From July 29, 2025, Pokémon Go Trainers who reach level 35 are now able to officially join the Wayfarer system (Niantic’s crowdsourced tool for submitting and reviewing PokéStops and Gyms). That’s a big shift from the previous requirement of level 37, and on the surface, it a great news. More players, more PokéStops, more map coverage, right? But, it’s yes and no.
What is Wayfarer?
Wayfarer is the system that allows eligible Trainers to Nominate new PokéStops and Gyms (Wayspots), suggest edits to existing ones, and review other players’ submissions.
Big thanks to this system, why Pokémon Go map stays alive and continues to evolve especially in places where Niantic’s original POI data was limited including rural towns, small neighborhoods, or hidden parks.
The move to allow level 35 players into Wayfarer is Niantic’s way of opening the door for more participation. It will benefit players in underrepresented areas who previously couldn’t do much about their PokéStop desert. According to the official Wayfarer team, this update is a “monumental step” for the community.
To be fair, more voices in the system means faster reviews, more variety, and a dense game world for everyone. But there’s a catch, or maybe a few.
Wayfarer Has Bigger Problems Than Level Caps
If you have reviewed nominations in Wayfarer, you might agree that the real issue isn’t who can submit, but it’s how those submissions are judged. The review process is still kind of a mess, the criteria for what makes a good Wayspot is vague or contradictory, and the feedback system for reviewers is almost non-existent.
The reality is that trail markers (which should be valid) are continuously rejected, memorial benches are an RNG coin flip, and reviewers often use outdated or wrong standards due to real guidelines buried in obscure forum threads. The result? Legit nominations get rejected for random reasons, and submitters rarely receive feedback that helps them improve.
On Reddit, old reviewers have proposed a few smart ways to fix Wayfarer, and they make a good sense than simply dropping the level requirement:
- If a nomination is approved on appeal, reviewers who rejected it should be notified, maybe even penalized if it keeps happening.
- Review guidelines should be built into Wayfarer and be easy to access.
- Invalid nominations should be flagged at the source. If you try to submit a gas station or a generic chain store, the app should say, “No, don’t even try.”
Imagine how much better Wayfarer could be if reviewers were supported and held accountable.
Niantic claims this as just the beginning. If all goes well, they can lower the level requirement even further in the future. Unless the review system improves, all we’re doing is giving more people access to a kinda like broken tool. To plan for evolving Pokémon during field research or raids, you might want to check out our valuable Pokémon Go evolution calculator.
