# PoGO Friends (trainercodes.app) - full text Source: https://trainercodes.app Generated: 2026-09-10T07:49:59.725Z License: content may be quoted with attribution to trainercodes.app. ## What this is trainercodes.app is a free web app that copies a fresh, unused Pokémon GO friend code to your clipboard with one tap. It keeps a live pool of trainer codes (500 codes from 46 countries as of this fetch), serves them newest-first, and de-duplicates per visitor so the same code is never handed to you twice. There is no signup and no account; an anonymous local id handles dedup. Every visitor gets 20 codes per day for free. Trainers can submit their own code to receive friend requests back; a submitted code goes to the front of the queue and stays there until it has reached 50 trainers. ## How to add a friend in Pokémon GO 1. Copy a 12-digit trainer code. 2. In Pokémon GO, open your profile, choose Friends, then Add Friend. 3. Paste the code and send the request. 4. Send and open a gift daily - friendship level rises one step per day of interaction. Friendship levels are Good (1 day), Great (7 days), Ultra (30 days) and Best (90 days), and each level-up grants XP - up to 100,000 XP at Best Friends, doubled with a Lucky Egg. ## Is sharing a trainer code safe? Yes. Trainer codes are public by design: players share them precisely so that strangers can send them friend requests. A code allows a friend request and nothing else. It gives no access to an account, cannot be used to log in, and any friend can be declined or removed at any time. ## Live figures at time of fetch - Codes in pool: 500 - Countries represented: 46 - Codes posted in the last 24 hours: 0 - Age of newest code: 2 days - Codes served all-time: 1703 - User-submitted codes currently pinned: 71 ## Guides - Pokémon GO friendship bonuses in raids and gyms (attack boost + Premier Balls) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/friendship-raid-bonuses - Buddy vs Friends in Pokémon GO — what's the difference? - https://trainercodes.app/guides/buddy-vs-friends - Pokémon GO Community Day: the trading and friend bonuses explained - https://trainercodes.app/guides/community-day-trading-and-friends - The fastest XP in Pokémon GO, ranked (2026) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/fastest-xp - Friend list full? How to manage the Pokémon GO friend cap (without being a jerk) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/friend-list-cap - Why won't my Pokémon GO friend request go through? - https://trainercodes.app/guides/friend-request-not-working - Pokémon GO friendship levels & XP explained (and how to stack Lucky Eggs) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/friendship-levels-xp - Pokémon GO gifts & postcards: limits, contents and how pinning works - https://trainercodes.app/guides/gifts-and-postcards - How to get Lucky Friends fast in Pokémon GO - https://trainercodes.app/guides/lucky-friends-fast - Can you get regional Pokémon by trading with friends abroad? - https://trainercodes.app/guides/regional-pokemon-via-friends - Remote raids with friends: invites, the 10-a-day limit and lobby tricks - https://trainercodes.app/guides/remote-raids-with-friends - 7 km eggs in Pokémon GO: the friend-powered egg pool - https://trainercodes.app/guides/seven-km-eggs - Pokémon GO trading explained: Stardust costs, special trades and lucky luck - https://trainercodes.app/guides/trading-basics - Trainer Battles with friends: rules, rewards and remote requirements - https://trainercodes.app/guides/trainer-battles-with-friends - Pokémon GO trainer codes and kids: what parents should know - https://trainercodes.app/guides/trainer-codes-and-kids - Vivillon patterns: why you need friends from specific countries - https://trainercodes.app/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country - Every way to add friends in Pokémon GO (trainer codes, QR codes, and Nearby) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/ways-to-add-friends - Pokémon GO Weekly Challenges: how matchmaking can add friends for you - https://trainercodes.app/guides/weekly-challenges-matchmaking - Where to find Pokémon GO friend codes (Reddit, Discord, Facebook — and why they run dry) - https://trainercodes.app/guides/where-to-find-friend-codes - Is it safe to share your Pokémon GO trainer code? - https://trainercodes.app/guides/are-trainer-codes-safe --- # Pokémon GO friendship bonuses in raids and gyms (attack boost + Premier Balls) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/friendship-raid-bonuses Updated: 2026-09-01 Summary: Raiding with a friend pays more than a friendship point - it boosts your team's damage and hands out extra Premier Balls. Here's the real table by friendship level, and what it doesn't apply to. **Short answer: fighting a raid or gym alongside a friend gives your side an attack boost and, in raids, extra Premier Balls - both scaling with friendship level: Good Friend 3% / 0 balls, Great Friend 5% / 1, Ultra Friend 7% / 2, Best Friend 10% / 4.** Forever Friends keeps the same 4 extra balls and adds a further attack boost that Niantic hasn't published an exact number for. Only your single highest friendship level in the lobby applies - the bonuses don't stack. This is separate from the [friendship XP levels](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) - that guide covers how you level up and the XP it pays. This one covers what the level actually buys you once you're standing in a gym or raid lobby with that friend. ## The bonus table | Friendship level | Attack/damage bonus | Extra Premier Balls | |---|---|---| | Good Friend | 3% | 0 | | Great Friend | 5% | 1 | | Ultra Friend | 7% | 2 | | Best Friend | 10% | 4 | | Forever Friend | 10% (same as Best) + an unpublished extra boost | 4 | Niantic has confirmed Forever Friends (added December 2025) carries an additional attack boost on top of Best Friend's, but hasn't stated the exact percentage anywhere public - treat "10%+" as the honest answer until that changes. ## Where it applies - and where it doesn't - **Raids:** both the attack bonus and the extra Premier Balls apply, based on your friendship level with whoever else is in the lobby. - **Gyms:** the attack bonus applies when you battle a Gym alongside a friend; Premier Balls aren't relevant there (Gyms don't use them). - **It does not apply to solo play** - fighting a raid or gym alone gets none of this, friend or no friend. - **It's not the same system as [Trainer Battles](/guides/trainer-battles-with-friends)** (PvP against a friend) or the [Stardust discount on trades](/guides/trading-basics) - those are separate friendship-level perks with their own scaling. ## The non-stacking rule If you raid with several friends at once, only **one** bonus applies - the game uses your **highest** friendship level with anyone in the lobby, not a sum of everyone's levels. Bringing three Good Friends and one Best Friend to the same raid gets you the Best Friend bonus, not four separate bonuses added together. That makes a small circle of Best/Forever Friends more valuable for raid damage than a huge list of Good Friends - worth keeping in mind when you're deciding [who to prune](/guides/friend-list-cap) versus who to level up first. ## Getting there faster Every raid together also counts as that day's [friendship interaction](/guides/friendship-levels-xp), so a regular raid group levels itself up just by playing normally. If you want to speed past Good and Great Friend on purpose - so raids with a specific person hit the 7% or 10% tier sooner - daily gifts are the easiest guaranteed interaction; see the [friendship XP guide](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) for the full stacking strategy, and [grab fresh trainer codes here](/) to build out a raid circle in the first place. ## FAQ **Does the extra Premier Ball bonus work in Gyms too?