Pokemon GO Wayfarer public release and requirements

By Chris Burns/Nov. 7, 2019 9:12 am EST

Pokemon GO Wayfarer is the only way Pokemon GO players can officially submit new Pokestops to Niantic – but it's not made for everyone. Until now, the "Wayfarer" system has been limited to early testers only. Starting as early as November 11, 2019, Wayfarer will be released to the public for all players of Pokemon GO – provided they're Level 40 in the game.

This isn't the first time Niantic's opened their doors to submissions from everyday users. Their first major Google Maps-based game Ingress had a system called Operation Portal Recon. Wayfarer is basically what that was – on a significantly larger scale. Users of this system are called Niantic Wayfinders!

Above you'll see a guide from Niantic on the latest iteration of the system they call Wayfarer. This was released on October 18, 2019, so it's currently the latest guide for this system for all Niantic games.

While the system will not activate until next week, you can submit your account for approval right this minute. To do this, head over to Niantic's Wayfarer portal and hit Continue with Google (or Continue with Facebook if you're feeling lucky). Upon login, you'll see the following message if your account isn't quite what's needed: "Sorry, your account is not eligible. You need to reach level 40 in Pokémon GO for Niantic Wayfarer access."

You could also potentially start with Wayfarer if you've been playing Ingress for a while. Niantic requires that you be either Level 10 in Ingress Prime or Level 40 in Pokemon GO to submit Wayspot Nominations.

• A location with a cool story, a place in history or educational value

• An interesting piece of art or unique architecture (Statues, paintings, mosaics, light installations, etc.)

• A hidden gem or hyper-local spot

• Public parks

• Public libraries

• Public places of worship

• Major transit stations hubs (like Grand Central Station)

Above you'll see the latest list of qualities that Niantic says make a high-quality nomination for new PokeStops. We'll know soon if this list changes before the big public release of the system inside Pokemon GO!