'Pokémon Go' will no longer be supported on Apple Watch
Get your wrist-mounted adventures in while you can, Trainers: Niantic is pulling the plug on Pokémon Go for Apple Watch.
The game's developer noted in a support article that players will no longer be able to connect their Apple Watch to the app as of July 1, 2019 (h/t 9to5Mac). The change is apparently tied to a feature called Adventure Sync that Niantic launched in 2018.
Adventure Sync gives players the ability to track their distance traveled even when the Pokémon Go app isn't open. Once the app is synced with either Apple Health or Google Fit, users receive a weekly fitness report. That's in addition to the in-game benefits of an active lifestyle, namely more eggs hatched.
Niantic's support page for the upcoming changes lays out the reasoning for the move away from Apple Watch:
Because Adventure Sync allows Trainers the option of tracking their steps, earning Buddy Candy, and hatching Eggs in one mobile device rather than 2 separate devices, we want to focus on building Adventure Sync so that Trainers will no longer have to split their gameplay between 2 devices.
It's a sensible move, as the benefits that Adventure Sync provides are so similar to the features and functionality of the Apple Watch app. It'll be less convenient having to pull out your smartphone every time you want to interact with Pokémon Go, but with the sync feature you can at least still log your activity and draw benefits from it.
Topics Apple Watch Gaming Pokemon Virtual Reality
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
