Tears of the Kingdom Purah Pad Guide: How to Unlock Sensor+, All Upgrades for the Purah Pad

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Cody has been in the video game business as part of media and content creation for more than 10 years. During that time, he has contributed and even led some of the largest sites in the world dedicated to gaming and entertainment. He has also dabbled some in PR and was a tester for Activision in the past working on the Call of Duty series. When not playing games or writing about them, he enjoys cooking, sharpening his Japanese skills, and watching the latest anime shows.

Bottom Line Up Front

The Purah Pad is arguably the most crucial device that Link has in his possession. It allows him to use so many different functions and even a couple of abilities that add to his repertoire.

The titular Purah invented the Purah Pad but was originally given to Zelda. She, in turn, gives you the device near the beginning of the story as a replacement for the Sheikah Slate from Breath of the Wild.

Here are all of the functions that are available through or because of the Purah Pad:

Character Profiles
Adventure Log
Map
Album
Camera (Power)
Amiibo (Power)
Hyrule Compendium
Autobuild (Power; possibly related to the Purah Pad but required in its progression)
Sensor+
Travel Medallion
Hero’s Path Mode

Tears of the Kingdom Purah Pad Overview

The Purah Pad is an item that you get early in your adventure into Hyrule once more in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If you played Breath of the Wild before this game, you’ll know that it had a similar device known as the Sheikah Slate, which functioned for everything in the game.

You used it for your powers, check the map, sense shrines nearby, and all that awesome stuff. Well, the Sheikah Slate is seemingly gone in this game—not really covered over too well at the start—which leads to Link needing a brand new item to help him out.

In this case, it is the Purah Pad. It was created and named after the eccentric but extraordinary Purah, who you will likely recognize quite well from her appearances in both Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Here’s everything you need to know about the Purah Pad.

How to Unlock the Purah Pad

For starters, you need to unlock the Purah Pad before you can do anything like check the map or take pictures. To do this, you want to start Tears of the Kingdom and progress through the story stuff I dare not spoil at the beginning of the game.

At some point, you’ll wake up in the Room of Awakening, similar to how Breath of the Wild begins. Once this happens, you’ll be able to venture out of the room and have a BOTW-style diving moment where you can see everything around you.

This will lead to you being on the Great Sky Island, which is the tutorial area, quite similar to the Great Plateau from the previous game. After landing in the water on this island, head up on the path in front of you, where you will encounter a couple of enemies.

This will lead to a Construct that you can speak with next to a bridge the NPC can extend for you. Speaking with this Construct is required to progress the game, as it will give you the Purah Pad that Zelda has left with it to give to you.

From this point forward, you’ll be able to see your map, but your functions will be severely limited otherwise.

All Purah Pad’s Initial Functions Explained

The Purah Pad has an unbelievable number of functions available to it, so you’ll likely be spending a lot of time pouring through what it has to offer to help you on your journey to save Hyrule once again. Here are all of the initial five functions you have in the Purah Pad and how to unlock some of them that aren’t immediately available.

Character Profiles

First off, going from left to right, there are the character profiles. You can think of this as the glossary or wonderful Codex from the Mass Effect series. You can read up on any of the characters you’ve met throughout your journey in Hyrule, and it is pretty detailed in including even some lesser characters here.

To unlock it, you must find a character who will update and unlock this section for you, such as Rauru or Purah. Once it is unlocked, speaking to certain main and side characters throughout the world will unlock their profiles, where you can read up on their lives and who they are.

Adventure Log

The second core function is available pretty much from the start of the game after getting the Purah Pad. The Adventure Log is basically your place to check all of the quests that you have. Here, you’ll find the main story quests, side adventures (larger side quests), and basic side quests.

In addition to that, you can also find all of the memories at the bottom of this section, where you can rewatch them at any point. The Adventure Log is extremely helpful since you can switch between quests at will as your primary objective, and the game will mark your next stop in that quest on your map.

