Pokemon GO secrets - 10 things you didn't know

If you're playing Pokemon Go right now, you're going to want to memorise these handy tips.

They aren't ultra obvious, and some are passed between players like cheat codes on a school playground. But they're all ultra helpful.

Let us know if you've got any advice, in the comments.

When you have battery saver mode on, you can turn your phone upside down to make the screen show a black screen with the Pokemon GO logo. It will no longer draw the map and put less strain on your battery life.

PokeStops can be used multiple times. The icon will turn purple when you've visited a PokeStop, but wait five or so minutes and you'll able to access it again to get more goodies. Handy for when you're staying in one place.

Different types of Pokemon are more likely to spawn in certain areas. Fire and ground Pokemon are easier to find in deserts, water critters crop up near the sea, and grass and buy Pokemon can be found in forests.

Check out The Silph Road's research for more.

You can track a Pokemon if a cool critter shows up in your "Nearby" list. Just tap on it the Pokemon to make it show up in the corner of the screen. Now you can use the paw prints (three for far away, one for close) to close in on the monster of your choice.

Find out more, here.

Duplicate Pokemon can be sent to Professor Willow to get more candies, which are used for powering up and evolving another Pokemon of that same species. Always make sure to transfer the weakest version of each Pokemon!

You can't cheat egg hatching. If you've gotta walk 5 kilometres, you've gotta walk 5 kilometres. Take a train, bus, plane, or car will not trick the game as it uses the pedometer in your phone to make sure you're on the straight and narrow. You might just be able to get away with a skateboard or a bike if you take it slow.

You can get a Pikachu as your starter Pokemon by walking away from the three starters (Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander) a number of times at the start of the game. Don't worry if you missed it: Pikachu can be caught elsewhere in the game.

Read more about that, here.

If you see grass shaking on the map, that may mean that a Pokemon is hanging out there. It's not a definitive sign, but you should definitely head in that direction and hope for the best.

Rare Pokemon seem to be linked to your trainer level. As you go up in the ranks, you'll come across more hard-to-come-by critters. So keep catching Pokemon, hatching eggs, and hitting the gym.

Downloading the offline map of your local area can apparently speed up the game and reduce battery gain. To do this, grab Google Maps, navigate to your local area, slide open the menu, and pick "Offline Areas". Hit the plus symbol and save as much of the local area as you like.

This may only affect Android players. See more, here.