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Pokémon GO Plus in a nutshell: UK price, release date, compatibility and Pokémon GO features

Everything you need to know about the Pokémon GO Plus wearable, which helps Pokémon GO players to catch ’em all without killing their mobile phone’s battery life. What is the Pokémon GO Plus, how does it work, what phones is it compatible with, and what’s the UK price and release date?

What is Pokémon GO?

By now you’ve almost certainly at least heard of Pokémon GO, the biggest mobile game craze since Flappy Bird.

This addictive game for Android mobiles and iPhones has you roaming around your real-life surroundings, hunting down and catching a massive collection of Pokémon. Check out our extensive Pokémon GO hub for everything you need to know, including our beginner’s Pokémon GO guide and advanced trainer’s guide.

What is the Pokémon GO Plus?

The Pokémon GO Plus is a wearable accessory manufactured by Nintendo, which alerts you to events in your Pokémon GO game when you’re out and about. The face of the Pokémon GO Plus looks like a Pokéball, complete with a flashing LED in the centre. You can either strap the Pokémon GO Plus to your wrist like a smartwatch, or clip it onto any spare article of clothing such as a pocket or belt.

How does the Pokémon GO Plus work?

Just pop the Pokémon GO Plus on your wrist or clip it to your clothing, then connect it to your mobile phone using Bluetooth. When the Pokémon GO Plus and your handset are paired, the Plus will alert you to any exciting developments in Pokémon GO as you’re roaming around, by vibrating and flashing the LED.

Events that cause the Pokémon GO Plus to kick off include passing a Pokéstop or wandering into the vicinity of a wild Pokémon. Even better, if you’ve already caught one of the Pokémon type in question, then all you need to do is tap the GO Plus’ LED button to automatically snare it. If it’s a new type of Pokémon, however, you’ll need to take your phone out and manually catch it as normal.

Read next: The weirdest places you’ll find Pokémon

Will the Pokémon GO Plus kill my mobile phone’s battery life?

On the contrary, the Pokémon GO Plus should help to save your phone’s battery life by ensuring you don’t have to constantly turn your phone on to see if there are any Pokémon or Pokéstops nearby. Additionally, the Pokémon GO Plus uses a low energy form of Bluetooth, so connecting the wearable to your phone should drain very little battery power.

What mobile phones is the Pokémon GO Plus compatible with?

One important question is, will the Pokémon GO Plus work on all Android phones and iPhones? Nintendo’s own Pokémon GO Plus UK website doesn’t mention specific compatibility, but going off the technology involved, we’re hopeful that the GO Plus should work just fine with any iPhone or Android handset that can run the Pokémon GO game.

Update: The latest word is that the Pokémon GO Plus will indeed work fine with the iPhone 5 and above, but Nintendo is still busy testing the wearable with Android devices. Of course, since there is such a diverse range of Android phones available, there’s no guarantee that the GO Plus will be compatible with your chosen device.

Pokémon GO Plus UK price and release date

Update: So far Nintendo hasn’t confirmed an exact UK release date for the Pokémon GO Plus wearable, although we do know that it’ll cost £35 when it finally hits the UK. The Pokémon GO Plus was originally due out in the US on July 31, but poor financial results have forced Nintendo to push back the GO Plus’ release date to September.

Of course, the Pokémon GO Plus is likely to be in high demand, so you’ll need to be quick to bag yourself one before they sell out.

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