Pokémon GO Plus Guide: How to Collect from Pokéstops, Catch Pokémon and New Features Revealed!

On September 16th, the Pokémon GO Plus wearable bluetooth device finally started shipping to people who pre-ordered it back in July!

In case you’re not familiar with the device, the Plus connects to your phone via Bluetooth and vibrates when you pass PokéStops. Once you feel the vibration, push the button and collect Pokéballs, potions, revives and eggs. You’ll also get alerted when wild Pokémon are nearby and you can catch them just by pushing that button.

SOURCE: Forbes.com

Here’s how that all works:

When you’re walking along and you pass a Pokéstop, the device will flash blue.
If a wild Pokémon appears that’s already in your Pokedex, it will flash green.
If the Pokémon is not in your Pokedex, it will flash yellow.
If you’re near a Pokéstop and push the button and you get a rainbow of colors, you collected the goodies at the Pokéstop. If you check the lock screen of your phone, you’ll see how many items you’ve collected. If it flashes red, that means your bag is full.
If you’re near a Pokémon, once you push the button, a series of white flashes will appear. If the device flashes white three times and then you see a rainbow of colors, you’ve caught the Pokémon.
If you see a red light in response, it means you failed to catch the Pokémon.
Sometimes the device will flash green again and you have an opportunity to catch the Pokémon that broke out of the ball. But if the device doesn’t flash green, you can check the lock screen on your phone, and it’ll show you a message that says the Pokémon has fled.

Here’s a video of a successful collection of goodies from a Pokéstop.

Since there’s not a screen on the device, you’ll still have to log in to see what you’ve collected from the Pokéstops or which Pokémon you’ve caught. Also, it has been revealed in unboxing videos that the device will only throw Poké Balls, not Great Balls or Ultra Balls, so you could allow some valuable Pokémon to escape by using the device. Smart players will likely use additional tools to see what Pokémon are around so they’ll know when to open their phone, but losing Pokémon does seem to be a risk to using this device.

One clear upside of using the device is it appears to be a big time saver. As you can see in the video, the time it takes to collect or capture is very short. So if you’re in an area where you know there are a ton of lower powered Pokémon, taking the chance on capturing them quickly does have advantages, not the least of which is not having to deal with Pidgeys, Zubats, Caterpies and Weedles. Once I get my Plus, there’s a chance I’ll come to miss those little guys, but right now I’m fine with not seeing them for a while… or ever again.

There are two additional features that the device helps players with, which were not in the original release by Nintendo. First, if you’re wearing the device, your kms will be tracked so you can continue to hatch eggs. Second, you’ll also be able to collect candies by walking your Buddy. Basically, the device leaves the GPS on even when your phone is locked. This is really useful and makes a lot of sense given the other features the Plus offers players. One player, whose video I shared above, has this to say about the km tracking:

I forgot to mention the best part about the device is that it seems to keep track of your distance traveled MUCH better than the app itself. Not even wandering that far from the house I’ve already hatched eggs and my buddy Pokemon has gained a lot of candy.

This is great news because it looks like the km accuracy is a lot better. If you’ve spent any time playing, you know the app doesn’t seem to fully track the distance you walk, which is particularly frustrating when your eggs hit their distance goals, but don’t hatch. Looks like the Plus helps with that problem.

So, what do you think about Pokémon GO Plus? Do you think you’ll buy it?

Head on over to Amazon and grab one now! And while you’re at it, there are skins available to customize them for your team.

Like this story? Check out some of our other Pokémon GO articles!