) Camera - Select this to take a photo. Turn on AR (2) first for more interesting and fun photos!
 * 8) Items - Select this to open your Items that can be used in this screen: Poké Balls and berries.