Friendship is the single biggest XP faucet in Pokémon GO — one Best Friends level-up with a Lucky Egg pays more XP than hundreds of catches. Here is exactly how the system works, and how to milk it.
The five friendship levels
You earn 1 friendship point per day per friend (with rare exceptions like Weekly Challenges, which can award extra points). The tiers:
| Level | Points (≈ days) | XP at level-up | With Lucky Egg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Friend | 1 | 3,000 | 6,000 |
| Great Friend | 7 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| Ultra Friend | 30 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Best Friend | 90 | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| Forever Friend | 180 | 150,000 | 300,000 |
Forever Friends (added December 2025) also unlocks Remote Trading with that friend — you earn one remote trade at the milestone and another for every further 90 points, and can complete at most one remote trade per day.
What counts as a daily interaction
Any of these, once per friend per day:
- Sending or opening a Gift (see our gifts & postcards guide)
- Trading a Pokémon
- Raiding or battling in a Gym together — remote raids count too
- A Trainer Battle (PvP) against each other
- Completing a Weekly Challenge together (can award bonus points)
Only the day's first qualifying interaction moves the bar — spamming gifts at the same friend does nothing extra that day.
The Lucky Egg stack (the part worth planning)
The XP lands the moment the level-up triggers, and a Lucky Egg doubles it. The good news: since 2024 the game asks if you want to activate a Lucky Egg right on the level-up popup, so you no longer need split-second timing.
The pro move is still to stack several level-ups into the same 30 minutes:
- Add a batch of friends on the same day — grab a handful of fresh codes in one sitting (they are deduplicated, so every code is a new person).
- Interact with all of them daily — gifts are easiest.
- They all approach the same threshold on the same date. Pop one Lucky Egg, trigger the level-ups back-to-back, and collect 100,000–300,000 XP per friend inside one egg.
Ten Best Friend level-ups under one egg = 2,000,000 XP. That is how people speed-run the level 40–50 grind.
FAQ
Does it matter who sends the gift? No — friendship is shared between the pair; a send/open in either direction counts for both of you.
Can I level up faster than 1 point per day? Normally no. Weekly Challenges are the main exception that can award extra points.
What happens if I delete a friend? The friendship bonuses stop immediately, and they are not notified. Re-adding within a limited window can restore the level — but don't rely on it.
Where do I find people to add? The front page hands you a fresh, unused trainer code with one tap — never the same code twice — and you can browse by country if you're also hunting Vivillon patterns.