While the rest of the world waits for the arrival of the Pokémon GO Plus device, those who own an Android Wear smartwatch can now keep their phones in their pockets while they hunt for Pokémon out and about.
A new smartwatch app called PokéDetector has been released which tracks any nearby monsters and sends you alerts. These notifications appear on your phone's home screen and - if you have one - on your Android Wear watch, which means you can keep your phone in your pocket like a normal person until you're close to the monster you want to catch. The app even shows a map on your phone allowing you to pinpoint the precise location with more accuracy.
You can configure the app to ignore certain monsters so you're not constantly bugged by alerts for Weedles, although that particular feature requires you to upgrade to the premium version. It's also worth noting that the app is totally unofficial and Google may shut it down at any time.
The developer also recommends that you use a "dummy" Google account, just to be safe:
This app needs to log in to a Google account that's registered with Pokemon Go. I highly recommend registering for Pokemon Go with a backup account, and using that for this application. This application is using an unofficial Pokemon Go API, and while many other applications also use this API, it's always better to be safe than sorry
Even so, it's a pretty useful app that has already helped us to bag some desirable Pokémon. If you've downloaded it then let us know your thoughts.
[source play.google.com]
Comments 12
That's great if you already have an Android Wear, but they're much pricier than the Go Plus, so I'm not gonna buy one just for that. Besides, I'm not much of a watch person anyways.
Sounds like something that, if you use your Pokemon Go account, could lead to you getting banned. The notifications on the wrist may be nice, and it is a way around the 3-step problem at the moment, but the exact pinpointing of Pokemon (am I interpreting that right?) sounds like something Niantic will probably frown upon.
@YouSeemFRAZZLED it is supposed to show you how close each nearby Pokemon is, with 3, 2, 1 or 0 footsteps. For a while now, every Pokemon is showing as 3 footsteps away, making it very very hard to find the nearby Pokemon you want.
@YouSeemFRAZZLED As @MadAdam81 said, it's a problem where nearby Pokemon are shown to be always 3 steps away. It's a result of one of the updates released by Niantic. They apparently disabled or changed the way the Google Maps part of the game communicated with the server, supposedly it reduces the demand on the servers, which is helpful considering the over 75 million downloads this game has.
@Flanktwo @cherrysunburst I'll believe there is a risk when someone actually gets their account deleted on Pokemon GO. I would imagine Google would just shut down / change the API instead.
I downloaded this onto my watch and it's working perfectly. It's definitely negated the three step problem, and it's nice to be notified when uncommon Pokémon are nearby.
I still don't understand why they didn't make Pokémon Go Plus something like this. For around $35 there are numerous cheap smart watches and kids toys. To put out a Plus device that doesn't even have a digital clock on it seems a waste of wrist space. I'd rather it was $50 and useful, b/c once you are done playing Go this serves zero putpose. At least if it had a screen, doesn't even need to be a touchscreen, just a screen for general notifications of calls and texts, at least it would have longevity.
Not worth the hassle. I'm still looking forward my Pokemon Go Plus. 😊
@allav866 I got this to work with my cheap U8 as well. They run less than $20. It works, albeit not quite as snazzy. Caught a Kingler when my wrist buzzed, super cool.
@rjejr Agreed. Or an official app like this. I'd much prefer it this way.
@Sakura "Or an official app"
Maybe now that Plus is delayed until Sept they'll scrap it for an app instead? Well actually I do like them selling a piece of hardware for kids, not all kids will have an app ready piece of hardware already, but there should still be an app for adults that do. Maybe after they run out of Go Plus? I'm cynical that way.
@rjejr Haha! Yes, after shifting Go Plus stocks! If they aren't interested in an offical app, it would be nice to think they might leave this app up on the Play store. If they aren't going for that revenue anyway and it helps people stay engaged...? But, yeah, I doubt that.
I like the idea of the Plus appealing to kids. Really good point. Also, someone somewhere has to be envisaging a Yokai Watch smartwatch for Yokai Go, surely!
I can't play Go very well myself - too much head movement from phone to surroundings, medical conditions making me feel ill. Pleased it's taken off though.
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