Pokemon Go AR+ Mode Exclusive to iOS 11 Revealed

If you have an iPhone 6s or above and play Pokemon Go, there’s a new mode coming to the game for you to take advantage of called AR+. It uses Apple’s ARKit framework to allow for a greater degree of realism.

Thanks to AR+ in Pokemon Go, Pokemon now occupy a fixed point on screen. You can walk up close to a Pokemon and accurately see how it sizes up in the real world. In addition to this, Pokemon are aware of trainers getting close complete with an awareness metre to let you know how close you are to being spotted. Niantic suggests tapping on nearby grass onscreen which could allow Pokemon to reappear if it was aware of your presence.

This ties in to what’s described as the Expert Handler Bonus. In AR+ mode if you catch a Pokemon when up close, you’ll earn Great and Excellent Throw bonuses and a new Expert Handler Bonus which Niantic describes as one that “awards even more XP and Stardust.”

At the moment AR+ mode is exclusive to iOS 11 on devices from the iPhone 6s upwards and is “coming soon” to the App Store. We won’t be surprised to seeing Android phones getting it when Google rolls out its plans for ARCore — its ARKit competitor.