Pokemon GO Adds Haptics, Annoys Most Players But Me

Earlier in the week, I fired up Pokemon GO because I’m trying to complete a task that requires 30 days in a row of catching a Pokemon. As I tossed the Poke ball and it landed, I thought I noticed subtle haptics with the hit and then shake of the ball as the little guy tried to escape. To confirm, I caught a few more, tried to convince myself this was new (because I hadn’t seen an announcement), and then had my son try to get his confirmation as well.

As it turns out, a Pokemon GO update did indeed add a new “Haptics” setting to the app that gives you subtle vibrations as you do select actions. The most noticeable is when you catch a Pokemon, because it vibrates when the ball hits, then as it shakes, and then to confirm you have caught it. You can essentially catch Pokemon now without looking, thanks to the vibration pattern.

There are other areas where you’ll find these new Haptics too, like when you charge up a move during a battle, should you pin a postcard, and when a Shiny Pokemon appears. There could be other ways, but those are the few I’ve noticed so far.

As a Pokemon GO player who uses either an iPhone 14 Pro or Pixel 8 Pro, both of which have great haptics, I love this change. It adds an immersive touch to the game, but is also helpful if you want to play without staring endlessly through each nudge and animation of catching Pokemon.

How to turn off Pokemon GO “Haptics” setting

That said, I am in the minority it seems when it comes to this new Haptics feature. Most…well, they hate it and immediately found ways to turn it off. The complaints I’ve seen mostly involve people thinking their phones were broken, while some are mad at Niantic for spending time on features like this instead of quality of life changes.

If you are annoyed by the new Haptics in GO, here’s how to turn them off:

1. Open Pokemon GO
2. Tap the Poke ball at the bottom of the screen
3. Tap Settings in the top right
4. Find Vibration at the top, and then find “Haptics” underneath it
5. Toggle “Haptics” to off

And that’s it.