Walking is a big part of Pokémon Go; you have to walk not only to find monsters to catch, but also to hatch the eggs that are often the easiest way to get your hands on some of the rarer critters in the game. You have to have the app open for it to log your distance traveled, though, which is kind of a pain — but that's changing soon.

Developer Niantic Labs has announced what it's calling Adventure Sync, a new, roundabout way for Pokémon Go to track your walking habits without needing to run in the foreground to do it. On Android, it works by syncing with Google Fit to translate your steps from that app into valuable walking distance in Go. Hatching those purple eggs will definitely be less of a chore with all your walks counting toward their distance requirement.

In addition to providing the usual in-game benefits walking already had, the new system will offer weekly distance targets that provide in-game rewards when met — although there's no indication of what those rewards will be.

Adventure Sync doesn't have a firm release date, but Niantic says the feature will be rolling out to players around the world soon.

Source: Niantic Labs