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Pokemon Go Arrives On the Apple Watch (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the long-overdue dept.

Niantic, the developers behind Pokemon Go, have finally launched the Apple Watch version of the game. The new smartwatch app will let you play Pokemon Go without having to constantly pull out your smartphone. Instead, you can use the watch to tap to find nearby Pokemon, collect items from PokeStops, and log your gameplay as a "workout." TechCrunch reports: The AR and GPS-powered game, which has been downloaded 600 million times as of November, offers a unique combination of gameplay and physical activity that makes sense for a platform like the Apple Watch. The new app will take advantage of the watch's fitness-tracking capabilities, as gameplay counts toward your personal Activity rings. In addition, your Apple Watch sessions will count toward hatching your Pokemon Eggs, too, as well as receiving Candy with your Buddy Pokemon. In addition to fitness tracking, Pokemon Go will also tie into the Apple Watch's ability to push notifications to your wrist. The app will send alerts about a variety of important events, including when there are nearby Pokemon to catch, when you're near a PokeStop, when your Eggs hatch, and when medals are awarded, says Niantic. However, when it comes time to actually catch the Pokemon, you'll still need to break out your iPhone.

35 comments

  1. Re:Hooray! by tripleevenfall · · Score: 1

    Said both people who own Apple Watches and still play Pokemon Go

    Fixied?

  2. "Important events"? by chaosmind · · Score: 1

    Dubious...

    1. Re:"Important events"? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The word important is context sensitive. That you think this is dubious shows you didn't place enough importance on your schooling.

  3. That's so 2016... by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

    Nice to see people don't forget history these days.

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    That is all.
  4. PoGo Plus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    However, when it comes time to actually catch the Pokemon, you'll still need to break out your iPhone.

    Or buy their stupid PokemonGo Plus device. Of course they could have implemented similar functionality in phone - tap screen to catch Pokemon or spin Pokestop but then nobody would buy their crappy Pokemon Go Plus device.

    In other news AppleWatch sales are up. Mostly due to fact that you can track distance without actually walking. You can just shake the AppleWatch and track the distance (required to hatch eggs and acquire buddy distance). This was impossible with iPhone/Android because for those devices distance was tracked server side based on GPS data.

    Of course if you wanted to cheat you could just spoof GPS location...

    1. Re: PoGo Plus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or just leave it running in an area with crappy reception. For whatever reason they track distance walked SOLELY by GPS - if you GPS drift like crazy with the phone on a table, it counts as walking. You'd think they would use the accelerometers to ensure you were really moving, but - nope. They don't.

    2. Re: PoGo Plus by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Or just leave it running in an area with crappy reception. For whatever reason they track distance walked SOLELY by GPS - if you GPS drift like crazy with the phone on a table, it counts as walking. You'd think they would use the accelerometers to ensure you were really moving, but - nope. They don't.

      When I was playing I used it during my runs, about 10km per day.

      But the game doesn't count distance once you pass 10kph, so most of my runs weren't counted.

      Instead I got most of my distance by leaving my phone open at my desk and letting the GPS signal meander around the building.

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      I stole this Sig
    3. Re: PoGo Plus by bu11d0zer · · Score: 1

      Same here. I would get about 1k for a 12k run if I ran faster than 10 minute miles. I tested the watch app today and it did no better. Also showed no Pokestops. As expected from Niantic, their software is barely functional at first and then once they get it working, crashes constantly. Pokemon Go on my Apple Watch 2 already crashed once and locked up my watch AND phone. I had to reboot both the phone and watch. Great job Niantic!

    4. Re: PoGo Plus by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Same here. I would get about 1k for a 12k run if I ran faster than 10 minute miles. I tested the watch app today and it did no better. Also showed no Pokestops. As expected from Niantic, their software is barely functional at first and then once they get it working, crashes constantly. Pokemon Go on my Apple Watch 2 already crashed once and locked up my watch AND phone. I had to reboot both the phone and watch. Great job Niantic!

