New trainers mix these up constantly, and the game's UI does not help: your Buddy is one of your own Pokémon that walks with you. Your Friends are other trainers you exchange gifts and trainer codes with. Different meters, different currencies, different rewards — and the two never talk to each other.
Buddy: Affection Hearts, walking, and a CP boost
Your Buddy earns Affection Hearts from five daily activities: walking together, feeding a treat, playing (petting them in AR mode), battling together (Gyms, Raids, Team GO Rocket, or a Trainer Battle), and taking a snapshot. Collect 300 hearts and that Pokémon becomes your Best Buddy — the only in-game status that permanently raises CP.
The Best Buddy CP Boost is worth roughly two extra power-ups, and it applies everywhere: Gyms, Raids, Team GO Rocket, and GO Battle League. Two catches worth knowing:
- The Best Buddy ribbon is permanent, but the CP boost is not — it only applies while that Pokémon is your active buddy. Swap buddies and the boost disappears until you swap back.
- Buddy Mood matters too: an Excited buddy earns double hearts and needs half the walking distance for Candy (1/3/5/20 km base, depending on how rare the Pokémon's family is).
None of this touches your Friends list. A maxed-out Best Buddy and a friendship level are completely independent meters.
Friends: gifts, trainer codes, and XP
Friendship works on trainer codes, not walking. You add a trainer, then do one qualifying interaction per day — sending or opening a Gift is the easiest — to earn a friendship point. Points accumulate toward five levels (Good, Great, Ultra, Best, Forever Friend), each paying a lump of XP on level-up. We cover the exact numbers and the Lucky Egg stacking trick in the friendship levels & XP guide.
The overlap with Buddy is real but indirect: raiding or Gym-battling with a friend can earn Affection Hearts for whichever Pokémon you have set as your buddy that day, and also counts as your daily friendship interaction with that trainer. Two separate meters, one shared action.
Which one should you focus on?
Both, on different budgets:
- Buddy costs walking (or Poffins) and time — it is capped by real-world distance, so there is no way to rush it beyond feeding treats and staying Excited.
- Friends costs trainers to add, not time per se — the ceiling is how many active people are in your list. One tap on the front page hands you a fresh, unused trainer code with every visit, so growing that side of the equation is the fast one.
FAQ
Does adding more friends help my buddy, or vice versa? No — the two systems don't share XP, hearts, or levels. They're tracked entirely separately per Pokémon and per trainer.
Can a friend's Pokémon be my buddy? No. Your buddy is always one of your own caught Pokémon; you cannot set a friend's Pokémon as your buddy.
If I swap my buddy, do I lose the hearts I earned? No — hearts already earned toward Best Buddy stay with that Pokémon. Swapping only pauses the CP boost until you make it your buddy again; it does not reset progress.