Map

Speaking of the map, this is by far what you will likely be spending the most time checking in the Purah Pad. The map is the first function you get, and there is far more to this part than meets the eye. There is a slight spoiler alert here, but the Tears of the Kingdom map is divided between the sky, surface, and depths.

As such, you can switch between three key layers to the map at will. This not only lets you see what you’ve uncovered on the map so far, but you can teleport to any shrines, towers, etc, that you’ve been to before, even across layers. You can instantly teleport from the sky to the surface or even the depths.

You are also able to mark various points throughout the map to indicate a place you want to explore, a cave you want to check out later, a powerful optional world boss you want to avoid, and so on.

In addition, once you unlock the map, you’ll also have the Amiibo power unlocked, which lets you scan these figures for free items, including outfits and food.

Album

The album is your in-game place to check out all of the pictures you’ve taken using the camera in the game. It stores all the pictures you physically take with the camera power, not what you have made random screenshots of with the screenshot button on the Switch.

How to Unlock the Camera

The camera is considered a power in this game, as noted by it appearing in the radial wheel in the game. To unlock it, though, you’ll have to venture to the surface after the tutorial and complete the storyline with Purah that leads to unlocking the paraglider, which you should aim to do anyway.

After that, speak with Robbie, and he will task you with going to the depths for the first time with him. From there, head to the nearest chasm in Hyrule Field and jump down. Speak with an NPC where you land, and he will guide you to the first Lightroot and beyond to meet up with Robbie.

Once you find Robbie in the depths (watch out for the gloom, darkness, and monsters), he will grant you the camera function, and you’ll want to take a picture with it of the statue he asks you to. Also, be sure to do this quest if you want to upgrade your Purah Pad later.

Hyrule Compendium: How to Unlock this Function

Finally, the Hyrule Compendium is the fifth and final tab of the Purah Pad. This is precisely what it sounds like: it is a collection of everything that exists in the world of Hyrule across its three layers. You’ll find every core item, material, monster, treasure chest type, and so much more collected here.

The game has hundreds of items spread out throughout its collection. Unfortunately, the only way to fill in the spaces is to take a picture using the camera power of every enemy type, material, and anything else you come across.

To unlock the Hyrule Compendium, though, you’ll need to do what was done above with the camera power. Go to the depths, complete the quest for Robbie, and he will give you the Hyrule Compendium feature at the same time as the camera.

How Many Upgrades are there for the Purah Pad?

The base functions for the Purah Pad are only the beginning. Like the Sheikah Slate in BOTW, there are some upgrades you can make for the Purah Pad that will make it even better for you in the world of Hyrule. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of steps to get there.

If you want to know how many upgrades there are ahead of time—spoiler alert— there are three core upgrades. Technically, there are around four or five upgrades, depending on how you look at it, but they can all be summed up into three main ones.

How to Unlock the Ability to Upgrade the Purah Pad

Before you can ever think about the optional upgrades for the Purah Pad, you need to unlock the ability even to upgrade it in the first place. This is, unfortunately, an intense and drawn-out process that will take you all over Hyrule, or should I say the depths. Here’s how to do it step-by-step.

Step 1. Prerequisite Quest: How to Unlock Autobuild

First off, you have likely already unlocked the camera, and Compendium, and completed the first depths quest for Robbie, right? Great, now it is time to do the second quest for him to be on the road to upgrading the Purah Pad. Unfortunately, it appears that you can’t do the next quest for him immediately after the first.

Instead, I found in my personal experience that you need to complete at least one of the four phenomena that are happening around Hyrule. You should already have the quest to visit Rito Village, Gerudo Town, Goron City, and Zora’s Domain. Head to the one you prefer and complete its story in its entirety.

Once you do that, head back to Lookout Landing, and Josha will give you the next quest for the depths. This time around, Josha will ask you to follow the first statue you found and let it lead you to a special place. You can opt for this tedious and long-winded version, or you can just skip straight to the location.

