Friends (GO)

Friends (Japanese: フレンド Friends) are a feature that was first introduced in Pokémon GO on June 22, 2018, that allow players to connect with other players. Players can send Friend Requests by inputting the other players' unique 12-digit Trainer Code, by scanning the corresponding QR code, or by inviting Facebook friends (since November 2018) who have linked their accounts to Pokémon GO. If the request is accepted, the players will become Friends and be listed on each other's on the Friend List (Japanese: フレンドリスト Friend List). Friend Requests expire after 7 days if they are not accepted.

Players can view their friend's Trainer Profile through the Friend List. The Trainer Profile lets a Friend see the following:

Avatar
Buddy Pokémon
Team
Trainer level and total XP
Number of Gym Battles won
Number of Pokémon caught
Total walking distance
Most recently caught Pokémon (can be disabled in Settings)

The list can be sorted (including reverse-sorted) alphabetically (name or nickname), by Friendship level, or Gift. The Friend List has a limit of 650 friends (before January 2026 the max amount of friends was 450, before June 13, 2024 the max amount of friends was 400, before April 6, 2021 the max amount of friends was 200).

Friends can be removed from the Friend List at any time without the other player being notified. Once removed, any bonuses no longer apply. If the player is re-added as a friend, the Friendship level will be restored if re-added during a limited period of time after removal.

The Friends feature is not available for players under the age of 13.

Features

Players who are friends can interact with each other in a variety of ways. As Friendship level increases, more features are unlocked.

Gifts

Main article: Gift

Players can send and receive Gifts from friends. Only one Gift can be sent and received from a friend each day. A player can only open up to 30 Gifts* each day, but can send as many Gifts as they have available. Sending a Gift gives 200 XP.

Gifts can be obtained by spinning PokéStops or Gyms if the player is under their maximum holding limit. The player can hold a base limit of 20 Gifts at one time*, although the Gifts do not take up any inventory space. This capacity can be permanently increased up to 40 through leveling rewards, and may be increased further through temporary GO Pass rewards.

The Gift includes a postcard about the PokéStop or Gym from where it was collected, as well as a variety of items, including Poké Balls, Potions, Berries, Evolution items, Stardust, and Pokémon Eggs.

Trade

Main article: Trade (GO)

Players are able to trade with registered friends. Players cannot trade unless both Trainers are at level 10 or higher, have the required amount of Stardust, and are a close proximity to each other. Mythical Pokémon (except Meltan and Melmetal), Pokémon that have been traded before, and Pokémon marked as the player's favorites cannot be traded. Both traders must also be within a close enough distance of each other.

As of December 8, 2025, players who become Forever Friends will be able to make a Remote Trade with one another after earning 90 additional friendship points, regardless of the distance between players. Additional friendship points are required for subsequent Remote Trading.

Trainer Battles

Players are able to battle another player through the Friend List regardless of the distance between them.

Gyms and raids

Players who are friends deal bonus damage if participating in the same Gym or Raid Battle, which increases with Friendship level. If raiding with a Great Friend or higher, bonus Premier Balls are awarded. Friends who are Ultra Friends or higher can send each other EX Raid invitations.

Friendship levels

The Friendship level measures how much a player has interacted with a specific friend and provides benefits for both players when playing together after reaching specific milestones. The Friendship level with each friend can be increased once per day by performing one of the following activities:

Open a Gift
Trade a Pokémon
Battle each other in a Trainer Battle
Battle together in a Gym or Raid Battle
Send an EX Raid invitation

Once a day, Best Friends who perform one of these activities have a chance of becoming Lucky Friends, which guarantees Lucky Pokémon on the next trade.

Attribute	Friend	Good Friend	Great Friend	Ultra Friend	Best Friend	Forever Friend
Friendship points required	0	1	7	30	90	180
Features unlocked	Regular trades Sending Gifts Remote Raid invitations Remote Trainer Battles	Special Trades		EX Raid invitations	Lucky Friend	Remote trades
Milestone XP reward	0 XP	3,000 XP*	10,000 XP	50,000 XP	100,000 XP	150,000 XP
Stardust discount for Special Trades	N/A	0%	20%	92%	96%
Guaranteed IVs per stat for trades	0	1	2	3	5
Attack bonus for Gym / Raid Battles	0%	3%*	5%	7%	10%	12%
Premier Ball bonus for raids	+0		+1	+2	+4

Search queries

In November 2018, a search feature was added to the Friends List in which players could filter for friends whose names or nicknames begin with the inputted text. In May 2020, key terms were introduced to the search feature for the Friends List. They work the same way as search queries for the Pokémon Box.

Key terms

friendlevel — filters based on Friendship level
- friendlevel0 — Friends
- friendlevel1 — Good Friends
- friendlevel2 — Great Friends
- friendlevel3 — Ultra Friends
- friendlevel4 — Best Friends
- This term also works with ranged queries (e.g. friendlevel1-3 filters for Good to Ultra Friends, and friendlevel3- filters for Ultra Friends or higher)
lucky — filters for Lucky Friends
interactable — filters for friends that the player has not yet had a daily interaction with
giftable — filters for friends that the player can currently send a Gift to

Operators

,, :, ; — union of conditions (e.g. foo,lucky filters for friends whose names/nicknames begin with "foo" and for any Lucky Friends)
&, | — intersection of conditions (e.g. foo&friendlevel3 filters for Ultra Friends whose names/nicknames begin with "foo")
! — complement of the condition (e.g. !interactable filters for friends that the player has already had a daily interaction with)

This article is part of Project Sidegames, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Sidegames.