GO Snapshot

GO Snapshot is a feature in Pokémon GO that allows Trainers to take photos of Pokémon in their collection. The feature can be activated when viewing a specific Pokémon or accessing the camera from the bag.

Taking photos
A Trainer must first select a Pokémon to be the subject of the photographs. The Trainer may then tap on the screen to throw its Poké Ball to their spot of interest. Once the Pokémon is situated in the ideal spot, the Trainer may move around it to find the best angle for the photo. If the Pokémon is distracted or looking the wrong way, the Trainer may brush across it to get its attention.

Trainers will notice that the Pokémon that they take photos of have a sense of presence and weight to them. GO Snapshot utilizes new shadows for each Pokémon, displaying a sense of size and motion as they arrive into a scene. Scale is also key, and GO Snapshot will subtly guide Trainers to find the perfect setting for Pokémon of all sizes.

Saving and sharing photos
Trainers may take as many photos as they wish during their session. Once finished, all photos are saved to the device automatically (if previously Storage permission given for the Pokémon GO app). Trainers who link their accounts to a social channel e.g. Facebook, may share their photos in posts.

Photobombs
Once a day, a Smeargle may photobomb a random photo. Once this occurs, the Smeargle will spawn next to the Trainer, on the Map View. Smeargle photobombs tend to occur rarely, so it may take snapshots of plenty of different Pokémon, until Smeargle appears.

With special events both photobomb and the Pokémon that spawns from it may be changed. With such change, there is higher or even guaranteed probability of being photobombed and encountered by specific Pokémon a number of times during the day, however Smeargle is then unavailable.

Special events
These are all special events involving event exclusive photobombs in GO Snapshot.

Trivia

 * GO Snapshot was introduced on February, 2019.
 * During Tricky Pokémon 2020 and Abra Community Day, if Pokémon were shiny, the shiny color would be shown in the Map View. This feature turned out to be unintended issue and it was fixed on Seedot Community Day.