After establishing a game account, the player creates an avatar by selecting a hair, skin, and eye color; style; and outfit.^[1][2] Once created, the avatar is displayed on a map using the player's current geographical location. Features on the map include PokéStops and Pokémon gyms. PokéStops provide players with items, such as eggs, Poké Balls, berries, and potions. These PokéStops can be equipped with items called lure modules, which attract additional wild, and sometimes rare, Pokémon.^[3][4] Gyms serve as battle locations for team-based king of the hill matches.^[5] PokéStops and gyms are typically located at places of interest.^[6] These locations are re-purposed portals from Ingress, Niantic's previous augmented reality game.^[7]

As players move within their real world surroundings, their avatar moves within the game's map. Different Pokémon species reside in different areas of the world; for example, water-type Pokémon are generally found near water.^[8] When a player encounters a Pokémon, they may view it either in augmented reality (AR) mode or with a live rendered, generic background.^[9] AR mode uses the camera and gyroscope on the player's mobile device to display an image of a Pokémon as though it were in the real world.^[10] Players can take screenshots of the Pokémon they encounter either with or without the AR mode activated.^[11]

Unlike other installments in the Pokémon series, players in Pokémon Go do not battle wild Pokémon to capture them. During an encounter with a wild Pokémon, the player may throw a Poké Ball at it by flicking it from the bottom of the screen up toward the Pokémon. If the Pokémon is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player. Factors in the success rate of capture include the right force, the right time and the type of Poké Ball used. After capturing a wild Pokémon, the player is awarded two types of in-game currencies: candies and stardust. The candies awarded by a successful catch depend on what evolutionary chain a Pokémon belongs to. A player can use stardust and candies to raise a Pokémon's "combat power" (CP). However, only candies are needed to evolve a Pokémon. Each Pokémon evolution tree has its own type of candy, which can only be used to evolve or level up. The player can also transfer the Pokémon back to the Pokémon professor to earn one more candy and create room for more Pokémon.^[12] The ultimate goal of the game is to complete the entries in the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing and evolving to obtain the original 151 Pokémon.^{[note 2][13]}

Although the game is free to play, it supports in-app purchases, where players can purchase additional Poké Balls and other in-game items.^[14] These items include incense (to attract Pokémon to you as you move), lure modules, to attract Pokémon to a fixed location, and lucky eggs, which double experience points gained for a thirty-minute period from use. All Pokémon are displayed with a combat power. A Pokémon's combat power is a rough measure of how powerful that Pokémon is in battle. Generally, as a player levels up they will catch Pokémon with higher CP.^[15]

Players earn experience points for various in-game activities. Players rise in level as they earn experience points. At level five, the player is able to battle at a Pokémon gym and join one of three color-coded teams (red for Team Valor, blue for Team Mystic, or yellow for Team Instinct), which act as factions within the Pokémon Go world. If players enter a Pokémon gym that is controlled by a player that is not part of their team, they can challenge the leader to lower the gym's "prestige". Once the prestige of a gym is lowered to zero, the player will take control of the gym and is able to deposit one Pokémon to defend it. Similarly, a team can upgrade the prestige of a gym under their control by battling the gym leader. Each time a gym's level is raised, another player from the same team can deposit one of their Pokémon.^[16]

In September 2016, Niantic announced a "Buddy Pokémon" feature, which allows players to pick a Pokémon to appear alongside them on the profile screen, and receive in-game rewards and bonuses based on the chosen Pokémon.^[17] The feature was released later that month.^[18]During that same update, Niantic updated Pokémon Go to prevent players with rooted or jailbroken devices from logging into the game in an effort to reduce and prevent cheating.^[19]