Ranking Every Pokemon Mobile App So Far

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 15, 2024 15 Views 24 Min Read
Ranking Every Pokemon Mobile App So Far

Key Takeaways

  • The Pokemon franchise has diverse apps ranging from games to lifestyle tools, catering to different interests and needs.
  • Not all Pokemon apps are equal; some are very forgettable while others have become cultural juggernauts.
  • Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket offers a delightful experience similar to opening physical card packs, with engaging features.

Pokemon games have been a staple for Nintendo consoles since Red and Blue launched on the Game Boy in 1996. In the decades that have passed, there have been an abundance of spin-offs that cover many genres. As times have changed, so too has the way we play games, and people can now use their mobile devices to get some game time in.

split image showing pokemon ruby gameplay spliced into picture of scarlet and violet official art

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Smartphones have given Pokemon a new way to deliver content to fans. There have been a number of games for serious and casual gamers alike and apps related to health, hygiene, and more. Not all Pokemon apps are created equal, so we’ve ranked them to help you know which one to download first.

Updated on November 11, 2024, by Kyle Chamaillard: The Pokemon Company continues to find new ways for us to bring Pokemon into our daily routines, whether it’s through exciting games like Pokemon Go or lifestyle apps that help us improve ourselves.

The most recent app, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, launched on November 7th, so we’ve decided to revisit this list to see where it lands.

All Apps are free to download unless stated otherwise.

18

Pikachu Talk

Detective Pikachu dancing in front of neon lights.

Smart homes with fancy AI assistants are a popular media trope, but it’s hard to think it’s outside the realm of possibility with how common it is for someone to have a Google Home or Amazon Alexa in their dwelling these days. While we’re a long way off from dealing with a 2001: A Space Odyssey situation, imagine for a moment if HAL was a Pikachu instead.

Pikachu Talk was released internationally in early 2018 for Google Home and Amazon Alexa devices, although the app was removed from the former in June 2023. Asking your smart speaker to “Open Pikachu Talk” allows you to have a conversation with the electric mouse, and while hearing Pikachu sing Happy Birthday is fantastic, it’s a cute feature that gets old fast.

17

Pokemon Pass

The Pokemon Pass logo.

Released only in the United States in 2019, Pokemon Pass required you to go into participating retail stores to scan a QR code in order to receive a special digital gift. While in-store promotions for Pokemon aren’t new, using QR codes and requiring a Pokemon Trainer Club account made it so that everyone who put the legwork in was able to partake in the spoils, instead of getting there only to discover that the store had run out of codes to hand out.

The gifts in question weren’t exactly anything too exciting. There were a couple of screensavers for your phone and some digital stickers you could use to spruce up your photos. On the higher end of the scale were a Mewtwo and a handful of shiny Pokemon you could add to your roster in Sun and Moon, Sword and Shield, and Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. The app was short-lived, with its last promotion in early 2021.

16

Pokemon TV

Ash, Brock, and Misty pose with Onix and Pikachu.

The Pokemon anime has been around since the late 90s, and with over 1,200 episodes and over 20 movies, it’s likely that you’ve missed something along the way. If you like watching things on your phone to kill time, Pokemon TV is a fantastic app for watching classic episodes, new ones you might have missed, and even animated shorts that are hard to find elsewhere.

Misty wears her princess outfit, Misty catches a fish, Misty holds Horsea.

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Not only can you download Pokemon TV on your phone, but you can also download it on your Nintendo Switch, so you can watch your favorite episodes on the big screen and on the go. The downside of Pokemon TV is that not everything is available all the time. The app refreshes its library every couple of weeks, which means you’ll have to make sure you watch what you want to see before it’s gone.

Pokemon TV was discontinued in March 2024.

15

Pokemon Rumble Rush

A trainer stands in a hot air balloon with Pikachu, Litten, Rowlet, and Popplio.

The original Pokemon Rumble launched as a WiiWare title and became popular enough to justify a handful of sequels for the 3DS, Wii U, and of course, mobile devices. Pokemon Rumble Rush launched as a free-to-play app on Android and iOS in 2019, but it never really took off and was eventually shut down in 2020.

Pokemon Rumble Rush required you to use touch controls to move toy-like Pokemon around a field as they battled other creatures and Super Bosses. It was interesting to see the different Pokemon redesigned as figures, but the game failed to move the Rumble series forward and barely caught the attention of the biggest Pokemon fans out there.

14

Pokemon TCG Card Dex

The main layout of the Pokemon TCG Card Dex.

If you enjoy collecting Pokemon cards, it might be worth your time to look into the official Pokemon TCG Card Dex app. You can easily take photos of your cards to add them to your digital collection and sort them using a variety of filters, but at the end of the day, there are some fantastic third-party apps that do all of this but much better.