** No - Gyms don't hand out Premier Balls, so that part only matters in raids. **Do the attack bonuses from multiple friends in the same raid add up?** No - only your highest friendship level with anyone present counts, once. **Is the Forever Friend attack bonus higher than Best Friend's?** Niantic says it's an additional boost on top of Best Friend's, but hasn't published the exact number - so beyond "at least 10%," don't trust any specific figure you see quoted for it. **Does this bonus affect my catch chance directly?** No - it's an attack/damage bonus, which helps you and your group win the raid faster; the extra Premier Balls are a separate reward for having a friend along, not a catch-rate boost on any single ball. --- # Buddy vs Friends in Pokémon GO — what's the difference? URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/buddy-vs-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Your Buddy and your Friends both use hearts, levels and daily interactions - but they are two completely separate systems with different rewards. Here is exactly how each works. **Short answer: your Buddy is one of your own Pokémon; your Friends are other trainers — two separate systems that share nothing.** Buddy progress comes from walking, treats and 300 Affection Hearts toward Best Buddy, which grants a CP boost. Friendship comes from one qualifying interaction per trainer per day and pays up to 150,000 XP per level-up. 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](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). 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. --- # Pokémon GO Community Day: the trading and friend bonuses explained URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/community-day-trading-and-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Community Day isn't just a catch bonus - trades get extra Special Trades and 50% less Stardust in a longer 7-hour window, and Great Friends can gift each other event tickets. Here's exactly how it works. **Short answer: Community Day's trading bonuses run longer than the catch window — typically 2–9 PM local against the 3-hour catch window — and give at least one extra Special Trade plus 50% off Stardust.** The ~100 m trade distance and friendship requirements do not change, and Great Friends or higher can buy and gift each other event tickets. Community Day's catch bonuses (spawns, Incense, XL Candy) only run for the usual 3-hour window — but the trading and friendship bonuses run **longer**, and most players never notice because they're busy catching. Here's what actually changes for friends and trades on the day. ## The two separate bonus windows - **Catch bonuses** (increased spawns, boosted Incense/Lure duration, catch Candy, Candy XL chance): the classic **3-hour window**, typically 2–5 PM local time. - **Trading bonuses** (extra Special Trades, reduced Stardust): a **longer window**, typically 2 PM–9 PM local time — you get four extra hours to actually meet up and trade after the catching rush. Always check the specific event's own bonus list before assuming — Niantic varies the exact lineup event to event. ## What changes for trades - **Extra Special Trades.** Outside events you get **one Special Trade per day**. Most Community Days add at least one more; some have offered as many as two extra (three total) — check the event page, since this number isn't fixed across events. - **50% less Stardust** on trades made during the trading window — this applies broadly, not just to Special Trades, stacking with your [friendship-level Stardust discount](/guides/trading-basics). - **Distance and friendship requirements don't change.** You still need to be within about 100 m of your trade partner (unless you're [Forever Friends](/guides/friendship-levels-xp), which trade remotely year-round), and [special-trade eligibility](/guides/trading-basics) still depends on Pokédex status. That combination — cheap Stardust, an extra Special Trade slot, and a room full of trainers all catching the same featured Pokémon — is exactly why Community Day is the best day of the month to unload a special trade you've been saving. ## The other friend perk: gifting event tickets Some Community Days sell a paid ticket (extra Special Research, bonus items). If you reach **Great Friend or higher** with someone, you can **buy and gift them a ticket** directly — handy if you want to bring a friend who missed the announcement, or split the cost as a gift back and forth. Below Great Friend, gifting tickets isn't available, so if you're planning to gift one, get your daily [gift or trade streak](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) going a week ahead of time. ## Making the most of the day 1. **Add friends before Community Day, not during it.** [Grab fresh codes](/) a few days out so you're already past Good Friend by the event — Great Friend only needs 7 days. 2. **Use the QR/Nearby method for anyone standing next to you** at a meetup — it's faster than typing digits when a dozen trainers are all trying to trade at once ([every way to add friends](/guides/ways-to-add-friends)). 3. **Save a special trade for the day.** If you caught something special-trade-eligible in the last few weeks, hold it — trading it during the discount window can save hundreds of thousands of Stardust over a normal-day special trade. 4. **Stack it with a Lucky Egg.** Trading and gifting both count as your [daily friendship interaction](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) — a Community Day full of trades is a great day to also pop an egg if several friends are close to leveling up. ## FAQ **Does the trade distance limit change on Community Day?** No — standard trades still need you within about 100 m of your partner. Only the cost and the extra Special Trade slot change. **How many extra Special Trades do I get?** At least one on most Community Days, but Niantic has offered more on select events — always check that month's official bonus list. **Does the Stardust discount apply to all trades or just Special Trades?** All trades made during the trading bonus window get the discount, not only Special Trades. **I don't have anyone to trade with at the event — now what?** [The front page](/) hands you a fresh, unused trainer code with one tap; add a batch before the day so you have partners ready when the window opens. --- # The fastest XP in Pokémon GO, ranked (2026) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/fastest-xp Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Friendship level-ups pay up to 300,000 XP under a Lucky Egg - nothing else comes close. The full ranking - friendships, raids, Excellent throws, evolving - with current, verified numbers. **Short answer: friendship level-ups are the fastest XP in Pokémon GO — 100,000 XP at Best Friend and 150,000 at Forever Friend, doubled to 200,000 and 300,000 under a Lucky Egg.