Pokemon GO is seriously lacking in several aspects, only one of which is the total absence of messaging services that would allow fellow trainers from the same team to get in touch and strategize in order to take over gyms or rally together for any other common gain. Thankfully, Messenger for Pokemon GO is a spot-on app by a third party developer that attends to this need for human interaction by creating a space for external messaging among teams between any player that’s within a pre-established distance range.
For starters, you should know that it’s totally safe and legal. It’s not just some sketchy app with fraudulent or devious purposes and it can’t and won’t modify the original game. It is, however, a great accessory that can actually be used independently from the game and doesn’t require you install Pokemon GO to run. It won’t ask for your login information, either. What’s truly valuable in this app is that when minimized it turns into a petit blue ball that floats on your screen allowing you to access the chat window without ever having to take your eyes off the game during your hunt for Clefairies, Vaporeons, or when grabbing the umpteenth Pidgey..
You won’t need to register for the app to work. The only thing you will need to do is get a nickname. Obviously it would ideally be the same one you use during the game, and should also provide which team you belong to as that’s the logo that’ll appear when you’ve sent a message. Beyond that, the only thing you’ll need to configure is where you’d like the chat icon to float, and what range of distance you’d like to set as your chat range (up to 30km). In terms of functionalitty, this tool as a standalone messaging service is pretty bare-bones, meaning you’ll be able to send and receive messages as well as your current location. And that’s it. There are no private chats here nor are there any contact lists.
As useful as it is inoffensive, this could easily become a must-have app for Pokemon GO players. Time will tell whether Niantic wakes up to the fact that the now immensely popular game will likely just peter out if they don’t act and implement some kind of social aspect via an official chat service. But for now, they’ve got enough on their hands just figuring out how to resolve teetering servers and massive app performance issues.
