The interval is how often a monitor checks the shop. The shorter it is, the sooner you hear. A new monitor starts at the fastest your plan allows, and you can slow it down whenever you like under How often to check.

The fastest on each plan

• Free: every 60 seconds.
• Standard: every 15 seconds.
• Power User: every 5 seconds.

A faster speed than your plan includes shows a padlock. The slowest is once a day.

Three that go at their own speed

• Pokemon Center queue alerts check every 15 seconds on every plan, including Free.
• A monitor that runs in your own browser can check as often as every 5 seconds on any plan. See The Chrome extension.
• A monitor that reads a whole shop on every check goes no faster than every 30 seconds, so the shop isn't flooded and the monitor isn't turned away. Watching a whole shop comes with the Standard and Power User plans.

When slower is better

The fastest speed is right for a drop you expect to sell out in minutes. For something that comes back once in a while, every minute or every five is plenty.

If a shop starts turning a monitor's checks away, checking less often is the first thing to try, and it usually sorts it. The line under the monitor says what happened and what to do next. Troubleshooting goes through those.