Distance plays a huge role in Pokémon GO. It's used not only to hatch eggs, but since the recent update it also allows your buddy Pokémon to earn candy.
Therefore, when it was announced that the Pokémon GO Plus device - which launches this week - would not track your distance when in use, many people expressed disappointment and suggested that the decision had been made in order to make the forthcoming Apple Watch app more appealing.
Nintendo's PR from a while back - which confirmed the Friday launch date for the device - stated clearly:
Pokémon GO does not track distance walked when running in the background.
However, a Reddit user who has received their unit early has been testing the device and has discovered that it does indeed track distance during use:
Egg and buddy distance went up 1.1km with phone locked. Confirmed it tracks distance when app in background.
Will this restore your interest in the GO Plus, or were you going to get one anyway? Let us know with a comment.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 15
I bet they patch that out in the next update.
I figured as much... the GO Plus would not have been included in their previous statement as it wasn't out at the time.
The statement would still be true under normal gameplay... it's only when the GO Plus is used that it creates an exception.
I want to know if you have to have the phone with you? I want to be able to wear that watch without the phone nearby - namely on a run, and it will still function properly. If it can't, its useless.
I get the feeling this might be an on a per phone basis hence the official line of "no"
@Pink_Floyd Right, because why wouldn't they? It's not like anyone wants this device to track distance.
Oh, wait....
@XCWarrior It works over bluetooth, so you probably have a limited range of about 3'. And I don't think it's a watch as far as I can tell, no screen. I'd buy each of my kids 1 if it had a watch.
http://www.pokemongo.com/en-us/pokemon-go-plus/
Preordered it, but mostly because it looks like a fun collector´s item. Of course I´m going to use it while running too.
It actually does restore some faith for me. I was thinking of canceling mine, since needed the phone unocked for it to work defeated the purpose for me. I can't have my phone out at work and this means a nice portion of my day I can still make use of the app. I walked a lot at work. And if it doesn't work I'll return it.
@abe_hikura It's been confirmed for both Android and iOS.
@KoopaTheGamer kinda like them removing the tracking system that never helped.
Oh, wait…
Brilliant! I cancelled my pre order when I discovered that it wouldn't track distance covered! I definitely would have kept it had I known, I essentially believed it to be a glorified pidgey catcher
I think I'll wait for the theoretical Android Watch version.
@XCWarrior : You will need to have your phone with you at all times, as the device cannot establish a connection to Niantic's servers on its own. Similarly, you would still need to keep your iPhone with you if you were to use the Apple Watch version of the app.
I will wait for an official statement, i dont wanna risk buying something and see Niantic taking down functionalities....
@Damo is that the build-a-bear pikachu? was thinkin about getting one of those but wasnt sure about how well it was done
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