One of the major shortcomings that Pokèmon Go had when the game was first released was that you had to have it open all the time in order to track any distance you had walked. This was a huge drain on your phone’s battery. Android users were able to work around it with rooted devices but the fix didn’t always work. That limitation has been removed though. Not only can the app read the number of steps you’ve taken from your device’s various sensors, you can also sync steps from an activity tracker to Pokèmon Go.
Requirements
This will work for any activity tracker that;
- Supports Apple Healthkit or Google Fit
- Can sync steps data directly or indirectly to your phone via its health app
An activity tracker must meet all of the above requirements in order for this to work.
Connect activity tracker
Some activity trackers can sync steps data directly to Apple Health or Google Fit. Others require their own proprietary app to be installed on your phone and you must sync the data to the app. The app then connects to either Apple Health or Google Fit and adds the steps data.
Since there are a lot of activity trackers out there, we can’t go into detail on how to connect each one however, all manufacturers have directions for syncing the data to your phone, whether it’s an iPhone or an Android phone, on their website. The activity tracker’s own app will also walk you through the steps in some cases.
Adventure Sync on Pokèmon Go
One you have your activity tracker connected to your phone, and sending data to its health app you need to enable Adventure Sync on Pokèmon Go. This feature allows the app to connect to the stock health app on your phone, and read steps data from it.
Open Pokèmon Go and tap the Pokèball at the bottom of the screen. On the next screen that opens, tap Settings. Scroll down the Settings screen, and enable Adventure Sync. You will then need to grant Pokèmon Go permission to read data from the stock health app. Once that’s done, the game will be able to ready steps that are synced from your activity tracker to the stock health app as well as steps recorded by your phone’s sensors, and add the distance traveled accordingly.
If you want to know what good this is since it won’t let you catch any new Pokèmon, the answer is: eggs. You can hatch eggs with the app closed, and just your phone or activity tracker counting your steps.