If you wish to skip all the way to where you need to go, head to the Great Abandoned Central Mine. It is found quite south of where you initially visited the depths. If you want to make the journey a bit easier, head to the Great Plateau’s old location in Hyrule, go up there and jump down from the chasm on it. The mine is near there.

Once you reach the mine, make sure you are fully prepared. Talk to the robot, and you’ll unlock the Autobuild function, which you’ll get a little tutorial for. Then there is a boss fight. Win it and head back to Lookout Landing to report to Josha.

Step 2. Repair Robbie’s Hot Air Balloon

After completing the quest and reporting to Josha, it is time to speak with Robbie nearby. Now that you have satisfied his curiosity about the depths, he wants to know more about the Autobuild function you have. Use the hot air balloon schematic you have to rebuild Robbie’s hot air balloon.

With its completion, Robbie will now let you know that he is flying off to his lab near Hateno Village. You can now meet him there to talk about upgrades for the Purah Pad.

Step 3. Visit Hateno Ancient Tech Lab and Unlock the Shrines of Light Sensor

Finally, the last step to unlock the ability to unlock upgrades for the Purah Pad. Take the long journey to the southeast to Hateno Village or fast-travel there if you happen to already have visited the village once in the game and unlocked the shrine nearby.

Once you get to Hateno Village, you want to head up the path slightly east and north of the town. This will take you up to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, where Robbie should have already arrived. Head inside, and you’ll get the fast travel point for this lab and learn more about the possible upgrades for your device.

Before you can upgrade, though, there is one final quest you must complete. Robbie will go ahead and give you your first upgrade (or, well, half of an upgrade) with the shrines of light Sensor. This lets you sense when a shrine is nearby, and it will beep the more you head in its direction.

What you want to do is use that Sensor to find the shrine underneath the lab. It is far below the lab within a cave, and it is pretty easy to find with the Sensor in hand. Thankfully, there isn’t much to this shrine, so you might as get its treasure chest, complete it, and then head back up to the tech lab.

At this point, Robbie will congratulate you and finally discuss the other upgrades you can get for the Purah Pad.

How to Unlock All Purah Pad Upgrades

It is now time to unlock all upgrades for the Purah Pad. They can be divided into three core upgrades, with a bit of further upgrading throughout some of the functions. These are extremely helpful upgrades that will make your life a whole lot easier in this game. The three upgrades are the following:

Hero’s Path Mode
Travel Medallion
Sensor+

Here’s how to unlock all three of them!

How to Get Hero’s Path Mode

You’ll get three separate side quests to unlock each of the three upgrades for the Purah Pad. The first one, which is similar to the Hero’s Path Mode in BOTW, is by far one of the easiest. All you need to do is ensure that you have completed (note, completed, not found) 15 shrines or more.

If you’re like me, you probably already have nearly double that number by the time you reach Robbie at this point in the game with all the exploring you’ve done. If not, it is time to go shrine hunting. Once you have a total of 15, show that data to Robbie, and he will grant you the Hero’s Path Mode.

This mode functions precisely the same as the last game: open up your map, and you’ll see the option at the bottom of the screen. Activate it, and the game will show you everywhere you’ve gone in Hyrule, including in the order in which you did it.

This game can even hold up to 256 hours worth of gameplay traversing. If you exceed that number, which you probably will if you want 100% of everything, it will simply overwrite the oldest data, which is unfortunate.

How to Get the Travel Medallion

The second upgrade you can get is the Travel Medallion, which is by far one of the most annoying upgrades to get in the game. This medallion lets you create your own fast travel point anywhere in the game.

Maybe you found a remarkable place with no shrine nearby, or you want to get back to this location in the depths immediately; you can place the medallion there and instantly fast-travel to this location whenever and wherever you are.

But to unlock the Travel Medallion, you must first head to the Akkala Lab in the top right corner of the map. Robbie will send you there to find the prototype that he made. If you can get it and bring it back to him, he will instantly create the proper Travel Medallion for you to use from then on.

