Short answer: the big recurring ones are Friendship Friday (weekly, in-person trades), the monthly GO Pass's Rank 1 trade bonus, and Community Day's extended trading window. Bigger one-off boosts — halved Stardust and extra Special Trades across several days — have appeared as Friend Fest/Family events and old Friendship Weekends, with no confirmed yearly return.
Trainer school
Which Pokémon GO events boost friendship, trading or gifting?
Pokémon GO doesn't have one single "friendship event" — it has several separate systems that each touch friendship, trading or gifting, running on their own schedules. Here's every one of them in one place, so you know which day actually matters for what.
The weekly one: Friendship Friday
Runs most Fridays during the current season (Twilight Trails: September 8 – December 1, 2026), and gives up to two extra Special Trades, a better chance at a Lucky trade, 20% less trade Stardust, and two guaranteed Candy XL for level 31+ — but only on in-person trades. See the full Friendship Friday breakdown for the exact perk list and the one Friday it skips each season.
The monthly one: the GO Pass trade bonus
Reaching Rank 1 on the free track of the monthly GO Pass unlocks a standing trade bonus — one extra Candy per trade, plus a guaranteed Candy XL at level 31+ — active all week, every week, for as long as that pass runs. It's a separate system from Friendship Friday that happens to overlap; see how the two compare.
The featured-Pokémon one: Community Day
Community Day's trading and friendship perks run longer than its 3-hour catch window — typically a 2 PM–9 PM local trading window with at least one extra Special Trade and 50% off Stardust. Great Friends or higher can also gift each other that month's event ticket. See the full Community Day trading breakdown.
The ticketed one: GO Wild Area
A paid GO Wild Area ticket carries its own trade perk — six Special Trades a day and half-price trade Stardust — separate from everything above, and it pauses Friendship Friday for that week instead of stacking with it. See the full GO Wild Area trade bonus.
The rare one: Friend Fest and Family-style events
Niantic's first (and so far only confirmed) Friend Fest ran November 27 – December 2, 2019: halved Stardust on every trade, two Special Trades a day instead of one, and a boosted friend attack bonus in raids, all running for several days instead of just a few hours. Later "Family" events have been reported by community outlets as repeating a similar halved-Stardust, double-Special-Trade combo, but none of this site's sources have confirmed a 2026 instance with Niantic's own announcement yet — check leekduck.com closer to late November if you're trying to plan around one.
One-off events that haven't recurred recently
Two older events doubled friendship gains directly, and neither has repeated since:
- Friendship Weekend (February 2019 and February 2020): friendship points climbed twice as fast for the whole weekend, alongside extra trade Candy and a raised gift cap.
- 12 Days of Friendship (November 2020): tied to that year's GO Beyond update, with faster friendship levels and bonus XP from leveling up a friendship.
Neither has a confirmed modern-day equivalent — treat any claim that one is "returning" as unconfirmed until it shows up on Niantic's own news page.
How to actually use all this
- Default to Friday for in-person trades if nothing bigger is running that week — it's the most frequent bonus and stacks with your normal friendship-level Stardust discount.
- Save a Special Trade for Community Day — the extended window and 50% Stardust off make it the best single day most months.
- Check the current GO Pass and any live ticketed event (GO Wild Area, GO Fest) before assuming Friendship Friday is active — Niantic pauses it during those weeks.
- Don't plan around a Friend Fest-style event unless you've seen it on the current season's own event page — it's the rarest of the bunch and isn't guaranteed to return every year.
Whichever day you're trading on, you need an active friend list to use any of these bonuses — grab a fresh trainer code with one tap, or browse codes by country to line up partners before the bonus window opens.
FAQ
Is there a single day that's always best for trading? No fixed answer — it depends what's live. Friendship Friday is the most frequent, but a Community Day or a ticketed event in the same week usually beats it on raw discount size.
Do Friendship Friday and the GO Pass trade bonus stack? Unconfirmed from Niantic directly — see the GO Pass vs. Friendship Friday comparison for what's known.
Will Friend Fest come back in 2026? Not confirmed as of this writing. Community outlets expect a similar "Family"-style event in late November, but no Niantic announcement had landed when this guide was last checked.
Do any of these events change friendship levels, not just trades? Friendship Weekend (2019/2020) and 12 Days of Friendship (2020) directly doubled friendship-point gains — but neither has repeated recently. The recurring events above (Friendship Friday, GO Pass, Community Day) mainly affect trade cost and Special Trade count, not the friendship-point rate itself; see how friendship levels and XP actually work for the standing mechanic.
What about raid or gift bonuses tied to these events? Friend Fest (2019) included a friend-attack raid boost, and Community Day's event ticket can be gifted between Great Friends — both covered above. Day-to-day gift limits and contents are their own system; see gifts & postcards explained.