One of the biggest issues with Pokemon TCG Card Dex is that it only has cards from the Sun and Moon sets and onward. If you have any older cards, you won’t find them on the app whatsoever. Other TCG collection apps like Collectr or Pokellector have databases for every single Pokemon card, and will even provide you information like value and a marketplace to buy and sell used cards.

13

Pokemon Smile

A child brushes Pokemon out of their mouth using Pokemon Sleep.

Pokemon Smile is an app that came out of left field in 2020 that helps kids learn to brush their teeth efficiently and regularly. Using your device’s camera, the app will highlight which teeth to brush as your chosen Pokemon helps defeat the bacteria plaguing your digital dentals. Eventually, a bacteria-stricken Pokemon will appear needing help, and once you have successfully brushed your teeth you can catch the rescued pocket monster.

Needless to say, this app is geared toward kids, although there’s no reason adults can’t use it to aid them in their own oral health. It slaps a silly hat on you and gives you something to look at while you brush your teeth, which is arguably an incredibly long and boring two minutes if you’re doing it the recommended way. Just get ready to see some potentially unflattering photos of yourself brushing your teeth by the end of it.

12

Pokemon Trading Card Game Live

A Pokemon Card battle in action.

It can be hard to find someone in real life who wants to sit down for a Pokemon Card Battle. To remedy this issue, The Pokemon Company published a digital version of the game known as Pokemon Trading Card Game Online in 2011 to match aspiring trainers against each other to test their skills and expand their digital collection. It wasn’t perfect, but it kept fans happy for over a decade.

Then, in 2021, it was announced that Pokemon Trading Card Game Online was going to be replaced by a new game titled Pokemon Trading Card Game Live. Since rebooting the service, the reception has been lukewarm, with many fans not appreciating the new design and free-to-play aspects that require winning multiple matches to earn new cards. There is still time for improvement, but for now, it might be more fun to hop into the Pokemon Trading Card Game for Game Boy on Nintendo Switch.

11

Pokemon Quest

A group of cube-shaped Pokemon gather at the bottom of the hill.

Many Pokemon spin-offs and apps experiment with different art styles and designs, and Pokemon Quest’s cube-shaped creatures are certainly one of its best elements. As great as the game looks, its passive gameplay makes it a bit of a slog to play through, and some pay-to-win features prevent Pokemon Quest from ever reaching its full potential.

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Like many Pokemon games, you begin by choosing a starter Pokemon to help you on your adventure. You will explore islands, battle wild Pokemon, and expand your party, but there is very little in-game motivation to do any of it. Pokemon Quest is available on Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch as a free download, but pervasive microtransactions weigh the experience down.

10

Pokemon Playhouse

Bulbasaur, Magikarp, Munchlax, and Popplio gather over a sheet of music.

Pokemon Playhouse is a great game for young children who love Pokemon but don’t quite have the skills needed to play the majority of the series’ titles. The game is fully voice-acted, so you don’t have to worry about their reading comprehension, and there are different activities available to keep kids entertained.

There are simple puzzles, look-and-finds, and musical games among others to play as you hatch eggs to add to your Pokemon friends. Older kids will likely get bored very quickly with this app, but it’s a great place to start your little one’s journey into the world of Pokemon.

9

Pokemon Sleep

The three sleep-types in Pokemon Sleep.

Pokemon apps usually come in two different forms – either a fun game to play while killing time or something to add to your routine to improve your physical and mental health. Pokemon Sleep falls under the latter category, as its main purpose is to record your sleep data and provide useful tips on what you can do better to ensure you’re fully rested.

At most, you’ll only open the app a few times a day to feed Snorlax meals to increase its drowsy power, which affects how many Pokemon you’ll see in the morning, so you don’t need to worry about getting sucked into the game and losing half your day to it. There are some valid concerns about needing to keep your phone screen on the app all night for it to run, as well as questions about the legitimacy of how it tracks your sleep. That being said, it has been incredibly helpful to many and is certainly worth checking out.

8

Pokemon: Magikarp Jump

A trainer stands on a path beside a Magikarp

There aren’t very many Pokemon that have an entire game dedicated to themselves, but Magikarp – notoriously one of the weakest creatures in the entire Pokedex – is lucky enough to star in this quirky game. Your main mission in this free-to-play app is to train your Magikarp to be the highest jumper in the region.

Aside from an eye-catching art style, Magikarp Jump is another mobile game built around a singular mechanic that wears out its welcome after a couple of hours. The loop is fun and engaging for a bit, but it takes so long to get there that you might end up uninstalling it after a week or so.

7

Pokemon Shuffle Mobile

The Pokemon Shuffle Mobile logo.

Fans of match-three games will have a blast with Pokemon Shuffle Mobile. You’ll be facing off against wild Pokemon and matching tiles to deal damage to them while working around the obstacles they set up on the board. You’ll be able to catch them once you’ve won, and any remaining turns you have left will increase your chance of success.

