As a location - based game , Pokémon Gois perfect for when you ’re on your commute , walking to a store , or just out and about . However , there ’s one big hassle to the experience : the need to have the app overt and on your screen to track distance , ding nearby PokéStops , and essay to catch Pokémon . That makes it difficult to play when you are , for model , holding the paw of a minor nipper , carrying bags , or just simply try out to watch where you ’re walking .
The Pokémon Go Plus , released in September , avail with a circle of that . It ’s a flyspeck wearable gimmick , fag around the wrist or nip onto dress , that buzzes and lights up any time you ’re near a Pokémon or PokéStop , and can automatically snag particular or attempt to hitch the tool with a insistence of a button . It ’ll also traverse all of your distance when active , which makes it easier to hatch nut and wring up kilometer for your buddy Pokémon .
It ’s not subtle , but it can be rather effectual !
However , it ’s a glistening reddish - and - white credit card fallal , and not everybody wants to be seen jade the thing , nor do they need to buy a $ 35 gadget that serves no other aim than to augment a barren mobile game . Also , the Plus set has been very hard to find , although the famine place seems to be improving of recent . Add all of that up , and it ’s no surprise that people uneasily awaited an Apple Watch app opposite number rather .
It finallylaunched right around Christmas , permit Apple Watch owners get some wearable perks without wear a dedicated , toy dog - like gadget . However , it serve differently than the Pokémon Go Plus and has its own welfare and drawback — and that ’s when it actually works , which has n’t been a certainty so far . Trying to figure out which way to go ? Here is how Pokémon Go ’s wearable experience compare .
How it works
Pokémon Go ’s Apple Watch experience functions as a companion app to the iPhone version , so if you have that on your phone , you ’ll also have the wearable translation on your articulatio radiocarpea . If you do n’t see it on your Watch ’s apps screen , ensure it is enable from within the Watch app on the iPhone .
When you burn down up Pokémon Go on the Apple Watch , it ’ll give you a screen that shows your player level and avatar paradigm , as well as the length remain to cover your next testicle and a vainglorious Start button . Press that and you ’ll start tracking . Pokémon Go ’s Watch app deal each session as a workout that can be get across by Apple Health , plus all of that data move towards your day-by-day activeness circles as well .
Sadly , the Apple Watch app does not increase the absolute frequency of Pikachu sighting .
The Watch app shows you the amount of space tracked so far in kilometers , the time elapse , and approximate routine of calories glow , as well as an icon show how many Pokémon eggs are incubating and another displaying how close you are to garner another buddy confect . Meanwhile , nearby Pokémon are render at the bottom of the screen .
When you draw near a Pokémon or PokéStop in the world , you ’ll sometimes get a notification — and while you’re able to spin the PokéStop image to exact item , you ca n’t really enamor a Pokémon from the Watch . That ’s frustrating , peculiarly when it should n’t be unmanageable to make a scaled - down version of the Poké formal - tossing maneuver . alternatively , you ’ll have to pull out your headphone to really complete that nucleus job .
The biggest benefit of accept Pokémon Go on your Apple Watch is logging aloofness , and there is one unexpected perk here : because the Watch app get across space ground on counted steps rather than GPS movements , you may lumber klick on a treadmill . That ’s proper : it ’s Pokémon Go from the comfort of your own home , or the gymnasium . And it ’s also helpful when walking around an indoor location like a museum or declamatory storage , where GPS trailing might die hard into return .
But it’s inconsistent
Not only is the functionality a spot special , there ’s a bigger issue right now : Apple Watch support is a mussiness for a lot of player . It just does n’t seem like the Watch functionality was ready for prime time .
When the Watch app influence , it ’s a handy imagination on your wrist . Sadly , that has n’t been very often in my experience .
The most irritating way out has occur with the workout data not transferring back into Pokémon Go , or there being massive mutual exclusiveness between what ’s shown and what I get credit for in the secret plan . I ’ve had multiple tread-wheel running game work all right for the first kilometer or so and then stop tracking altogether , or credit only a fraction of the distance number by the Watch app . In other outdoor walk of life , the space list on the Watch app is far more than is actually implement to my eggs . And at times , the app has n’t seemed to update when I ’ve moved around , as notifications rarely appear or stop over coming altogether .
I ’ve go through a litany of troubleshooting steps , update both devices , remove the app from the Watch and then adding it again , and tracking on an individual basis via LTE and Wi - Fi ( the latter when at dwelling ) , and I have n’t found a consistent source for the takings . Likewise , I have n’t found consistency at all when using the Watch with Pokémon Go : I ’ve had a couple of ripe experiences with it , and several big ones . It just seems to be bug - riddled as of this authorship , about a month after the Watch app was released .
It ’s also worth noting that the Apple Watch app will debilitate the gadget ’s shelling pretty intensely . I logged about three hours of usage while walking around a zoo , and used up 70 per centum of the Watch ’s battery during that yoke — so you ’d be lucky to push too far past four hour with a full cathexis . That could potentially be improved with update , but right now it intend that using the Watch app will greatly diminish your chances of have the equipment last a full day .
How they compare
No doubt , there are benefits to using the Apple Watch for Pokémon Go instead of the Plus band , and the magnanimous may be the most obvious of all : appearance . The Plus band looks like a miniature bracelet and may jar with , say , your professional workplace attire — and some hoi polloi who love playing the plot may not be uncoerced to commit to showing that admiration to the world by wearing the Plus . It ’s wholly graspable .
With the Apple Watch , how it looks is really up to you , depending on the model you choose and slash you augment it with . And if you already wear the Watch , then the Pokémon Go app can fit within your existing procedure . Just fire up the app , hit Start , and track some distance when you leave the office for lunch , or walk to the train . Then you do n’t have to buy a separate , $ 35 gimmick for wearable Pokémon Go perks . Of course , the Apple Watch is several times more expensive , but you ’re not buying it just for Pokémon Go … right ? ( Do n’t . severely . )
One of these is less conspicuous than the other .
When it comes to actual biz interactions , however , the Apple Watch app falls scant of what the Pokémon Plus ring can do . The Plus dance band automatise so much of the physical process of play , letting you cut through space , fascinate Pokémon , and trigger nearby PokéStops without ever touching your phone or search at a filmdom . Itcan be a spot obnoxiouswith its vibrating notification , as I found out last twilight , but ultimately it does an impressive job of grinding out experience , gaining items , and inflate your Pokémon pick with minimal combat-ready work on your terminal .
The Watch app should be able to provide a lot of that same functionality , given the extra processing power and trace display , but it pretty much sticks to tracking distance . Getting notification about nearby Pidgeys and Rattatas just is n’t all that exciting , so unless I happen to bumble upon a uncommon goliath in my ‘ hood — very unconvincing until Gen 2 monsters are released into the unfounded — I’m plausibly not go to draw out my phone . And powerful now , the Watch app is n’t worth the hassle , as the inevitable frustration and letdown over crashes and leave out length undercuts any positive progress made .
Hopefully Niantic gets the Watch issues sorted soon , because for a turgid glob of Apple Watch - owning , less - hardcore Pokémon Go buff , it ’s plausibly the only way they ’ll experience wearable interaction with the biz . But for the serious players still out there on the hunt to fulfill their Pokédex , think of new behemoth , and point up enough to dominate local gyms , the Pokémon Go Plus is still the more useful companion of the two .
