How the Pokemon Go Plus works (after a few months using it)

How it works:

Connect it via Bluetooth.

In Pokemon Go app, click on the plus symbol on the main screen (shows after adding). This will start searching for your +. Sometimes requiring you to press the button the + to connect. The symbol in the game highlights so you know that it is now active.

Whenever you pass near enough to a pokestop that is spinnable, it will buzz and blink blue. Click it to spin the pokestop. If you are looking at the app, it will show you the items that you get. If you are out of space for items, it will blink red and send your phone a notification.

Whenever a pokemon is in range, it will blink green and buzz if it’s a pokemon you have seen before, and yellow if you haven’t seen it before. To try and capture it, just click the button and it will throw a red/white pokeball. It will then buzz three times slowly and blink white each time. It pokemon flees, it will blink red. If you capture it, it will cycle through all the colors buzzing each time. Note: If you are looking at your pokemon sorted by recent, you will see whether or not you caught the pokemon pretty fast. Meaning it makes the decision when you throw, and the 3 buzzes have nothing to do with whether the pokemon flees or not.

Currently there is no option to use a better ball, and it will not throw anything but red/white pokeballs. If you are out of red/white pokeballs, it will buzz red and send your phone a notification of the error.

There are two options in the setting menu for Pokemon go for notifications. “Nearby Pokemon” and “Nearby Pokestop”. You can turn these on or off, and then you will not be alerted to either new pokemon close by, or pokestops available to spin.

One thing I have noticed is that when there are pokemon in the vicinity of a pokestop, it will alert you to the pokemon first. So if you are just trying to spin pokestops along a route, you can turn off the notifications for nearby pokemon, and then you will only be alerted to the pokestops and can spin accordingly.

Battery life seems to be pretty good. I’ve changed it once so far about 2 months after i got it.

My son has one, and his was accidentally washed in his jeans. We changed the battery and it started working again. Not saying this is a sure thing, or that it can withstand washing, just something that happened. I bought the batteries off of amazon (10 pack for $6 on amazon prime)

Ditto – So, i keep seeing people say you can catch Ditto using the +, but just from my experience, I have caught 2, and that was without the +. Before I caught them, I had seen ditto 12 times, which I believe means it broke out and ran using the plus. But there was no record of it in my journal.

Pokemon do seem to show up and buzz the + before they are seen on the screen in the app. This was much more useful when you could catch them at faster speeds in the car. Now, the + is subject to all the same speed rules as the app, so you can no longer catch them moving above like 16mph in a car. Below is the speeds at which you need to stay below for functionality to work:

Steps (Egg hatching and buddy walking): 11mph

Spin a Pokestop: 18.6mph

Pokemon Appear: 16mph

You DO get xp when using the + for catching pokemon. As well as when you spin a pokestop.

General Personal Opinion

I love the + To me, this is how the game should have been played. One and done, but able to take your time with more important catches. There’s something SOOOO frustrating about throwing 6 great balls at a pidgey, and then it running away. Or a pokemon batting away a perfectly thrown ball. Or just flat out missing because your finger spasms (or face it, sometimes you just suck at throwing). Games shouldn’t be frustrating. And the randomness is frustrating. No matter how many berries you toss at a pokemon. No matter what ball you use. It can just fail. Over and over again! I’d rather just throw one ball and be done. And that’s what the + does.

One of the other things I love about the + is that I feel like my knowing there’s a pokestop outside the bar won’t impact the quality of time I have with my friends because I feel the need of checking my phone to see if it’s ready to spin. I just feel it buzz, and I click the + and it spins and gets my stuffs. That’s great.

One of the things that was amazing was my drives to work. But not that they added the speed cap, it no longer works, and I actually don’t even pull out my + in my car. Maybe that’s a good thing. I get that people shouldn’t be driving and playing. And they shouldn’t. The plus fixed that, but not everyone has one and I can understand that you can’t let the + holders still catch pokemon at those speeds and not other people, no matter how awesome that was. UNLESS, you add in an auto spin feature that is enabled once you go a certain speed. Just saying.

Another place I’ve been using the + alot is my morning walks. I walk through a place that has quite a few pokestops and I don’t have to walk and stare at my phone the whole time. I can actually listen to my audio book or music and just click the + every time it buzzes.

I would like to see them add an option to allow you to use better pokeballs or atleast trade great and ultra balls for regular pokeballs. I find myself out of balls constantly, but over 200 ultra balls. Hoping trading fixes this and can trade my friends who don’t have a plus.

Also, I would love it if they added in a feature to track my + or let it buzz my phone if I get more than a certain distance from it. I’ve left it or dropped it so many times. It’s small and easy to drop. I also had a bad tendency to clip it to my seatbelt and would lose it every time I got out of the car.

I will update with any questions or new information I think needs to be added, so please feel free to ask questions!

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