Recording and Reviewing Your Pokémon GO Battles

Battles in Pokémon GO are over in minutes, and at the time of writing the game doesn't keep replays you can rewatch. Memory is a poor substitute: after a loss most of us remember the one bad moment and forget the three decisions that led to it. Recording your own battles fixes that. Below: how to set up a recording, a three-pass way to review it, and how to share a clip without exposing anyone. If fast moves, charged moves and shields are still new to you, start with the basics on the Trainer Hub homepage.

Setting up a recording

1. Use your phone's built-in screen recorder. On an iPhone it lives in Control Center (you may need to add it to Control Center first; long-press the record button to turn the microphone on); many Android phones offer it as a quick-settings tile. The built-in option avoids installing anything extra.
2. Turn on do-not-disturb. Notifications appear in recordings and can cover the screen at the worst moment.
3. Check your storage. Screen recordings take up space quickly, so clear room first and delete clips once you have reviewed them.
4. Decide on sound. Recording your own voice lets you talk through your thinking as you play, so on playback you can hear why you made each choice, not just see it.
5. Test it in a practice battle. Recording adds load, and some older phones stutter. Try it against a friend or a Team Leader before relying on it in a ranked set.
6. Start before you queue and stop after the result screen, so you catch the team selection and the ending.

Check the rules before you record

Recording your own casual and GO Battle League battles for personal review is generally straightforward. Tournaments are different: an event may have its own rules about what else can run on your phone during a match, including screen recording, so check the rules or ask the organiser first. Remember too that a recording shows your opponent's trainer name. Keep clips that show another player's trainer name private unless they agree to you sharing them, or blur the name before you post.

Review in three passes

Watching a battle once at full speed mostly confirms what you already felt. Splitting the review into passes makes it useful:

• Pass one, the story. Watch at normal speed and note where the battle swung. Was it the lead matchup, a switch, a shield, or the last Pokémon standing?
• Pass two, the decisions. Pause at every switch, shield and charged move. Ask what you knew at that moment and what else you could have done.
• Pass three, the counting. Count how many fast moves your opponent needed to reach each charged move, and note any Pokémon of yours that fainted with a charged move nearly ready, since that energy was never used. Close losses often come down to one of these.

If the jargon is unfamiliar, our Pokémon GO glossary explains shields, baiting, farming down and the rest.

A simple review sheet

Write one row for every moment that mattered. Three or four rows per battle is plenty.

These rows are illustrations of the format, not advice for any particular matchup. The last column matters most. If you can't fill it in, that is a question worth asking someone else.

Look for patterns, not just mistakes

Once a battle ends, it is easy to forget what your opponent led with and what came in behind it, but the recording keeps it. Note each opponent's lead and any back-line Pokémon you saw, and after a few sessions you will see which leads you meet most often and which of them beat you. Read your sheets together and look for repeats. A type that keeps beating you suggests a gap in the team, and our guide to team building for the GO Battle League covers how to patch it. Losing close games at the very end often points to energy management instead.

Review your wins as well. A win can hide the same mistakes as a loss, and an opponent who misplayed may have rescued you from one of them.

Turn findings into practice

Once you know what to work on, practise it where it doesn't cost rating. Take one row from your review sheet and replay that exact situation with a friend, trying the option in your "Better option?" column until it feels natural. Then record the practice game and check it against the original. Setting up those games takes a minute; our guide to battling friends in person or remotely explains how and suggests more practice formats.

Sharing clips for feedback

A short clip is the fastest way to get useful advice. Trim it to the moment in question, say what you were trying to do, and ask a specific question rather than "what did I do wrong?" Our guide to asking good questions in the Pokémon GO community has more on framing a request for help. As for your own details, never include your friend code, account details or location in a public post.

Common mistakes

• Reviewing straight after a frustrating loss. Save the clip and watch it the next day, when you can judge your decisions instead of the result.
• Recording everything and watching nothing. Review a few battles properly instead.
• Blaming luck for every loss. Some losses are down to a bad lead matchup, but the recording usually shows a choice you could have made differently too.