Spectate & follow

Spectate

Choose Spectate on a player's row in Social, on their name in chat, or by right-clicking them on the map. You see their battle as it happens; press B to leave. Your own chat still works, and nothing in your own game changes while you watch. The player you watch sees an eye and how many people are watching, never who.

You can watch a battle when:

• the player is on your channel ("name is not on this channel" otherwise),
• it is a single battle, wild or against a trainer (double battles cannot be watched),
• their Who may watch your battles setting lets you, neither of you has blocked the other, and they are not invisible ("name's battle is not available" otherwise; the reason is not given),
• you are not in a battle, a cutscene or a Safari Game yourself, and not already watching one.

Two characters on the same account can always watch each other. A battle can have up to 10 watchers.

Follow

Follow keeps you watching one player: every single battle they start on your channel opens for you, following the spectate rules above. Choose Follow on their Social row, or type follow name in the console. follow alone tells you whom you follow, and unfollow (or Unfollow on the row) stops.

Between battles a banner says "Following name: waiting for the next battle", with their area if their privacy setting shows it. Following ends when they log out, when either of you changes channel, or when your connection drops. A battle that starts while you are busy is missed, not queued. You follow one player at a time, and not yourself.

Not being watched

Set Who may watch your battles to Friends only or Nobody on the Requests tab of Social, or appear offline. See Friends.