How to throw a Pokeball far in Pokemon Go?

Question

Recently, I caught a Pidgeot after roughtly 50 pokeballs. However, most of the pokeballs were simply not closing the vertical gap between the bottom of the screen and the pokemon, which is higher for certain pokemon.

I experimented with different speeds and release times with my finger, but I'm still not sure exactly what works best.

I'm looking for some tips on how to throw farther, or otherwise how to proceed in this situation where I can't throw far enough to hit the pokemon. (So I'm not asking about how to throw accurately or how to improve my catch rate.)

I'd prefer answers that work when AR mode is turned off, both because some phones can't use it and because throwing accurately is easier without it.

Answer 1

In my experience I just swipe the full length of the screen really fast and it goes pretty far. Also a little trick is that after a Pokemon breaks out once it tends to move farther back so if you leave the battle and try to catch it again it resets back to being closer. Just be careful that if it takes too long and you back out the Pokemon might despawn and be gone.

Answer 2

• Increase the velocity and duration of your swipe gesture. In my experience these two factors have the largest influence on the distance the ball travels.
• Position the Pokemon at the bottom of the screen. Doing this will increase the release angle (with respect to the Pokemon) of the arc that you throw your ball thus increasing the overall distance the ball travels. Note, this only applies when AR is on.
• Practice, practice, practice.

Answer 3

Learn how to curveball. Due to the nature of the way we hold our phones, swiping in a long motion results in a natural curved motion. If you learn how to curveball, you can account for curve and learn how to get excellents on every throw.

The jist of getting pokemon really far away (and catching pokemon in general) is:

• Spin the ball before getting ready to throw it - that is, move it in a circular motion. You can spin it quickly and it will spin for 1-2 seconds after you stop spinning. The spin amount is irrelevant past a certain point..from what I've experienced you just need to make sure it's spinning faster than 2 rotations per second (this is a guess, I don't know the actual numbers).
• When you do move your finger to throw the ball, move it from corner to corner (opposite corners) in an arced motion. Your finger will stop and start at a corner, but it's not a straight line. It's a mild arc and your finger shouldn't stray more than an inch or two from the line between the corners (the peak of the arc will only be an inch or two away from the straight line between the corners).
• Do NOT focus on throwing extremely quickly. What happens is your finger isn't tracked as correctly and the ball is released early or at a lower velocity than if you just ensure you're making contact with the device for the full swipe. Swipe at a moderately fast pace, but do so in a controlled manner so that your finger stays in contact. If you curve the ball enough (Not a specific amount, just get it past the threshold so it's curving a second or two after you stop moving it in a circular motion) and move your finger from corner to corner, it's just a matter of when you release your finger from the contact of the screen to get farther distances. It depends on the size of the device, but for example, for me with an iPhone 6s, Mankeys are about 1/2 the screen, growlithes are 2/3 of the screen, and ponytas/rapidashes/dragonites/blastoise/venusaur/charizards are all 100% of the screen.

I don't even have to aim because the curve + distance means an excellent every single time as long as I keep my arc motion consistent and steady.

Answer 4

Best practice is to turn on AR put your pokemon at the bottom of the screen and use a normal throw

Answer 5

Try another device. At a certain distance I find Pokemon are impossible to catch on my Galaxy S7. The balls will never go far enough regardless of curve or technique. But if I switch to my iPhone 5s or iPad not only is it easy to get enough distance, I can even overthrow if I'm not careful. I'm curious if it's just an issue with my phone or a general problem with the Galaxy S7.

Answer 6

Its much easier to catch the far pokemon by holding on to pokeball and drag it down below the screen so you can only see half the ball then do one long straight throw and it should land.

Answer 7

This is kinda housekeeping but I had trouble with the long throws in Pokemon Go. Darkrai and Terrakion were just about impossible.

So, I cleaned the screen of my Pixel 3a and washed my hands for maximum traction. That helps.

Answer 8

I tried moving my finger faster in the hopes the pokeballs would travel further but it was unproductive. What works is to just make your stroke longer.

Answer 9

I find tilting your screen allows you to land pokeballs more often in some cases, maybe if it's too far away you could tilt the phone so that there isnt as much of a gap from the actual pokeball to the picture of the pokemon. Note: Only works in AR