** Raids pay about 10,000, Excellent throws 1,000 and evolutions 1,000. Everything on the list doubles under a Lucky Egg except sending gifts. Most XP guides still quote numbers from before the 2020 XP rework. Here is the current, verified ranking — and why the top spot isn't even close. ## 1. Friendship level-ups (the king) | Level-up | XP | With Lucky Egg | |---|---|---| | Good Friend | 3,000 | 6,000 | | Great Friend | 10,000 | 20,000 | | Ultra Friend | 50,000 | 100,000 | | Best Friend | 100,000 | 200,000 | | Forever Friend | 150,000 | 300,000 | Nothing else in the game pays six figures for tapping a gift. The strategy is batching: add many friends the same day, interact daily, and pop all the level-ups under one Lucky Egg — the game even prompts you to activate the egg on the level-up screen now. Full playbook in the [friendship XP guide](/guides/friendship-levels-xp); fresh friends are [one tap away](/). ## 2. Raids Legendary (5-star) raids pay **10,000 XP** each (Elite ~12,000, Mega Legendary 13,000, lower tiers 3,500–5,000). With the [10-per-day remote limit](/guides/remote-raids-with-friends) and a Lucky Egg, a raid session stacks up fast — and each raid with a friend doubles as that day's friendship interaction. ## 3. Excellent throws **1,000 XP per Excellent** (+20 curveball) on a successful catch — Nice is 20, Great is 100, so accuracy pays 10× over sloppy throws. New Pokédex entries add another 1,000. During Community Day spotlights with easy targets, Excellent-throw grinding under an egg rivals raiding. ## 4. Mass-evolving (the old classic, demoted) Evolutions pay a flat **1,000 XP** (2,000 under an egg). A 30-minute Pidgey-style evolve session still earns a steady ~60–80k with an egg, but it costs hours of candy farming — friendship pays more for less. ## 5. The background trickle - Hatching: roughly 500 XP (2 km) up to 4,000 XP (12 km) per egg. - First catch and first spin of the day, and 7-day streaks — worth keeping alive, exact values have shifted over the years (Niantic's help center lists the current ones). - Sending a gift: 200 XP (one of the few things a Lucky Egg does *not* double). ## The takeaway Everything on this list doubles under a Lucky Egg **except gift-sending** — so the meta is: stack friendship level-ups, then fill the same egg window with raids and Excellent throws. A well-planned 30 minutes clears a million XP. It all starts with having enough active friends: [get fresh codes](/), keep the list healthy with the [cap guide](/guides/friend-list-cap), and let the XP roll in. --- # Friend list full? How to manage the Pokémon GO friend cap (without being a jerk) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/friend-list-cap Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: The Pokémon GO friend list caps out at 550-650 slots. Here is how to purge inactive friends the right way, the etiquette XP farmers swear by, and how to refill with active trainers. **Short answer: the Pokémon GO friend list caps at around 550 slots, rising toward 650 in steps of 50 since the December 2025 Forever Friends update.** When it fills, prune never-gifters and long-inactive friends first. Removal is silent, but wait until a new Best Friend has interacted after the level-up — otherwise you cost them 100,000 XP. Every serious friend-adder eventually hits the wall: the friend list is **full**, new requests bounce, and it is pruning time. Here is how the cap works and how to purge like a decent human. ## The cap (and why the number looks fuzzy) Niantic raised the limit repeatedly under community pressure — 200 → 400 → 450 → and with the December 2025 "Forever Friends" update it was announced to grow **from 450 to 650 in steps of 50**. Official help pages currently state **550**, so treat your real ceiling as *550-ish, rising toward 650*. Check your own list in-game for the truth on your account. Related limits worth knowing: - Incoming friend **requests expire after 7 days** if you ignore them. - There are caps on **pending requests** too — if you see "This Trainer has too many pending Friend Requests", their inbox is full; try again another day. ## Who to prune Sort by the dead weight, in this order: 1. **Never-gifters** — friendship can't progress without daily interactions, so a silent friend occupies a slot for nothing. (Our pool marks trainers who [pledge daily gifting](/) when they submit their code.) 2. **Stuck-at-Good/Great friends** who went inactive months ago. 3. **Best Friends you've finished with** — you got the 100,000 XP, they got theirs… *did they?* Read the next section first. Removal is silent — **the other trainer is never notified** — and their view of your profile ends immediately. ## The one etiquette rule that matters XP farmers often delete a friend the moment the Best Friends level-up fires. The problem: **the level-up XP triggers per trainer** — if your friend hasn't opened the day's gift or interacted yet, deleting them early can rob them of their 100,000 XP moment. The community norm: **wait until you see they've interacted after the level-up** (easiest signal: they send or open one more gift), or give it a week. You lose nothing — and the trainer on the other side of the world gets their payday too. Also worth weighing before you purge a Best Friend: the **Forever Friends** tier (90 more days) unlocks [remote trading](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) — a full-friend slot might be worth more than an empty one. ## Refill with trainers who actually play When you've cleared the dead wood, refill with fresh, active codes: - [One tap = a fresh, unused code](/) — never a duplicate, and dead codes get voted out of the pool by other users. - Hunting [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country)? Refill from [specific countries](/codes) instead of taking pot luck. - Still trawling Reddit or Discord threads for codes? See [why those tend to run dry fast](/guides/where-to-find-friend-codes) and what to use instead. ## FAQ **Does the removed friend lose anything?** They lose the friendship level and bonuses with you, same as you — but they are not notified. **Can we get our level back if I re-add them?** Within a limited window, yes — but don't count on it for high levels. **How many friends do I actually need?** For XP farming, as many as you can interact with daily — remember you can only [open 30 gifts a day](/guides/gifts-and-postcards), so a lean, active list beats a full, dead one. --- # Why won't my Pokémon GO friend request go through? URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/friend-request-not-working Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: A friend request that never gets accepted is almost never a bug on your end. Here are the real reasons - typos, full friend lists, maxed pending queues - and the few things actually worth trying. **Short answer: a friend request that never lands almost always means the other trainer's friend list is full (around 550–650) or their pending-request queue is maxed out — both fail silently, with no error message.** Unaccepted requests expire after 7 days. Re-check your 12 digits, then try a different code; it is not a bug on your end. You typed a Trainer Code, hit send, and... nothing. No error, no confirmation it landed, just a request sitting in limbo. Here is what's actually going on, roughly in order of likelihood. ## The two silent failure modes These cause the vast majority of "it's just not working" reports, and neither one shows an error message: - **Their friend list is full.** Pokémon GO caps out around [550-650 friends](/guides/friend-list-cap) — a popular code gets more requests than the account has room for, and new ones simply can't land. - **Their pending-request queue is full.** Niantic also caps how many *unaccepted* incoming requests an account can hold at once. If you see "This Trainer has too many pending Friend Requests," that's it exactly. Even without that message, a request can sit unseen and then quietly [expire after 7 days](/guides/friend-list-cap). Neither of these is fixable on your side — the fix is a different code, not a different phone setting. See [why codes from public boards run dry fast](/guides/where-to-find-friend-codes) for the full picture. ## Before assuming it's the other side: check your input - **Re-check the 12 digits.** A single mistyped digit sends the request to a real, different trainer (or to no one) — it won't error, it'll just go nowhere useful. - **Scan the QR code instead of typing**, if you have it — it removes typo risk entirely. Both methods are covered in [every way to add friends](/guides/ways-to-add-friends). - **Copy-paste beats retyping.