It is a long and arduous journey to the Akkala Lab, and if you’re anything like me, it will be an intense journey to reach there if you haven’t yet gone to this area or done the Goron City part of the main story. It took me quite a long time to go there since I had no prior experience heading north of Hateno Village at this point.

I fully recommend taking your time, stocking up, and grabbing shrines along the way. Once you get to the Akkala Lab, you’ll have a mini-boss battle of sorts against two powerful ninjas. Single each one out and defeat them one at a time.

Once you beat them, head inside the lab and open the chest to find the Travel Medallion prototype. Teleport back to Robbie and give it to him for the upgrade.

How to Unlock Additional Travel Medallions

What you’ll then find out after getting the first Travel Medallion is that there are two more you can get from Robbie, too. These will, in total, let you have three custom fast travel points anywhere in the world you want.

You could put one on top of Valor Island in the sky, in the middle of what I call the Death Stars in the sky, or wherever you want.

But to unlock the second Travel Medallion, you must first have data for at least 10 of the towers in the game. There are around 15 towers, to begin with on Hyrule, so you’ll need to unlock almost all of them to get the second Travel Medallion. But once you do, you’ll have two custom fast travel points.

To get the third and final Travel Medallion, Robbie will ask you to map out all 15 regions of the entire surface world.

This means you’ll have to unlock every tower in the game and have full access to the entire Hyrule map to unlock the third and final Travel Medallion. But with it, you’ll have a whopping three fast travel points you can put anywhere you like.

How to Get the Sensor+

The final upgrade you want for your Purah Pad is the Sensor+. This takes the original shrine sensor and expands it to include any material in the world. Having a hard time finding the elusive Sundelions for the housing quest in Tears of the Kingdom? Take a photo of the material and set it as the sensor target to find more of it the closer you get.

To do this, you need to unlock the Sensor+. What you have to do is take a picture of at least five different monsters in the world and show them to Robbie. They could Bokoblins, Gleeoks, Talus, Constructs, Lynels, etc. They need to be monsters of some kind.

Once you have the Sensor+ upgrade for the Purah Pad, you need to find the material in question you want more of and take a photo of it. From there, open up the map and press the Y button for the Sensor.

You can change the target to whatever material you have already unlocked in your Compendium. Just note that you can’t find shrines and materials at the same time; only one material is allowed for the Sensor.

Tears of the Kingdom Purah Pad Guide: FAQs

Question: How Do You Take Pictures with the Purah Pad TOTK?

Answer: You can take pictures with the Purah Pad in TOTK once you get the quest from Robbie and Josha near the start of the game to venture into the Depths. Head here, follow the path to meet Robbie, and you’ll unlock the camera power. Hold down the L button and select the camera power to bring it up and take photos anytime.

Question: How Do You Get the Sensor in Tears of the Kingdom?

Answer: You can get the Sensor in Tears of the Kingdom by completing the initial quest from Robbie, completing one dungeon, then unlocking the Autobuild power, and helping Robbie fix his hot air balloon. Once you do that, meet him in Hateno Village at the lab to unlock the first part of the Sensor feature.

Question: Where is Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom?

Answer: This is a spoiler question, but Zelda leaves the Purah Pad for you in Tears of the Kingdom. To find her, I suggest heading to Hyrule Castle when you first arrive in Hyrule and following the story events there to find out where she is and help her out.

Use Your Sensor+ to Find a Stalhorse

You can do so much with the Purah Pad in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It is a wondrous device that is somehow even more valuable and useful than the Sheikah Slate that came before it in Breath of the Wild. This is in large part due to its amazing upgrades.

Besides the Travel Medallion, my favorite upgrade is the Sensor+ feature. There were so many times when I wanted to find something in the world and struggled to do it. Well, you can even take a picture of a particular horse, such as one of the unique horses in the game like the Stalhorse, and track it down this way.

It will make it much easier to locate one in the overworld at night and then mount it to claim it as your own horse. You can use the Purah Pad for other nifty features, such as placing the Medallion before a demanding boss to come back later and so on, so it is best to upgrade it as soon as possible.