Can PokeMatch help you find love with Pokemon Go players?
The unofficial Pokemon GO companion app space has exploded almost as fast as the game itself over the last few weeks. Aspiring app developers, many of them working solo, have given us apps that locate Pokemon, keep track of the server status, and perhaps inevitably, have now cross-pollinated Pokemon GO and a dating app.
The result is called PokeMatch, and it's currently available for both iOS and Android phones and tablets. As its official write-up suggests, it "allows you to meet new people who are also interested in Pokemon Go." Of course, that could be just about anyone these days, even though Niantic and Nintendo's sensation has slipped ever so slightly from its top spot on the App Store download charts (it's still king of the top-grossing ranks, however).
So can PokeMatch actually help you make a love connection while playing your favorite augmented reality game? We took a look for you to get the lay of the land.
It uses your Facebook profile
Non-Facebook users need not apply -- or at least they will have to look for true Pokemon-inspired love elsewhere. PokeMatch asks you to log in using your Facebook profile to get some basic information to get the process started. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it helps prevent people from catfishing -- or maybe it should be called Magikarping, in this case. PokeMatch does not, however, post to your Facebook feed.
PokeMatch depends on physical location to help work its magic
Like Pokemon GO itself, PokeMatch uses your location data as a key ingredient in what it does. That makes sense, simply because the app isn't looking to help people jump into long distance relationships, but rather actually set people up on dates. And yet users have been complaining in App Store reviews that this part of it doesn't work well enough, showing them potential matches that are too far away.
It's a lot like Tinder
After entering your age, a short (250 characters or less) statement and telling PokeMatch whether you're interested in men, women, both, or other, you're directed to hold tight while it loads your "next catch." If no one nearby fits your parameters, the app will check often to see if anyone new has popped up, throwing up potentially annoying pop-ups if it is unsuccessful.
Once it's located a potential match, it's pseudo-Tinder time. You can swipe right to signal interest or swipe left to dismiss them. If both parties right swipe each other, PokeMatch enables a simple chat interface for you to discuss meeting up. The rest, as they say, is up to you.
That's really all there is to PokeMatch at the moment, since it doesn't permit you to update your profile in any more interesting ways, nor does it appear to take too many factors into account to create possible connections between Pokemon GO trainers. It seems perfectly fine for what it does, but there's little doubt that as long as the game that inspired it stays hot, more apps will be developed to allow people to find love thanks to pocket monsters. And no, that was not innuendo of any kind.