** [The front page](/) puts the code on your clipboard the moment you tap it, specifically so you don't have to transcribe 12 digits by hand. ## If the app itself seems stuck A smaller number of cases really are a client/server sync hiccup rather than either trainer's list or queue. Commonly reported (not officially documented) fixes worth trying, in order of least to most disruptive: 1. Force-close and reopen the app. 2. Make sure you're on the latest app version — a version mismatch with a server-side update can cause social features to misbehave. 3. Toggle your online status off and back on (tap the Niantic logo on your Trainer Profile). None of these are guaranteed — Niantic hasn't published a specific troubleshooting flow for stuck friend requests — so if a couple of these don't clear it, the request was almost certainly one of the two silent failures above, not an app bug. ## Resetting your own Trainer Code If people say *your* code isn't working, you can permanently reset it: open your Trainer Profile → Friends → Add Friend, tap the refresh icon on your own code, and confirm. Your old code stops working immediately, so only do this if you're sure — anyone who saved the old one will need the new digits. ## FAQ **Does Niantic show an error when a request fails?** No. A full friend list or full pending queue both fail silently — the request just never gets accepted. **Can I tell if someone accepted my request?** Yes — accepted friends appear in your Friends list with a friendship level (starting at Friend, 0 points). If they're not there, it either hasn't been accepted yet or it didn't land. **Is there a faster way to get codes that actually work?** [The front page](/) hands you a fresh, deduplicated code with one tap instead of a public board post that hundreds of people hit at once — see [why that matters](/guides/where-to-find-friend-codes). **I keep hitting my own daily limit, not theirs — what's that?** That's a separate, fair-use cap on this site so the code pool lasts for everyone; it resets at midnight UTC and is shown on the front page. --- # Pokémon GO friendship levels & XP explained (and how to stack Lucky Eggs) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/friendship-levels-xp Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Friendship level-ups are the biggest XP source in Pokémon GO - up to 300,000 XP with a Lucky Egg. Here are the exact levels, what counts as a daily interaction, and how to stack level-ups. **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. 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](/guides/gifts-and-postcards)) - **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](/guides/weekly-challenges-matchmaking)** 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**: 1. 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). 2. Interact with all of them daily — gifts are easiest. 3. 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](/codes) if you're also hunting [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country). --- # Pokémon GO gifts & postcards: limits, contents and how pinning works URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/gifts-and-postcards Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: How gifts work in Pokémon GO - where to get them, the real daily limits (open 30, one per friend), what's inside including 7 km eggs, and how postcard pinning unlocks Vivillon. **Short answer: you can hold 20 gifts, send one gift per friend per day, and open up to 30 gifts a day.** Gifts are the only regular source of 7 km eggs, and every gift carries a postcard from where it was spun. Pinning 3 postcards from a region unlocks your first Scatterbug of that Vivillon pattern, then 9, then 15. Gifts are the engine of the whole friendship system: they level up your friends, supply items (a lifeline if you live far from PokéStops), and their postcards unlock Vivillon. Here are the actual rules and limits. ## Where gifts come from - **Spinning PokéStops and Gyms** — gifts drop occasionally from Photo Discs. - **Your Buddy Pokémon** fetches them from nearby stops when you're running low — up to 5 at a time, up to 3 times a day. You can hold a maximum of **20 gifts in your bag** (rising to as many as 40 via Trainer Level rewards at level 43+). They take no regular item space. ## The real sending and opening limits - **One gift per friend per day** — and you can't send them another until they've opened the previous one. (You may see a "100 per day" total cap in older guides; current official documentation only states the one-per-friend rule.) - **Open up to 30 gifts per day.** With a big friend list, the *opening* cap is what you hit first — prioritise friends close to a [level-up](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). - You can't open gifts when your item bag or egg storage is completely full. ## What's inside Poké Balls, Great/Ultra Balls, Potions and Revives, Pinap Berries, Stardust, occasionally evolution items — and **7 km Eggs**, which gifts are the only regular source of. If you want the 7 km egg pool, keep an egg slot open before opening gifts. ## Postcards — and why you should pin them Every gift carries a **postcard** from the Photo Disc where it was collected. Tap **pin** to save it to your Postcard Book. Pinning is what drives the **Vivillon Collector medal**: - **3 pinned postcards** from a region unlock your **first** Scatterbug encounter for that pattern, then **9** for the second, **15** for the third and beyond. - You can pin at most 3 of your *own* postcards per day — postcards from friends' gifts are how you go faster. - Friends in the right countries are the whole game here: see our [Vivillon guide](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country) and [browse codes by country](/codes) — the pool usually has Japan and South Korea codes that Western boards never carry. ## FAQ **Do gifts count toward friendship even if I only send?** Yes — since the December 2025 update, official documentation credits both sending and opening. Either direction moves the shared friendship bar. **Can I choose what's in a gift?** No — contents are random from the gift's item pool. **Why can't I send a gift to this friend?** They haven't opened your previous one yet, or you already sent one today. **Fastest way to get more gift-friends?** [One tap on the front page](/) = a fresh, unused trainer code. Add a batch, gift daily, and watch the XP pile up. --- # How to get Lucky Friends fast in Pokémon GO URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/lucky-friends-fast Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Lucky Friends turns your next trade into two Lucky Pokémon with a lower IV floor and cheaper Stardust costs. Here is how the friendship level actually works and how to hit it faster. **Short answer: Lucky Friends can only trigger once two trainers are Best Friends, and then only on the first interaction of each day — community tracking puts the chance at roughly 1–3%, about 1 in 50.** When it fires, the next trade between you turns both Pokémon Lucky. The only real lever is having many Best Friends interacting daily. Lucky Friends is the fastest way to grab guaranteed **Lucky Pokémon** without hunting for rare trade partners — but it only kicks in at a specific friendship level, and it is partly luck on top of that. Here is how the mechanic works and how to get there quicker. ## The friendship levels you need to climb Friendship in Pokémon GO levels up once per day per friend, based on your **highest-value interaction** that day (trading, gifting, raiding together, battling in a gym together, or a PvP battle). The levels: - **Good Friend** — 1 day - **Great Friend** — 7 days - **Ultra Friend** — 30 days - **Best Friend** — 90 days - **Forever Friend** — a newer, higher level above Best Friend, reached through more interactions after hitting Best Friend. It unlocks a periodic **remote trade** with that friend, so you don't need to be standing next to each other. **Lucky Friends only becomes possible once you are Best Friends.