Can you use a joystick to move in Pokemon GO?

Joysticks provide Pokemon GO players the indulgence of playing the game without having to take a single step.

For years, people have been wanting to take the “go” out of Pokemon GO. Some people just don’t have the time or energy to spend lots of time walking. For some of the tasks like hatching eggs, grinding candy, raid hunting and shiny hunting, a serious amount of walking is necessary. With a joystick, though, all of these tasks become much easier.

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Pokemon GO players can use joysticks instead of walking

To use a joystick, players would need to download an app that “spoofs” their phone. Spoofing is a process by which the GPS of the phone is manipulated to make it seem like the cell phone is actually in a different location than it really is.

Joysticks are used to control the player’s avatar once the phone is spoofed. The player can use the joystick to traverse the land in the new location, similar to controlling a video game character in third person.

The use of joysticks and spoofing can help players catch some rare Pokemon and complete objectives easily. There are several events where certain Pokemon will only be available in specific areas. For example, Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie will all be region locked in an upcoming event.

Joysticks can also be used to hunt raids effectively. This comes in handy when shiny versions of legendaries are available. In Pokemon GO, legendaries are normally only able to be caught after raid battles. Therefore, shiny hunters have to complete many raids before they find a shiny legendary, unless they are extremely lucky.

One other use of joysticks and spoofing is to partake in events for extra time. Events like Spotlight Hours operate through local time. Players can therefore partake in something like a Spotlight Hour and, once it’s over, spoof to a location that is an hour behind.

There are a metric ton of apps on the internet that can spoof phones and put joysticks into Pokemon GO. For Android users, the most popular app is likely Fake GPS Location - GPS Joystick. This app is very user friendly as well as free, which is always nice.

For the iPhone, Dr. Fone is an excellent app for joysticks. The app has several joystick options and is also free of charge. Players will have to download it to a PC before converting it into iOS, though.

It is important to note that those who spoof and use joysticks do so at their own risk. Niantic will penalize players who they find spoofing.