Pokémon Sleep players are using a sleep exploit to claim they've been snoozing for weeks

A still from the Pokémon Sleep trailer showing a Pokémon sleeping on someone's bed
(Image credit: The Pokémon Company)

Pokémon Sleep players that have gotten their hands on the Pokémon Go Plus+ peripheral ($54.99/£50) are using it to rack up weeks of sleep to get their hands on rewards for Pokémon Go

The new app, which tracks your sleep and gives you rewards for getting your nap on, requires at least 90 minutes of sleep to be recorded a day. Savvy users are recording that 90 minutes before changing the date on their phones manually before recording another nap.

This seems to be fairly simple to do, with the app's sleep sensor merely being required to turn on and off, according to Pokémon fan Reddit TheSilphRoad. Posts on the fan Reddit also reveal the reason players would be doing this: an adorable Pokémon GO Snorlax. Five of them, in fact. 

This Nightcap Snorlax, called so because of his cute little nightcap, is only available from the questline in Pokémon GO for users that have used a Plus+ peripheral to link together their data in Go and Pokémon Sleep. Tracking your sleep for seven days will get you an encounter with a 1106 CP Komala, and a Snorlax. In addition, finishing the first group of quests will give you an additional Snorlax encounter, with further encounters for those who track their sleep for 14, 21, and 28 days.

These encounters also give players a chance at a shiny for one of these rare Snorlax variants. It's not clear how common this is, but the usual rate for a shiny encounter is one in 520. 

This doesn't feel like it's in tune with the stated aim of the game. If you want to try better living (and sleeping) through Pokémon Sleep, our crack team of sleep experts has put together some Pokémon Sleep tips to help you get the best night's sleep you can. Careful though, while it's listening to you, Pokémon Sleep is also recording the noise of your farts

Elsewhere in games, Diablo 4 has released another patch as Season 1 kicks off, and it's bad news for sorcerers. 

Jake Tucker
Editor in chief, TechRadar Gaming

Jake Tucker is the editor in chief of TechRadar Gaming and has worked at sites like NME, MCV, Trusted Reviews and many more. He collects vinyl, likes first-person shooters and turn-based tactics titles, but hates writing bios. Jake currently lives in London, and is bouncing around the city trying to eat at all of the nice restaurants.