** Below that, no amount of interaction triggers it. ## How Lucky Friends actually triggers Once two trainers are Best Friends (or higher), **each day's first interaction between them has a small chance to flip both of you into Lucky Friends status.** Reported odds vary by source — most community tracking lands somewhere around a **1–3% chance per day**, often cited as roughly "1 in 50" interactions. There is no confirmed official percentage from Niantic, so treat any exact number you see as a community estimate, not a guarantee. When it triggers: - Both trainers get a one-time **Lucky Friends** status. - The **next trade** between you turns both traded Pokémon into **Lucky Pokémon** — no matter which Pokémon you trade. - The status is consumed after that one trade. ## What counts as an "interaction" Only the **first** interaction of the day with a given friend counts toward the daily Lucky Friends roll. Trading, sending or opening a gift, raiding together, battling in a gym together, and PvP battles all qualify — but doing several of them with the same friend on the same day only gives you one shot at Lucky Friends that day, not several. ## How to reach it faster 1. **Get to Best Friend as quickly as possible.** Since it takes 90 days of interaction no matter what, the only lever is starting the clock early and never missing a day with the friends you care about. 2. **Interact with every Best Friend, every day.** More Best Friends interacting daily means more daily Lucky Friends rolls running in parallel — it's a numbers game. 3. **Let your Buddy do the gift-collecting.** Your buddy Pokémon can fetch gifts from nearby PokéStops and Gyms automatically, so you can send a fresh gift to every Best Friend without manually spinning stops all day (you can send up to 30 gifts per day in total). 4. **Prioritize friends you'll actually keep long-term.** A dead friendship resets your 90-day progress if you have to start over with someone new — so build your Best Friend list from people who are likely to stick around. This is exactly where a steady stream of **new** trainer codes helps: the more active friends you add and keep, the more parallel 90-day clocks you have running, and the more daily Lucky Friends rolls you get. **[Grab a fresh, unused code with one tap](/)** — codes are tagged by country, so you can also mix in international friends. Browse **[codes by country](/codes)** if you want to target specific regions. ## FAQ **Do I need to be Best Friends, or is Great/Ultra Friend enough?** Best Friend or higher. Lower levels don't have a chance to trigger Lucky Friends at all. **What is the exact odds per interaction?** There's no official published number — community-tracked estimates range roughly from 1% to 3% per qualifying interaction, commonly rounded to "about 2%" or "1 in 50." **Does opening a gift count the same as trading?** Yes — any qualifying interaction (trade, gift, raid together, gym battle together, PvP) can trigger the daily roll, but only the first one that day per friend counts. **What do I get out of a Lucky Pokémon?** Lucky Pokémon have a raised IV floor (12/12/12 minimum) and cost significantly less Stardust to power up, making them cheap to invest in for raids or PvP. **Does Forever Friend increase my odds?** There's no confirmed evidence that Forever Friend status changes the Lucky Friends chance — its main confirmed benefit is unlocking periodic remote trades with that friend. Once you're actively building friendships, keep an eye on your list size too — see our guide on **[keeping your friend list under the cap](/guides/friend-list-cap)** for more on managing who you keep. --- # Can you get regional Pokémon by trading with friends abroad? URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/regional-pokemon-via-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Farfetch'd, Tauros, Kangaskhan and dozens of other Pokémon are locked to specific countries. Here is the real list, and the honest answer on whether an international friend can get them for you. **Short answer: yes, a friend abroad can trade you a regional Pokémon — but only in person within about 100 m, or remotely once you are Forever Friends, which takes 180 days of daily interaction and allows one remote trade per day.** There is no shortcut past the friendship clock. Vivillon patterns are different: postcards from gifts work from day one. Vivillon isn't the only reason to want friends on the other side of the planet. Dozens of Pokémon are **region-exclusive** — they simply don't spawn outside their home country or continent. An international friend can get you one, but not the way most people assume. ## What counts as a regional exclusive A regional Pokémon spawns in the wild only within a specific country, continent, hemisphere, or (for a few species) a real-world latitude band. They're not tied to any event — they're just absent from local spawns everywhere else, permanently, unless a limited-time event temporarily lifts the restriction. ## The list (by type) | Group | Pokémon | Region | |---|---|---| | Kanto classics | Farfetch'd | South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong | | Kanto classics | Mr. Mime | Europe | | Kanto classics | Tauros | United States, Southern Canada | | Kanto classics | Kangaskhan | Australia | | Latitude-locked | Corsola | Tropical latitudes (~31°N to 26°S) worldwide | | Gen 3 pairs | Zangoose / Seviper | Split by region (one or the other, not both) | | Gen 3 pairs | Plusle / Minun | Split by region | | Gen 3 pairs | Lunatone / Solrock | Split by region | | Gen 3 pairs | Volbeat / Illumise | Split by region | | Gen 3 | Tropius, Torkoal, Relicanth | Regional, various | | Sinnoh lake trio | Uxie | Asia-Pacific | | Sinnoh lake trio | Mesprit | Europe, Middle East, Africa, India | | Sinnoh lake trio | Azelf | Americas, Greenland | | Ultra Beasts | Buzzwole | Americas, Greenland | | Ultra Beasts | Pheromosa | Europe, Middle East, Africa, India | | Ultra Beasts | Xurkitree | Asia-Pacific | | Ultra Beasts | Celesteela | Southern Hemisphere | | Ultra Beasts | Kartana | Northern Hemisphere | | Ultra Beasts | Stakataka | Eastern Hemisphere | | Ultra Beasts | Blacephalon | Western Hemisphere | Niantic occasionally runs global events (like Community Days or anniversary celebrations) that briefly let everyone catch a normally-locked regional. Outside those windows, the wild spawn is locked to the region — [source: Pokémon GO Hub](https://pokemongohub.net/post/guide/regional-pokemon-list/). ## So can a friend abroad just... trade you one? Yes, but the path is longer than people expect, because [trading has its own rules](/guides/trading-basics): - **In person**, you and your friend need to be within ~100 m of each other. That obviously defeats the purpose of trading across a border. - **Remotely**, only **Forever Friends** can trade at any distance — and that's a friendship tier you earn, not something available from day one. Per our [friendship levels guide](/guides/friendship-levels-xp), Forever Friend takes **180 days of daily interaction** after you first add each other, and even then you only earn **one remote trade every 90 friendship points**, capped at **one remote trade per day account-wide**. - **It'll be a special trade.