Pokémon TCG Live 9+

Its difficult to review this app without comparing it what it replaced, and currently it’s a fundamental downgrade, except for mobile support. The previous Pokemon app was dated, but it had a lovable charm, supported Apple devices well (iPad and macOS), and was impressive in how well it had been upkept since debuting almost a decade ago. This new replacement app adds mobile support, a battle pass and ranking systems which are mostly welcome additions, but is mostly empty of personality or charm. What is inexcusably bad is that the resolution of the entire experience is horribly low, with extremely jagged edges, unreadable text and limited resolutions for iPad and macOS. If you’re on mobile or iPad, then also look forward to no battery-life and holding a hot device in your hand, and for mobile. Also, the app will often crash if you swap it, or follow a link it provides, and mobile networking seems horrible. I’m 99% sure this is almost entirely a web-app wrapped as an iOS app. On the bright-side, the Pokemon TCG is great fun, and there are some lovely animations and some great additions amongst a host of fundamental flaws. NOTE: If you have decks you want to carry over from the previous app, Export or screenshot them. They will not transfer across when you switch your account >:(

Hi development team!

I recently bought a booster box of scarlet and violet base set. When redeeming the cards and opening the packs in the game client my phone got really hot to the point where I had to put my phone down to continue the pack opening. I am the type of person who uses their phones without the case bcos I like the better thermal management it provides. But I haven’t played a card game let alone a game which made my phone so unbearably hot where I had to put it down. My phone is the iPhone 14 Pro Max and maybe it doesn’t have the best thermal management among all the smartphones but it is no slouch as well. Please address this issue as I can’t even hold the phone when playing and some scenarios like when I play on the train home I have no where to put it except holding it with my hands. Really disappointed with how it is. There are probably more issues but I can’t even get to them bcos my phone is to hot to hold. I can’t imagine have a case on and keeping all that heat within the phone.

It’s a bit disappointing that CardDex was shut down in favour of Pokémon Live, when Pokémon Live does not do the job it needs to in order to replace CardDex. As a collector IRL it’s really important for me to be able to see set lists quickly, which is just not really feasible in Live because you have to go to make a deck first, and play around with the settings a bunch in order to bring up a tiny picture of the cards. Live is optimised for battling, which is great, it’s just a shame they took away the app that was absolutely phenomenal for collectors. Also a bit of a shame the app stops my music when I open it and there’s no way to turn that off. I don’t want to listen to the apps music, I want to listen to my own music while I’m sorting my cards IRL