Short answer: you earn one friendship point per day per friend, and the five levels are Good (1 day), Great (7), Ultra (30), Best (90) and Forever (180), paying 3,000 / 10,000 / 50,000 / 100,000 / 150,000 XP — all doubled by a Lucky Egg. Any single daily interaction counts: sending or opening a gift, trading, raiding or a PvP battle.
Trainer school
Pokémon GO friendship levels & XP explained (and how to stack Lucky Eggs)
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. See how the remote trade tagging and wish-list process actually works.
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 - worth up to 7 bonus points and a Lucky Friend chance on top of the daily point above
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.
What's the fastest daily habit for keeping levels climbing? See our 2-minute daily routine — open gifts, send gifts, done.