** A regional Pokémon new to your Pokédex counts as a special trade, which costs Stardust on a sliding scale that drops sharply the higher your friendship level — see the [full Stardust table](/guides/trading-basics). There's no shortcut that skips the friendship clock. The realistic path looks like: 1. **Add a trainer from the right country.** [Browse codes tagged by country](/codes) instead of guessing from a generic code board. 2. **Interact daily** — a gift is the easiest habit — to climb the friendship ladder. 3. **Keep the friendship alive for 180 days** to reach Forever Friend and start earning remote trades. 4. **Spend a remote trade** on the regional once you have one banked, paying the special-trade Stardust cost. If you're not willing to wait out the friendship clock, the alternative is catching it yourself next time you travel, or waiting for a global event that temporarily unlocks it everywhere. ## Regional Pokémon vs. Vivillon — don't confuse the two This trips people up: [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country) unlock from **postcards inside gifts**, which any friend can send from day one, no friendship tier required. Getting an actual regional Pokémon into your Pokédex is the slower, trade-gated process above. If your goal is Vivillon, you don't need to wait for Forever Friend status at all — just exchange gifts and pin postcards. ## FAQ **Is there a faster way?** Not through trading. The fastest legitimate route to a regional Pokémon is usually catching it yourself while traveling, or during a global event that lifts the regional lock. **Do I need a friend in every country on the list?** Only for the ones you're missing. [Grab a fresh code](/) whenever you need a specific country — every code is deduplicated, so you won't get the same trainer twice. **Does the traded Pokémon keep its original stats?** No — traded Pokémon re-roll IVs within a floor set by your friendship level, as covered in the [trading guide](/guides/trading-basics). --- # Remote raids with friends: invites, the 10-a-day limit and lobby tricks URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/remote-raids-with-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: How raid invites actually work in Pokémon GO - invite 5 friends at a time from anywhere, the current 10-per-day remote pass limit, and why remote damage is no longer nerfed. **Short answer: you can invite up to 5 friends at a time into a raid lobby from anywhere in the world, no friendship level required, and you may use up to 10 Remote Raid Passes per day — raised from 5 in May 2025.** Remote damage has been equal to in-person damage since June 2023, and every raid together counts as that day's friendship interaction. Raiding together is one of the best reasons to keep an international friend list: any friend, anywhere in the world, can pull you into a legendary raid — and it counts toward your [friendship level](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) the same day. ## How invites work - From a raid lobby you can **invite up to 5 friends at a time** — and after a short cooldown, invite more to the same lobby. - **No friendship level is required** to be invited — a fresh Good Friend from [a code you claimed this morning](/) can invite you to a raid tonight. - Friends at **Great Friends or higher** can even join your raid directly from their Friend List, no invite needed. - Invited remote raiders join with a **Remote Raid Pass**. ## The current remote raid rules (updated numbers) Older guides are wrong on both of these: - **Limit: 10 remote raids per day** — raised from 5 in May 2025. - **Remote damage is equal to in-person damage** — the old remote-damage nerf was removed in June 2023. - Passes cost **195 coins** (single) or **525 coins** (3-pack), and you can hold at most **3** at a time. ## Why this loves a big friend list Every raid with a friend is that day's friendship interaction — so raid invites are a gift-free way to push toward Best and [Forever Friends](/guides/friendship-levels-xp) (which unlocks remote trading). And friends in other time zones mean **raids around the clock**: when your town sleeps, Japan is raiding — [codes by country here](/codes). ## FAQ **Do I need to be friends with everyone in the lobby?** No — only with the person who invites you. **Does the raid count for friendship with everyone present?** It counts for friends who battled in the same raid as you. **Can I invite someone who has no remote pass?** You can invite them, but they need a Remote Raid Pass (or to be within range) to actually join. --- # 7 km eggs in Pokémon GO: the friend-powered egg pool URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/seven-km-eggs Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: 7 km eggs only come from friend gifts and usually hatch regional forms you can't catch locally. How to get them, the egg-slot trick, and where to check the current pool. **Short answer: 7 km eggs come only from opening a friend's gift — never from PokéStops — and the egg is created the moment you open the gift, so a full egg storage loses it.** They usually hatch Alolan, Galarian and Hisuian regional forms, and the pool rotates every season and event. 7 km eggs are the only egg tier you **cannot get from spinning PokéStops** — they come exclusively from friends. No friends, no 7 km hatches. Here is how the pipeline works. ## Where 7 km eggs come from Only one source: **opening a Gift from a friend** (plus Mateo's Gift at the end of a Route, which is the same mechanic). Gifts have a chance of containing one — you cannot see which gifts do. **The egg-slot detail that trips people up:** the egg is generated **when you open the gift**, not when you receive it. If your egg storage is full at that moment, you can still open the gift — but you forfeit the egg. Hatching one 7 km egg pays about **1,500 XP** plus the candy. So the routine is: keep one egg slot free → open gifts → walk. ## What hatches from them The pool **rotates every season and event**, so any species list printed in a guide goes stale in weeks. The reliable pattern since 2018: 7 km eggs usually carry **regional variant forms** — Alolan, Galarian and Hisuian Pokémon you can't catch in the wild locally — occasionally swapped for themed pools (babies, fossils) during events. Check what's in the pool *right now* on [LeekDuck's egg page](https://leekduck.com/eggs/) before you commit incubators. ## Maximising your 7 km flow 1. **More active friends = more gifts = more eggs.** [One tap here](/) gets you a fresh code every time — and gift-pledged submitters are marked in the pool. 2. You can [open 30 gifts a day](/guides/gifts-and-postcards) — but only receive an egg when a slot is free, so time your gift-opening around your incubators. 3. Friends from other continents make the eggs *and* the postcards count double — see the [Vivillon guide](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country). ## FAQ **Can I choose to get an egg instead of items?** No — gift contents are random. A free egg slot just makes sure you don't lose one that appears. **Do 7 km eggs need special incubators?** No, any incubator works — distance is what varies. **Why did I get no egg from 20 gifts?** Egg drops are a chance, not a guarantee — keep a slot open and keep opening. --- # Pokémon GO trading explained: Stardust costs, special trades and lucky luck URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/trading-basics Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: The real trading rules - 100 m range, the full Stardust cost table by friendship level, what counts as a special trade, IV re-rolls, and the new Forever Friends remote trading. **Short answer: trading requires both trainers to be level 10+, friends, and within about 100 m — and friendship level sets the price.