Pokemon Home Update Makes Quality of Life Improvements

Pokemon Home just released an update that makes several quality of life changes to iOS and Android versions of the app, making it easier to sort and select Pokemon for any gamer who's trying to catch 'em all. The popular Pokemon app has been downloaded over a million times, and shows no signs of slowing down with regular updates.

For the uninitiated, Pokemon Home allows players to store and transfer Pokemon from several different games including Pokemon GO and Pokemon Sword and Shield. While the app does have some premium features locked behind a pay wall, it is available for free on Switch as well as iOS and Android.

The recent update for the iOS and Android version makes several improvements, including the ability to arrange Pokemon in the same order the Pokemon Boxes arrange them in the Switch version, as well as the ability to search for Pokemon by language. A "receive all Pokemon" feature has also been added to the Wonder Box trading system, meaning players don't have to manually receive Pokemon one by one. Much like previous Pokemon Home updates, Version 1.3.2 aims to make little tweaks to the existing foundation in order to smooth out the functionality.

Being a Nintendo and Pokemon Company project, the app was never unusable, but it's now an even smoother experience than it was previously. With the recently launched full connectivity between Pokemon Home and Pokemon Go, and this newest update to Pokemon Home, players can store and transfer Pokemon in a more user friendly way than ever before.

Recently, avid Pokemon Home users discovered a special reward Pokemon for completing a Living National Pokedex in the new Pokemon storage system. Upon completing a Living National Dex (comprised of all 890 Pokemon in the entire series), players are gifted with an original color scheme Magearna - previously unavailable in any game. Obviously, big Pokemon fans would want to get this exclusive Pokemon, but the task of completing a Living National Dex is quite a tremendous feat and is perhaps a bit too extreme to ask for.

A complete Living Dex is the single-most time consuming and challenging task a player can partake in, and getting all of them into Pokemon Home is not as easy as it sounds. In total. there are 890 Pokemon that must be collected, including "mythical" Pokemon that are limited to events only. Pokemon like Zeraora and Hoopa were only available through code or Mystery Gift, never actually in-game, so players are quite literally unable to obtain these Pokemon currently. These Pokemon are usually excluded from the Pokedex for purposes of completing a National Pokedex in previous games, but not a Living Dex.

It is worth noting that to obtain the special Magearna, it seems players are required to have these limited-time Pokemon. In addition to that, to get this special Magearna players would need the paid version of Pokemon Home since the free version only allows one box of Pokemon to be stored at a time. The premium plan is $16 for a full year. If players are working with previous games, they will also need a Pokemon Bank subscription (much cheaper at $5 for a full year) though Game Freak is offering a month free for a limited time as part of Pokemon Home's release.