Pokemon GO: How to Turn Off AR and What That Does

One of the main draws of Pokemon GO is the augmented reality (AR) function that lets you use your phone camera to find Pokemon in the environments around you. As cool as this feature is, it’s also one of the functions that can massively drain your phone’s battery life.

The good news is, you can turn off the AR function. Whenever you encounter a Pokemon, tap it on the screen to try to catch it. In the top right corner, you’ll see a little switch with the word ‘AR’ next to it. Simply tap the switch to turn off the AR function, and now, instead of using the camera to show the Pokemon in real-life environments, you’ll simply see the Pokemon against a default grassy backdrop. This makes the catching and encountering process a little less cool, but at least you’ll save a lot of battery life by doing this. You can always turn the AR function back on if you want to take screenshots of the Pokemon in the real world.

Turning off the AR function might also make it less distracting when you’re trying to focus on catching a Pokemon, so this could also increase your chances of nailing a good throw. Be sure to turn the function off whenever you’re out playing Pokemon GO, and your battery’s running low.