** A special trade for a new Pokédex entry costs 1,000,000 Stardust at Good Friend but 40,000 at Best. Each Pokémon can be traded only once, one special trade per day, and Forever Friends unlock one remote trade per day. Trading is where friendship levels pay off in Stardust — the difference between a 1,000,000-dust trade and a 40,000-dust one is *just friendship*. Here are the actual rules. ## The basics - You must be **Friends**, both Trainer level 10+, and within **~100 m** of each other (events occasionally stretch this; some raise it to 40 km). - Exception: **Forever Friends** (the tier above Best Friends) unlock **Remote Trades** at any distance — you earn one per 90 friendship points with that friend, and can complete **one remote trade per day** account-wide. Remote trades never count as special trades. - Each Pokémon can only ever be traded **once**. ## The Stardust table (why friendship is money) Both trainers pay the same cost: | Trade type | Good | Great | Ultra | Best/Forever | |---|---|---|---|---| | Standard | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | | Special — already in your Pokédex | 20,000 | 16,000 | 1,600 | 800 | | Special — new Pokédex entry | 1,000,000 | 800,000 | 80,000 | 40,000 | Climbing from Good to Best Friends cuts a new-entry special trade from **a million dust to 40,000** — a 96 % discount for [90 days of gifting](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). ## What counts as a "special trade" Shiny, Legendary, Ultra Beasts, Meltan/Melmetal, Purified, Gigantamax forms, special-background/costume Pokémon, and anything not yet in your Pokédex. Limit: **one special trade per trainer per day** (events sometimes allow more). Not tradeable at all: Mythicals like Mew (Meltan/Melmetal are the exception), Shadow Pokémon, already-traded Pokémon, your current Buddy, favourites, and gym defenders. ## IVs re-roll — and lucky trades break the floor Traded Pokémon **re-roll all IVs** within a floor set by your friendship (roughly 1/2/3 at Good/Great/Ultra, 5 at Best — community-documented, so treat as approximate). A [Lucky trade](/guides/lucky-friends-fast) guarantees a **12/12/12 floor** and halves Stardust power-up costs. Received Pokémon are level-capped at your Trainer level +2, with CP scaled down if needed. ## FAQ **Can I trade back a Pokémon I regret trading?** No — one trade per Pokémon, forever. Think before you special-trade. **Who pays the Stardust?** Both of you, the same amount each. **How do I find trade partners abroad?** You mostly can't trade remotely (except Forever Friends) — but for gifts, postcards and [Vivillon](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country), distance is no obstacle: [grab codes by country](/codes). --- # Trainer Battles with friends: rules, rewards and remote requirements URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/trainer-battles-with-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Battling a friend in Pokémon GO pays Stardust, Candy and a friendship point - but only some friendship levels let you fight from a distance. Here's exactly how it works. **Short answer: you can challenge a friend to a Trainer Battle remotely once you reach Ultra Friend — below that you both have to be physically nearby.** Battles are 3-vs-3 on a short clock, pay Stardust and Candy for up to three battles a day, and count as that day's friendship interaction. Trainer Battles are the one-on-one PvP mode you play against a specific person rather than a matchmaking queue — and battling a friend is also one of the fastest ways to bank your [daily friendship interaction](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). ## Who you can challenge, and from where - **Nearby trainers:** if you're at least level 10, Main Menu → Battle → Nearby Battle lets you challenge trainers physically near you, friend or not. - **Friends, remotely:** once you've reached **Ultra Friend or Best Friend** with someone, you can challenge them to a Trainer Battle from anywhere — no need to be in the same room, city, or country. Lower friendship tiers generally need to battle in person. If you're specifically trying to level someone up toward Ultra/Best Friend so you *can* battle remotely, gifts are the easiest daily interaction — see the [friendship levels breakdown](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). ## How a battle plays out - Teams are **3 Pokémon** each, not six. - A battle runs on a clock — it ends automatically after a few minutes if neither side has won. - You can swap between your three Pokémon mid-battle, but there's a short cooldown after each switch, so it's not free to spam. ## Rewards Both trainers get something for playing, win or lose — typically Stardust and Candy, sometimes better. Rewards from trainer-vs-trainer battles are capped at **up to three battles per day**; past that you can keep battling (and it still counts as your daily friendship interaction), the extra battles just stop paying out. ## Does it count for friendship? Yes — a Trainer Battle against each other is one of the interactions that moves your shared friendship bar for the day, same as a gift or a trade. Only the first qualifying interaction of the day counts, so battling *and* gifting the same friend on the same day only advances the bar once. Full mechanics in the [friendship levels & XP guide](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). ## FAQ **Do I need to be Best Friends to battle remotely, or is Ultra Friend enough?** Ultra Friend is enough — Best Friend and Forever Friend also qualify, but you don't need to wait that long. **Can I battle a friend I haven't unlocked remote battling with yet?** Only if you're physically near each other (or both level 10+ and using Nearby Battle) — otherwise wait until you hit Ultra Friend. **Does losing on purpose to a friend still pay out?** Yes, both sides get rewards regardless of the result, up to the daily cap. **Where do I find people to build a battle-and-gift routine with?** [The front page](/) hands you a fresh trainer code with one tap — grab a batch and work them up to Ultra Friend the same way described in [stacking friendship level-ups](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). --- # Pokémon GO trainer codes and kids: what parents should know URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/trainer-codes-and-kids Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Friends, gifting and trading are opt-in and controllable for young trainers. Here's how Niantic's parental controls actually work, what a friend can and can't see, and why there's no chat feature to worry about. **Short answer: on a Niantic Kids account — required under 13, or the local digital consent age — Friends, Gifting and Trading are switched off until a parent enables them in the Niantic Kids Parent Portal, and can be switched off again at any time.