A Pokémon GO test points to phone movement as a major factor for the Explorer Gadget, which caught 73 Pokémon in less than 20 minutes when a Trainer carried the phone in hand and occasionally shook it while walking, according to a Reddit post.
Explorer Gadget – It works!
byu/MasterofMyDomainyada inTheSilphRoad
Explorer Gadget is designed to automatically throw Poké Balls and spin PokéStops while Pokémon GO is closed. The test suggests it does not simply run at the same pace based on elapsed time. Instead, Adventure Sync and the phone’s gyroscope may play a major role in deciding whether the game detects enough movement.
Phone movement changes Explorer Gadget activity
When the phone stayed on a car dashboard or another stable surface, it could fail to register walking. Without that movement progress, the gadget would not spin PokéStops or catch Pokémon either.
Keeping the phone in a pocket produced only a small amount of activity during a 30-minute walk. The gadget caught around 3 to 10 Pokémon and spun just a few PokéStops, with the feature failing most of the time.
The results changed dramatically once the Trainer carried the phone in hand and shook it occasionally while walking. In less than 20 minutes, Explorer Gadget caught 73 Pokémon. Its in-game counters recorded 73/73 catches and 69/73 PokéStops spun.
That does not establish an exact movement threshold or prove that shaking the phone is required. It does show that leaving the device still, and, in this test, even keeping it in a pocket, can produce far less activity than carrying it in hand.
Access has been uneven during the feature’s test, with Scopely distributing the gadget at random as more players and regions are added. The Explorer Gadget guide covers how that access process has worked so far.
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Pokémon Go
Developed by Niantic Labs, The Pokémon Company
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that uses GPS to let players locate, capture, train, and battle Pokémon in real-world locations. Players explore their physical surroundings to find PokéStops for items, battle at Gyms for team control, participate in Raid Battles cooperatively, and compete in the Go Battle League's player-versus-player format. The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases and features Pokémon from across multiple generations of the franchise.
- Genre Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
- Platforms Android, iOS
- Perspective Third person, Bird view / Isometric, Side view
- Modes Single player, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release July 6, 2016
- Publisher Niantic Labs
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Age Rating
