What if your nights could grow your collection? That is the promise of Pokémon Sleep, The Pokémon Company’s free app that turns sleep tracking into Pokémon research. Every morning, the Pokémon drawn to the way you sleep gather around a 
Snorlax that you need to feed and make stronger as the week goes on.
The idea is simple, but the game hides plenty of mechanics: Drowsy Power, Helper Pokémon, cooking, research areas, monthly events… This guide goes through everything from the beginning, using the game’s official terms, so you can get started and progress without wasting time.
What is Pokémon Sleep?
Announced in 2019, Pokémon Sleep was released in France on July 18, 2023 on iOS and Android. It is published by The Pokémon Company and was developed by SELECT BUTTON, then by The Pokémon Works. It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases.
- On a smartphone: the app tracks your sleep using the phone placed on your mattress.
- With an accessory: the Pokémon GO Plus +, released on July 21, 2023, can start tracking with a single press. Paired with the game, it also makes a
Pikachu wearing a sleep cap appear. - With a smartwatch: since September 2024, the game can pull sleep data through Apple Health or Health Connect (Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, Fitbit, Garmin…). A phone is still required.
The official website reminds us: Pokémon Sleep is entertainment, not a medical diagnostic tool. Its goal is to make bedtime more enjoyable, not to replace health advice.
Tracking your sleep properly
It all starts in the evening. The official instructions are clear: place the device on the mattress near the pillow, plugged in, without turning off the screen or closing the app (the screen dims by itself). Never put it under the pillow or under the duvet, to avoid any overheating.
When you wake up, the game calculates your Sleep Score, out of 100, based on the length and rhythm of your night. You need about 8 hours 30 minutes of sleep to reach 100. A session must last at least 90 minutes to count, and you can record two per day, for example a night and a nap. The in-game day changes at 4 a.m.
The app also sorts your night into sleep types, which determine the Pokémon you will meet:
- Dozing: a night dominated by waking or very light sleep phases.
- Snoozing: a night rich in light sleep and REM sleep.
- Slumbering: a night marked by deep sleep.
- Balanced: a night that mixes all three.
Every Pokémon has a sleep type, and every way of sleeping that is observed becomes a sleep style recorded in your Sleep Style Dex, under the watchful eye of Professor Neroli. The more you discover, the more the game unlocks.
Snorlax, Drowsy Power, and the research week
The heart of the game comes down to one formula: Drowsy Power equals Snorlax’s Strength multiplied by your Sleep Score. The higher it is, the more Pokémon gather when you wake up. A strong Snorlax without a good night’s sleep is therefore useless, and vice versa.
The game works in weeks, from Monday to Sunday. Every Monday, you choose a research area and meet a new Snorlax there. All week long, your Helper Pokémon feed it Berries and dishes to increase its Strength. On Sunday, the results come in. Each Snorlax has three favorite Berries, picked at random every week on Greengrass Isle and fixed in the other areas: they give it much more Strength than the others.
Snorlax also climbs through ranks: Basic, Great, Ultra, then Master, for 35 ranks in total. Each new rank earns Dream Shards, the currency used to level up your Pokémon.
| Research area | Unlock condition | Added |
|---|---|---|
| Greengrass Isle | From the start | Launch (2023) |
| Cyan Beach | 20 sleep styles | Launch |
| Taupe Hollow | 70 sleep styles | Launch |
| Snowdrop Tundra | 150 sleep styles | Launch |
| Lapis Lakeside | 240 sleep styles | Early 2024 |
| Old Gold Power Plant | 340 sleep styles | October 2024 |
| Amber Canyon | 450 sleep styles | November 2025 |
| Greengrass Isle, Expert Mode | Master Rank 18 on Greengrass Isle | August 2025 |
| Cyan Beach, Expert Mode | Expert Mode unlocked and Master Rank 18 on Cyan Beach | August 2026 |
Since July 2026, a slightly different area completes the table: 
Munchlax‘s Slumber Island. It is not a research area, but a place to send a Helper Pokémon so it can quietly gain experience for a week while Munchlax collects items.
Helper Pokémon
The Pokémon you recruit become your Helper Pokémon. Five of them form the active team; the others wait in the Box. During the day, they gather Berries and ingredients, and every now and then trigger their main skill.
- Specialty: each species specializes in Berries, Ingredients, or Skills.
Darkrai is the exception, with the “All” specialty. - Main skill: an effect unique to the species, such as a Strength boost for Snorlax, or a gain of energy or ingredients.
- Sub Skills: up to five, unlocked at levels 10, 25, 50, 70, and 80. They speed up gathering, increase inventory capacity, or raise the chances of triggering the main skill.
