Pokemon Go update adds capture locations, Go Plus features and minor bug fixes

Go Plus onwers will be able to use Incense to lure Pokemon in Niantic's hit mobile app.

Niantic Inc has detailed the next update for its smash-hit mobile app, Pokémon Go. Version 0.39.0 for Android and 1.9.0 for iOS reinstates the "Capture Location" feature which mysteriously vanished from the game in a previous update and adds further functionality for the wearable peripheral, the Pokémon Go Plus.

The initial "Capture Location" system took advantage of Pokémon Go's GPS data by marking where you caught each individual Pokémon on a mini-map, which was displayed on each critter's information screen. The neat feature launched with the game, but disappeared alongside the "Nearby" Poké-hunting tool in an earlier patch.

The only truly new feature detailed in the patch notes on Niantic's website makes use of the recently released Pokémon Go Plus accessory and Incense.

Previously, the Pokémon Go Plus did not alert players to nearby pocket monsters drawn in by Incense - an in-game item that attracts Pokémon to the trainer's location on the move. As of the new update, however, players can use the item and check their Bluetooth-accessory for alerts.

The change-list for the latest update, which also adds "minor bug fixes", also notes that the developer has "some exciting features and changes coming soon". Niantic also hints that the update's roll-out will begin shortly. The wait time between patch notes and roll-out has usually been one or two days for an official update.

While the update is not quite as comprehensive as the last major release - which added the adorable Buddy system - Niantic appears to be committed to adding more functionality to the Pokémon Go Plus accessory.

The device - which allows players to play Pokémon Go without checking their mobile - was developed and is being sold by Nintendo, which also holds a stake in the mobile app via its part-ownership of the mobile app's publisher, The Pokémon Company.

Much of the functionality developed for the Go Plus will also be included in Pokémon Go's companion app for Apple Watch due later this year. Data-mined code from a recent update also sparked rumours that an Android Wear version of the companion app is in development.