Can you catch Shiny Pokemon from photobombs in Pokemon GO?

Shiny forms are rare variants of regular monsters with distinct coloration in Pokemon GO. The chances of encountering them depend on rarity, probability, randomness, and events. On some occasions, like the Festival of Color, one could collect Smeargle and its Shiny variant from photobombs. A snap feature where a critter spoils a photo of another creature by appearing in their snapshots.

Yes, catching Shiny creatures from photobomb encounters in Pokemon GO is possible. However, waiting for special events to occur takes work. This article details all there is to know about Shiny forms from photobombs.

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Pokemon GO: Shiny Pocket Monsters from photobombs.

Catch Smeargle using the GO Snapshot feature (Image via Niantic)

Niantic introduced the Pokemon GO Snapshot feature on February 25th, 2019. It allows you to take AR photos of monsters from your Pokedex or when encountering them in the wild. Another unique feature called photobomb allows you to discover a monster. Using it does not guarantee an encounter on your first try; however, after multiple endeavors, you may find one.

One who takes a picture of a critter mostly encounters a Normal-type Smeargle. Take a picture of any critter using GO Snapshot, and a Smeargle could appear in your Map View. However, you will need help to encounter its Shiny form. Players last found its counter variant during the Festival of Color.

In addition, instead of the photobombing Smeargle, there were events where you could encounter other monsters as well. When one tried taking snapshots, Swablu, Tepig, and Gible spoiled their photos. Further, they also appeared in the Map View.

Gible as it appears when photobombing (Image via Niantic)

Unfortunately, during those events, one could only encounter their standard form. Its Shiny variant is yet to be made available through photobombs. Team GO Rocket members also emerged in the picture during the Pokemon GO Fest Chicago, the PokeStop takeover event, and more. But the Shiny forms were nowhere to be found.

Abra Community Day, Ghastly Community Day, and Pokemon GO's third anniversary hosted Abra, Ghastly, and Pichu wearing a party hat. They were available to catch when you took a GO Snapshot photo. Although the standard form appeared on the screen, their Shiny variant wasn't seen.

There are various methods to catch Shiny forms. You can hook them through raids, Research Tasks, and wild encounters, but to capture them through photobombs is extremely hard. There have been minimal instances of fighters, except Smeagrle, appearing while taking a snapshot of a monster.

Also, when taking a snapshot, you are only guaranteed sometimes to get Smeargle. During the celebration of Pokemon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, one who took the photo saw Jessie and James from Team Rocket.

From time to time, the developers add new features to the game, making it more immersive and exciting to play. To improve GO Snapshot's experience, Shiny Smeargle debuted through this feature. With that, one always wished to catch the event-featured elusive critter just by taking a snap.

In Pokemon GO Fest 2022, Gracidea Pikachu made a surprise encounter in GO Snapshot. Lucky players had the opportunity to catch its Shiny form. That said, only so many fighters had their Shiny variant featured through photobombs.

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In summary, while it is technically possible to encounter Shiny mons through photobombs, it is a rare occurrence limited to specific events. Other methods, such as raids, wild encounters, and hatching eggs, are more reliable for obtaining Shiny ones.