      Yeah I've gotten bored of the app now but was playing up until a couple weeks ago and it's incredibly unstable, requiring a restart at least once every 20 minutes.

      And the running speed limit is just bizarre, I can understand a limit of 20 kph if you don't want cyclists playing at unsafe speeds, but banning runners? They want people active, but not too much??

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      I stole this Sig
  5. Wow! by surfdaddy · · Score: 2

    I was JUST waiting for this! Even if I had an Apple Watch, I really need to run around draining my paltry little battery with this!

    1. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not if you disable heartrate monitor.

    2. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Ah, so if you turn off the useful functions on the Apple Watch, its battery life isn't so pitiful. What a ringing endorsement.

      There'd be more people buying the piece of shit if Tim Cook told the media he wears one as a cock ring when he's fucking Jony Ive.

    3. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, exactly. Those two fucks have a common brain disease too, sexually transmitted via butthole and a tongue.

  6. Sounds 'orrible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why on earth would you want to walk around for a time with your arm/wrist propped out like you've got a broken arm?

  7. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pokemon Go player reporting in...why the f*ck is this "article" on here? *I* don't even care and I actually play the game... :/

  8. So an inferior product to the pokemon go plus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wow! I waited on the pokemon go apple watch instead of the pokemon go plus. Pokemon go plus can catch pokemon and collect from pokestops. The app itself functions like the workout app including a start and stop button. It does have a complication so you can see your eggs' distance on the watch face. I imagined something that was better than the pokemon go plus very disappointed.

  9. What's a watch, grandpa? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    You so funny!

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  10. Great by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    Great...something I have no interest in is now available for use on another thing I have no interest in. lol

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    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      who cares about your interest...

    2. Re: Great by Mage+Powers · · Score: 1

      But you are clearly interested enough to comment on it.

    3. Re: Great by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      But you are clearly interested enough to comment on it.

      It's just my way of getting blithering cunts to respond to me.

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      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  11. Ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Gotta hold em all wrong!

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    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. Re:Hooray! by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Actually, this game would be better for the Apple watch, and should be only on the watch, not on the iPhone

  13. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is anyone still playing Pokemon go? Past level 20 it's an unbearable drag to play. I'd rather walk for excercise lol.

  14. Re: Hooray! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wankers may be the term you're looking for.

  15. Re:Hooray! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, this game would be better for the Apple watch, and should be only on the watch, not on the iPhone

    You mean because making it an Apple Watch exclusive would give people at least a single compelling reason to buy one?

    (Or rather, it would have if they'd done it five months ago when people still cared about Pokemon Go...)

  16. downloaded 600 million times... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and uninstalled 599 million times...

    1. Re: downloaded 600 million times... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still see people playing it. Not as many as when it first launched, but every day for sure. At any given moment when I'm roaming thr streets of my 600k city, at least one person is usually playing it. And it's usually adults as opposed to children.

  17. Power Drain Kid Protection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So will it drain the watch's battery in about an hour like it does to phones? That's the greatest feature of Pokémon Go, at least where kids are concerned. If the parents refuse to make them stop playing on the damned phone, at least the battery will eventually do it for them.

  18. Android Wear? by Elitist_Phoenix · · Score: 1

    Why wouldn't they make an android wear version if they've already done it for Ingress?

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    "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
  19. "Pokemon Go" is the new name of Google Maps? by fbobraga · · Score: 1

    Google Maps keeps asking me to send photos of the places I go: it's annoying!

    1. Re: "Pokemon Go" is the new name of Google Maps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...if only there was a way to disable notifications...

  20. Pokemon what? Watch who? by michaelcole · · Score: 1

    It's like two people showed up late to the party, got drunk, hooked up, took a bunch of fake party photos and posted them on facebook as PR releases.

  21. still alive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow... pokemon go is still alive?