The popular augmented reality mobile game "Pokémon GO" has encouraged thousands of people to go out and play, and the new feature will another reason for players to get moving.

Niantic Labs has launched the new buddy system for "Pokémon GO," which lets you select your favorite Pokémon to walk alongside your trainer avatar in the game. The goal is to get candies from your pet, dropping one candy for every set distance traveled.

The buddy system is very useful for trainers who are finding it difficult to obtain candies via other known methods. However, if you want to get a serious amount of candy, you need to cover a whole lot of distance to obtain your goal.

Obtaining candies this way may be too troublesome for most people, but that's where fitness comes into play. The Buddy System can turn your regular "Pokémon GO" game into a fitness app that encourages you to rack up those miles for those candies.

The buddy system shows you the number of kilometers travelled, making it easier to track how far you still need to go, according to CNET.

You can switch your buddy Pokémon around, choosing a different Pokémon to run with everytime. Be warned, however, as the progress of the original Pokémon will go back to zero once it is swapped out, so it is ideal to finish your run with this Pokémon first.

Each Pokémon has different distance requirements to get free candy, so if you want to take it slow, walk with Pokémon with the less amount of distance required, such as Pikachu.

For longer distances, try walking with Scyther, Magmar, Lapras, or any of the Eevee evolutions, as they will only drop one candy for every 5 kilometers walked. Check out the full list on Pokeassistant.

This alternate way of playing will turn your "Pokémon GO" game into a completely different experience, racking up your candies and keeping fit at the same time, finally getting the motivation to shed those pounds. Stay tuned for more updates.