- Doesn’t look very Pokemon themed
- No loud noises or vibrations
- Auto-catches all of your Pokemon
It isn’t a secret that I play Pokemon Go every single day. It’s a location-based game, where you need to move around the world to collect more Pokemon and spin stops for items. With that in mind, when you’re driving around or doing your shopping, you could be catching Pokemon if you had your phone open.
As a way to play the game more casually, in an idle fashion, The Pokemon Company released the Pokemon GO +, which is an official auto catcher that can be connected to Pokemon Go so that you can catch without even having the game open. With this have come unofficial devices, like the Auto Catch ND, which is what we are going to be looking at today.
The Auto Catch ND is a similar size and weight to the Go Plus +, however, the device is battery-operated, needing two AAA batteries in order to function. I found this to be a big negative, as every serious Pokemon player carries around a battery pack, allowing them to easily charge their auto catcher, but this one doesn’t have that option.
Design of the Auto Catch ND
I do like the design of the Auto Catch ND. It’s purple, and sleek-looking, and nobody would know it’s being used to play Pokemon if you don’t want to advertise that to the world. It’s got a B button in the centre of the device, which has a small bit of light around it, showing whether you’ve spun a stop or caught a Pokemon successfully. You can use this button to tap-to-catch, just like the official device. The Go Plus + on the other hand lights up intensely, has a vibration that cannot be turned off, and even can sing in Pikachu’s voice (though the voice option can be turned off in-game).
With those details in mind, the Auto Catch ND is more subtle when it comes to gameplay. It uses the same systems to connect to your phone, so it’s done basically the same way. This unofficial catcher has arrow key buttons on the base, which we will talk about later in this review. There’s also a toggle to turn off the device and select if you have an Apple or Android phone. One side does have the quick connect button too.
How does the Auto Catch ND work in-game?
When it comes to connecting the Auto Catch ND to your device and using it in-game, it’s very similar to the Go Plus +. It will spin stops for you, catch Pokemon, and feels like it’s the same speed. I’ve not noticed any difference in the amount of Pokemon that get caught vs run away or in the time it takes to spin stops. On their website, it says it takes one second to spin and five seconds to catch. It’s just like the official device, really. Both of them – for me at least – also have the same choke points during large spawn-filled areas, where the device will stop catching as there are so many Pokemon to choose from, forcing you to catch some yourself to ‘wake’ them back up.
The Arrows
When I first saw the arrows on the front of the Auto Catch ND, I really thought it was used for cheating, specifically with movement. When other people see it, they also assume that as well. However, it’s not the case. At least not entirely.
If you follow the Auto Catch ND’s instructions and turn on Touch Assist on your mobile phone, you get a little circle on your device that you can place wherever you want, to give you a sort of extra touch. If you set this up, you can use the arrow key (based on where that dot is on the screen compared to the centre) to tap. This is meant to allow you to tap more in battles, which is a form of cheating and can get your account banned. As such, I didn’t test out the ability to use it in battles, especially as it’s not fair in the slightest.
Final Thoughts
Auto Catch ND has a companion app called Pocket Center that has basically the same settings you can find in-game, (toggling spin on/off, toggling captures on/off) but as these options are already available, I am not sure why anyone would need another app to do this. I do think the Auto Catch ND is very similar to the Go Plus +, so if you really don’t like the vibrations and lights found on the official device, and aren’t into taking it apart to remove the vibrations, it’s a decent option! I do wish it didn’t need batteries though.