Back in July, I published my own vision for the Apple Watch Pokemon GO app. Now, during Apple's latest event, Niantic revealed their own official approach. This proves once again that you should always conceptualize your ideas and not waste them.

How I envisioned it

For my prototype I went off with the following scenarios: exploring the map, capturing a Pokemon and interacting with a PokeStop. As main technologies I went with the latest version of Framer, despite plain old HTML/CSS/JS or Principle as alternatives.

Exploring the map is easy: you only see PokeStops and Pokemon when they appear. The map is stripped of any demanding graphics and coated with a dark tone layer to match the watch's front face bezel.

From the map you can tap to interact with objects/Pokemon and you can use the digital crown to zoom in or out. When you tap on a PokeStop you can add a lure module, return to the map or spin it using again the crown. I relied heavily on the digital crown for the main interactions as it enables the screen to be free.

Once you encounter a Pokemon, you can throw PokeBalls at it, use resources from your backpack or quit the battle. To throw your PokeBalls you simply use and flick the watch's digital crown. Doing so, you don't cover the screen with your fingers.

How Niantic is going to do it

Niantic revealed their plans during the Apple Keynote. Their versions are centered around workouts. So technically you will walk miles, hatch eggs, get resources from PokeStops, burn those calories and get notified when wild Pokemons appear (without catching them from your wrist, yes you will still have to use your phone to catch'em all).

Final thoughts

I'm glad Niantic is going with a smartwatch concept. It proves things are moving forward (technological wise). As for the rest of us with ideas in our heads—if you have an idea, push it beyond just a what-if scenario or a scribble on a napkin.