This puzzle game is easy to learn and has no time restraints, so you don’t have to worry about making your moves quickly. Pokemon Shuffle Mobile is free to play, but as with most mobile games, you can only play so many rounds before it times you out, leaving you to either wait to play again or pay to bypass the timer.

6

Pokemon Cafe ReMix

Charizard serves a drink in a bustling cafe.

It was a pleasant surprise when Nintendo launched Pokemon Cafe Mix in 2020 as a free-to-play game on mobile and Nintendo Switch. This casual puzzle game is low-stakes and easy to learn, and along with the incredibly charming art style they’ve done for it, it’s no wonder it’s still going strong. It received a major overhaul in 2021 along with the new name Pokemon Cafe ReMix.

You’re the owner of your own café where Pokemon are both your clientele and personnel. You’ll serve Pokemon-themed food and drink to your customers, who will join your staff once you’ve completed enough of their orders. While the game is free-to-play, it does have some light gacha mechanics to obtain new Pokemon, and although it’s on the Switch it will quickly remind you that it’s a mobile game once you run out of stamina and have to wait for time to pass before you can keep playing.

5

Pokemon Home

A chart of Pokemon Home's compatibility with other games.

If you’ve played any mainline Pokemon games, you’ve likely heard of Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Home. Pokemon Bank was an app for the Nintendo 3DS that would allow you to transfer your Pokemon between the different titles on the system, as well as the DS and Virtual Console games, although the latter two were one-way tickets.

Pokemon Home is a mobile app with the same premise, giving you the option to swap Pokemon between the different Switch titles as well as Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Go, with the latter two, again, being one-way tickets along with Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. Pokemon Home also allows you to trade your pocket monsters straight from the app, which is a fantastic addition. It is a paid subscription of $15.99 a year, but it’s not much if keeping all the Pokemon you’ve caught throughout your many adventures in one spot is important to you.

4

Pokemon Masters EX

A group of Pokemon and trainers gather in a wooded area.

Since launching in 2019, Pokemon Masters EX has quietly become one of the most popular Pokemon apps of all time. This game allows you to battle alongside some of the most popular characters in the series. You are a new trainer with your own partner, and in the game, you will travel and make friends with powerful allies. You can even play in exclusive three-on-three battles.

It’s fantastic seeing familiar faces from the games and anime, and the game can be hard to put down once you gain momentum and have some stronger Pokemon on your team. Like many other Pokemon apps though, the gacha mechanics and pay-to-win elements pop up more than necessary. Fortunately, you can completely ignore all the pop-ups and advance through the game without spending a dime.

3

Pokemon Unite

Pikachu stands beside Blastoise and Greninja in Pokemon Unite.

Pokemon games have spanned numerous genres, but no one expected them to try out the world of multiplayer online battle arenas until Pokemon Unite launched in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. MOBA’s aren’t always the easiest games to get into, with their long-standing meta and infamous communities. However, Pokemon Unite is incredibly easy to understand, and limited chat options keep matches from getting too heated.

If you’re familiar with the genre, you know that matches can sometimes last up to an hour. Pokemon Unite removed this daunting possibility by having a timer instead of requiring the enemy’s base to be destroyed. Standard matches are ten minutes, with quick matches only being five. At launch, the roster was composed of 20 Pokemon, and after many updates, there are now over 50 pocket monsters to pick from. Pokemon Unite started strong and has no signs of slowing down.

2

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket

The Mew Full Art and Mewtwo ex Crown Rare in Pokemon Pocket.

While the Pokemon Trading Card Game has never reached the same popularity as the mainline games or even the anime, it’s been the most consistently delightful pillar of the franchise. Nothing beats the thrill of opening a pack of cards and adding them to your collection, and you can now have a similar experience with Pokemon TCG Pocket.

This app allows you to experience the joy of everything Pokemon Cards have to offer, from using them to battle and trade to just appreciating the artwork. If you don’t want to spend any money, you can open a new pack every twelve hours, but there are no limits to battling and other social aspects. You can spend some money to open more cards, but the app feels less predatory than others and rarely asks you to give it a dollar or two.

1

Pokemon Go

Someone tries to catch Croagunk in their backyard while playing Pokemon Go.

When it first launched in 2016, Pokemon Go took over the world as everyone young and old downloaded the app to seek and capture their favorite Pokemon in their neighborhood. Not only did Pokemon Go recapture the nostalgia of the original games, but it also found a way to actualize the childhood dream of encountering wild creatures in your backyard.

All of these years later, Pokemon Go is still going strong, though you might see fewer people looking at their phones as they try to capture a wild Vaporeon. The app continues to add new Pokemon to capture, and in-person events bring the community together for epic raids, battles, and more. It’s inspired many clones – including ones based on Minecraft, Monster Hunter, and Ghostbusters – but none of them can capture lightning in a bottle as Pokemon Go did.

Mewtwo Pikachu Mamoswine split header image

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