Niantic discontinues support for Pokémon Go on Apple Watch
Pokémon Gone.
Bad news for Pokémon Go fans who play via their Apple Watch - Niantic is discontinuing support of the smartwatch app from 1st July, 2019.
Niantic says its ending official support of the app - which released in December 2016 - in order to concentrate its focus on its Adventure Sync tech so that "Trainers will no longer have to split their gameplay between 2 devices".
The app synced Apple Watch's step-tracking and fitness features with the game, as well as push notifications to their Apple Watch, such as when they were close to roaming Pokémon or PokéStops, but players still needed to have the game open on their iPhone to maintain connectivity.
"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," Niantic explained (thanks, Engadget).
Niantic adds that Trainers can still track their distance by syncing their fitness apps in their phones, which doesn't require secondary devices such as Apple Watches.
The Pokémon Company recently announced four new Pokémon games and services during a brief but busy press conference. The new additions include a new Detective Pikachu game, a new cloud-based Pokémon storage and trading service, a new mobile game where you battle legendary trainers, and a sleep-tracking app.
