Well, that escalated quickly. Less than a week ago we reported on rumours that Pokémon GO's Apple Watch support was being put on ice - rumours that were quickly dismissed via social media - and now the functionality has gone live.
If you're on iOS and you have an Apple Watch, you can now log each Pokémon GO session as a workout, with steps counting towards your personal activity on the iOS health-tracking app. You'll also get notifications about nearby monsters, as well as see the distance required to gain candy with buddy Pokémon and hatch eggs. You'll also get a notification when an egg hatches, as well as alerts informing you when you earn medals. Finally, you can grab items from PokéStops.
However, you can't catch monsters using the app, as is the case with the Pokémon GO Plus accessory. Instead, you'll have to remove your iPhone from your pocket and do it the old-fashioned way.
Here's some of the official PR:
Apple Watch is particularly well suited to Pokémon GO as it seamlessly combines gameplay and imagination with getting exercise and exploring the real world. You can easily interact with Pokémon GO on Apple Watch, using quick taps to discover nearby Pokémon and collect items from PokéStops. Once you encounter a Pokémon, you can catch it from your iPhone. You can log your play sessions through the Apple Watch app as a Workout that will count toward your personal Activity rings, while also counting distance toward hatching Pokémon Eggs.
Have you tried the app yet? How do you feel about not being able to catch monsters using it? Let us know by posting a comment.
[source pokemongolive.com]
Comments 16
Yeah the man who demonstrated it on stage saw the snorlax pop up and said something like "Wow. If I wasn't giving the presentation I would take my phone out and catch it."
Will install when I get home.
I wish the Pokemon Go Plus features were more like this. Or at least like the PokeWalker with its own way of showing info. Guess this is good news for Apple users..
Does using a pikachu as buddy drain the battery faster or slower?
@riChchestM Bu-dum tsh! Good one, though
I wonder how much for that thing ?
Too late
Meh...
Where the heck is Android Wear support....
@maggerbee Came to the comments to say this.
Android Wear!
I wpuld play this so much more if i had android wear support
Niantic are the masters of bad decisions. They never cease to impress me. This came out about 4 months late...
Well, that's ironic... There's a Pokemon app on a watch, but no equivalent Yokai Watch... I guess the clone even failed on that front.
I used it this morning during my commute (note: I do not drive to work), and it seemed basic enough. I don't mind not being able to capture stuff, but PokeStops did seem clunky and didn't seem to work too well, and for some reason it wouldn't dismiss some of the old notifications that I ignored (like Pidgey and Spearow sightings).
I'll give it a pass since the app is barely even a day old, though hopefully it gets the support it needs from Niantic.
We have to take the phone out of our pocket? Why do they make us live like wild animals?
It's not a great app at all. I'm finding a long delay for notifications, so Pokéstops are out of range by the time it tells me, and the same with Pokemon. It tells me a pokemon is in range, I open the app and it's not there. If it appears it does about a minute or so later, sometimes it doesn't at all.
On the plus side, it does track distance much better.
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