- Nature: it raises one stat and lowers another, except for neutral Natures.
- Carry limit: each Pokémon can only carry a limited number of Berries and ingredients. Once its inventory is full, it stops gathering ingredients.
- Energy: it drops throughout the day and reduces the Pokémon’s efficiency. It mostly recovers while you sleep, depending on your Sleep Score.
To recruit a Pokémon, you need to offer it Poké Biscuits, Great Biscuits, Ultra Biscuits, or Master Biscuits during snack time, after the morning research, until its friendship gauge is full. To level it up, you use its Candy, exchanged for Dream Shards. The maximum level has been 70 since June 2026, and it depends on your own research rank. Handy Candy, on the other hand, can be exchanged for Candy of the species of your choice.
Cooking well for Snorlax
The ingredients you gather are used to cook three times a day: in the morning (4:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m.), in the afternoon (12:00 p.m. to 5:59 p.m.), and in the evening (6:00 p.m. to 3:59 a.m.). A well-chosen dish gives Snorlax much more Strength than Berries alone.
- Three categories: Curries and Stews, Salads, Desserts and Drinks. One category is picked at random for the whole week.
- Recipes: each one requires specific ingredients and levels up the more it is cooked. Failing that, the game prepares a Mixed Curry, a Mixed Salad, or a Mixed Juice.
- The pot: its base capacity has been 21 ingredients since June 2026. It can be expanded with Dream Shards as your Sleep Style Dex grows.
- Sunday: the pot doubles in capacity and “Great Success” dishes become more frequent. Many players save their ingredients for that day.
Events not to miss
Pokémon Sleep runs on a rhythm of regular events, which you can keep an eye on in the game’s news tab:
- Good Sleep Day: every month, around the full moon, for three days. Drowsy Power is multiplied, so is sleep EXP, and
Cleffa, 
Clefairy et 
Clefable appear more often. - New Moon Day: every month, for three days. During the first research of the day, Darkrai, and in 2026
Mew, may appear. - Growth Week: sleep EXP and Candy multiplied by 1.5 on the first session of the day, such as from October 12 to 19, 2026.
- Seasonal events: Summer Festival, Halloween, year-end holidays, cooking weeks or skill weeks…
The big themed researches have also welcomed legendary Pokémon: 
Raikou, 
Entei et 
Suicune in 2024, 
Cresselia and Darkrai in spring 2025, Mew in early 2026, then 
Latias, 
Latios and finally 
Mewtwo, visiting Greengrass Isle in September 2026.
Premium Pass: is it worth paying?
Pokémon Sleep can be played entirely for free. The optional Premium Pass costs €9.99 per month or €49.99 for six months on the French App Store, with a 14-day free trial on the first purchase. Among other things, it gives access to:
- your full sleep history (only 30 days without the pass) and a notes journal;
- a premium Bonus Biscuit and 100 extra Drowsy Points every day;
- an exclusive exchange shop;
- every month, a Good Camp Ticket and 1,000 Drowsy Points, and every three months a Handy Candy L, a Sub Skill Seed, and a Dream Cluster M.
To get started, the free version is more than enough. The pass becomes worthwhile for regular players who want to speed up their progress or follow their sleep over the long term.
Our tips for getting started
- Get the setup right: phone on the mattress near the pillow, plugged in, screen facing the mattress, never under the pillow.
- Aim for 8 hours 30 minutes of sleep for the maximum score, and a nap of more than 90 minutes if you want a second session.
- Open the app several times a day to empty your Pokémon’s inventories and lose nothing.
- Line up your team with Snorlax’s favorite Berries and cook at every meal.
- Save some ingredients for Sunday, when the pot doubles.
- Record as many sleep styles as possible: they are what unlock Candy (7 styles), recipe choice (12), Cyan Beach (20), then the pot expansion and Slumber Island (35).
- Go easy on your Dream Shards: they are used for both levels and the pot, making them the most precious resource early on.
- Keep your Growth Incense for a Good Sleep Day or a Growth Week, because the bonuses stack.
Key takeaways
- Pokémon Sleep is free, on iOS and Android, and compatible with the Pokémon GO Plus + and smartwatches.
- Drowsy Power, Snorlax’s Strength multiplied by the Sleep Score, decides how many Pokémon show up when you wake.
- The week runs from Monday to Sunday: one area, one Snorlax, and a big review on Sunday.
- Five Helper Pokémon gather Berries and ingredients; cooking, three times a day, makes the difference.
- The monthly events, Good Sleep Day and New Moon Day, are the best times to progress.
Good night, and happy researching!
Sources: official Pokémon Sleep website, App Store, Poképédia, Pokébip, Serebii
