Pokémon fans are just realising how this ‘must-have’ accessory changes their games

AS A long-time Pokémon fan, I pride myself on keeping up to date with the latest games and gadgets.

I have 200 hours in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and I follow all forms of competitive Pokémon, from cards to mobile.

When The Pokémon Company sent me a Pokémon Go Plus +, I already had about a week of sleep data on Pokémon Sleep to compare to.

My Pokémon Go account isn’t anything to scream about, but I am level 30, and I can see the allure of not constantly having your phone out.

Here’s how the Pokémon Go Plus + can change your Pokémon mobile games.

How does the Pokémon Go Plus + work with Pokémon Go?

Connecting the Pokémon Go Plus + to Pokémon Go is fairly simple and the more difficult part is memorising the colours.

The Plus + will vibrate and flash different coloured lights when a Pokémon is nearby, or when there is a Pokéstop in range.

As long as you have app permissions set so that Pokémon Go runs in the background, you can lock your phone and play straight from your Plus +.

I’m a bit of a scrub, so I’m always on the edge of my box and bag space, I also live near a very Pokémon dense park.

This meant that even with a lot of box management before I Pokémon Go for a walk, my box still filled up quickly.

I think the accessory would work well if you have lots of space, or if you use the app in a less Pokémon dense area.

In terms of the catching, it’s a little annoying that you can only choose one type of ball to use, but overall this works very well.

Some players have mentioned that the vibrations, flashing lights, and Pikachu sounds can be a bit obnoxious, and it would be nice if there were options to turn each of these off.

Right now, there’s only Silent Mode and a toggle to switch off Pikachu voice effects from the app, but no way to disable vibration and the LED light.

How does the Pokémon Go Plus + work with Pokémon Sleep?

Instead of placing your phone in bed at night, you can set your Pokémon Go Plus + in bed to record your sleep data.

This has the benefit of not leaving your phone on all night, and you can use your phone to play sleep sounds if you listen to things to sleep to.

However, there are a number of downsides to this over using your phone. 

The Plus + doesn’t have a microphone, so it can’t record your snoring, and it relies only on movement to track your sleep.

My bed is shared with my partner and four cats, so there is always movement, and it might work better if you sleep alone.

When using my phone it’d often report I took around 30 minutes to fall asleep, whereas the Plus + reported mostly around two hours.

The recorded sleep was around three hours less, which has a negative impact on my progress in-game.

Overall, the most negative impact was that often my game would not sync with the Plus +, or it recorded less than 90 minutes of sleep.

This occurred on four out of the seven days I tested for, which meant that I didn’t have a good record of sleep at the end of the week.

The large button in the middle of the device is easy to hit in the night, cancelling recording if you move a lot in your sleep.

Is Pokémon Go Plus + worth it?

At £50 ($55) the Pokémon Go Plus + is not a cheap accessory, and so you will want to think carefully whether it is worth it for you.

If you want to purchase one purely for the chance to track your sleep, then we recommend waiting until the software is updated, so that the tracking fails less often.

In its current state it’s difficult to track sleep effectively, meaning not only do you miss out on catching Pokémon, but you also don’t get a good idea of how you are sleeping.

On the other hand, the Pokémon Go functionality works really well, especially for serious players with a lot of bag space.

While the flashing lights can be a bit obnoxious, it’s a good way to signal and alert players to the different ways the app is working.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.