Pokémon Sleep wakes up, will be released this summer

The Pokémon Company will release Pokémon Sleep, the app that aims to transform sleep into entertainment with the power of Pokémon, this summer. Pokémon Sleep’s return was revealed Monday during a Pokémon Presents showcase showing first gameplay. It’s the first new information we’ve heard about Pokémon Sleep since May 2019, when the app was announced.

Pokémon Sleep will monitor users’ sleep patterns and reward them for time spent sleeping. When the app was announced in 2019, Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, said, “The concept of this game is for players to look forward to waking up every morning.”

Players of Pokémon Sleep will journey to a new island where Professor Neroli studies the nature of Pokémon sleeping habits. Snorlax is there, naturally, but other Pokémon will be attracted to — and rest near — Snorlax, letting player catch ’em all while they catch some Zs.

“All you have to do is get a good night’s sleep,” The Pokémon Company says of Pokémon Sleep’s premise, and your sleep patterns will be measured, recorded, and analyzed. That sleep will be categorized into one of three sleep types — dozing, snoozing, and slumbering — and players will unlock new Pokémon with varying sleep types.

Pokémon Sleep will be powered by a new device being developed by Nintendo called the Pokémon Go Plus Plus. The new device looks like a disc-shaped Pokéball and behaves like the already released Pokémon Go Plus and Pokéball Plus hardware. Players merely need to hit a button on the Pokémon Go Plus Plus when they go to sleep, and when they wake up. The device will feature a built-in alarm and bedtime lullabies sung by Pikachu.

Pokémon Go Plus Plus is also designed to be a sleep monitoring device, thanks to a built-in accelerometer, and can connect to a mobile phone via Bluetooth. The accessory will track simple information about how long you sleep and transfer sleep data to the Pokémon Sleep app.

Pokémon Sleep will be released for Android and iOS devices this summer.