Catching Pokémon

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

Tracking
There are a couple ways in which Pokémon can be found on the world map. Sometimes they randomly spawn immediately in range of the trainer's vicinity, 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 Sightings tab.

A gray silhouette indicates the Pokémon that has not yet been registered to the Trainer's Pokédex.

Catching
Once a Pokémon is visible on the world map, it will allow the trainer to attempt to capture it in a Poké Ball. Tapping on the Pokémon will bring the trainer 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 - The 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 - This switch controls augmented reality mode. Switching this to the On position will utilize the device's camera to show the Pokémon in "real life". The device may need to be oriented to so that the Pokémon appears in the field of view. Leaving it off will keep it on the default park scene, shown in the image to the right, and moving the device will not have an effect on the Pokémon's image.
 * 3) Pokémon Info - The Pokémon's name and CP is displayed. CP will sometimes appear as ???.
 * 4) Difficulty Ring - This appears when holding down on the Poké Ball. Its size repeatedly shrink and expand. The smaller it is when the ball is thrown, the better the chance of catching the Pokémon. Its color also represents how difficult the Pokémon is to catch, bright green being the easiest, and a red being the hardest. Using a higher quality Poké Ball will change the color if selected.
 * 5) Wild Pokémon - A visual representation of the Pokémon.
 * 6) Poké Ball - The type of Poké Ball selected for use will appear here. To select a different type, select the "Bag" option (8).
 * 7) Camera - Select this to take a photo. Turn on AR (2) first for more interesting and fun photos!
 * 8) Bag - Select this to access Items from the inventory that can be used in during an encounter i.e. Poké Balls and berries.