** A trainer code only allows a friend request that must be accepted, and the parent is emailed whenever the child gains a friend. Pokémon GO is rated for ages 9 and up, and its friend system was built with a young, global audience in mind. If a child in your house plays and shares a trainer code, here's exactly what that does and doesn't expose — and the controls Niantic gives parents. ## The age rule Niantic requires **verifiable parental consent** for players under 13 (or the digital consent age set by local law — some countries and US states set it higher), in line with COPPA and GDPR. Under that age, a child needs a **Niantic Kids** account rather than a standard one — when the app detects the player is under the threshold, it shows the Niantic Kids sign-in instead of the regular login options. ## Friends, Gifting and Trading are off by default for kids On a Niantic Kids account, the social features this whole site is built around — **Friends, Gifting, and Trading** — are **not available until a parent turns them on**. Setup happens in the **Niantic Kids Parent Portal**, linked from the parent's own account: - A parent reviews and explicitly enables each social permission for the child's account. - Any of them — Friends, Gifting, Trading, sponsored PokéStop visibility — can be **switched off again at any time**, independent of the others. - When the child's account gains a new friend, **the parent gets an email notification**. That means a family can choose, for example, to allow gifting and trading with people already added while keeping the friend list closed to new requests — or open everything only once the parent is comfortable. ## What a trainer code exposes — and what it doesn't A 12-digit trainer code only ever does one thing: it lets someone send a **friend request** that must be **accepted** before anything is shared. Once accepted, a friend sees the same public profile info any adult friend would — avatar, Buddy, team, Pokémon caught, Trainer level, distance walked, and battles won — never a real name, email, or exact home location. Our [general safety breakdown](/guides/are-trainer-codes-safe) covers the full list and the privacy toggles (like disabling "Catch and Share") that apply to every account, child or adult. ## No in-game chat — and Campfire is separate Pokémon GO itself has **no direct messaging or chat feature** between friends. The entire interaction surface with a friend is gifts, trades, raid invites, and battles — there's no text box for a stranger to type into. Niantic's separate **Campfire** app does have chat, but it's gated by the same digital-consent age as the rest of Niantic's social features and isn't required to use Pokémon GO's friend system at all. ## Practical defaults for a family account - **Decide permissions in the Parent Portal first**, before handing over trainer codes to add. - **Turn on the "new friend" email notification** (on by default for Niantic Kids accounts) so you see additions as they happen. - **Prefer a moderated source of codes** — a code board with no vetting is no different in risk from any public trainer code, but a family that wants to control *who* gets added may prefer adding known people (other family members, a school friend's code) over an open public pool. - **Revoke and re-add is always available** — turning Friends off doesn't delete existing friendships, and turning it back on later doesn't require re-adding anyone. ## FAQ **Can a stranger message my child through a friend request?** No — Pokémon GO has no chat. Accepting a request only enables gifts, trades, raid invites, and battles, none of which carry free text. **Does my child need my permission to add anyone at all?** Only under a Niantic Kids account — Friends is off there until a parent enables it in the Parent Portal. Accounts for players 13+ manage their own friend list like any adult account. **Will I be notified if my child adds someone new?** Yes — Niantic Kids accounts send the linked parent an email when a new friend is added. **Is sharing a trainer code itself risky?** No more than sharing a Nearby code with a classmate — see our [full breakdown of what a trainer code can and can't do](/guides/are-trainer-codes-safe). --- # Vivillon patterns: why you need friends from specific countries URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Vivillon has 18 regional wing patterns in Pokémon GO, unlocked by pinning postcards from friends around the world. Here is how the mechanic works and how to find friends in the right countries. **Short answer: Vivillon's 18 wing patterns are tied to real-world regions, and you unlock them by pinning the postcards that arrive with gifts from friends who live there.** Three pinned postcards from a region unlock your first Scatterbug of that pattern, then 9 for the second and 15 for the third — so you need friends spread across the world. Vivillon is one of the few Pokémon in Pokémon GO you genuinely **cannot complete alone** — its 18 wing patterns are tied to real-world regions, and you unlock them through postcards sent by friends who live there. ## How the Vivillon mechanic works 1. Friends send you **gifts**, and every gift comes with a **postcard** from where it was spun. 2. **Pin** a postcard to save it to your postcard book (you can pin at most 3 of your *own* postcards per day — friends' postcards are how you go faster). 3. Pinned postcards fill the **Vivillon Collector medal for that region**: **3 pinned postcards unlock your first Scatterbug encounter** of that pattern, then **9 for the second, 15 for the third** and every one after. 4. Repeat for all 18 regions. That means friends spread across the whole world. The catch: most people's friend lists cluster in their own country. If everyone you know is in Norway, you will never see the patterns tied to Asia, South America or Oceania. ## Getting friends in the right countries This is exactly the problem code boards are bad at — they rarely tell you where a trainer is from. Two faster routes: - **[Browse codes by country](/codes)** — our live pool is tagged by country, so you can see exactly which regions are available right now (Japan and South Korea are usually well-stocked, which Western code boards almost never have). - **[Grab fresh codes with one tap](/)** — every code shows its country when you claim it, and you never get the same code twice. Once they accept, exchange gifts and **pin the postcards** — the pattern progress only counts pinned postcards, not opened gifts. ## Tips from collectors - Check the **Vivillon collector page** in-game (Pokédex → Vivillon) to see which regions you are missing before hunting codes. - Nickname friends by their pattern region so you know who to keep long-term. - Keep the friendship alive: a friend who stops sending gifts stops sending postcards. Friends who mark themselves as daily gifters are worth their weight in Stardust. - The dedicated community at r/VivillonCollectors organises swaps by region if you need the last rare patterns. ## FAQ **Do I need to visit those countries myself?** No — only the postcards need to come from there, via gifts from friends. **How many postcards per pattern?** Three pinned postcards from the region unlock the first encounter; later encounters of the same pattern need 9, then 15. **Can I pin postcards retroactively?** No, you can only pin a postcard when you receive the gift — so start pinning as soon as your new international friends send their first gifts. **Can I also get actual regional Pokémon this way, not just postcards?** Different mechanic, slower path — see our [regional Pokémon trading guide](/guides/regional-pokemon-via-friends) for the honest answer. --- # Every way to add friends in Pokémon GO (trainer codes, QR codes, and Nearby) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/ways-to-add-friends Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Trainer code, QR scan, or the Nearby list - Pokémon GO gives you three ways to send a friend request. Here is when each one actually makes sense. **Short answer: there are three ways to add a friend in Pokémon GO — typing a 12-digit trainer code, scanning a QR code, or picking someone from the Nearby players list.** Only the trainer code reaches anyone outside the room, which is why code-sharing communities are built around it. All three create an identical friend, and requests expire after 7 days. Pokémon GO gives you three separate ways to send a friend request. They all end at the same place — a pending request the other trainer has 7 days to accept — but they fit very different situations. ## 1. Trainer code (12 digits, works from anywhere) Open the **Friends** tab, tap **Add Friend**, and type in the other trainer's 12-digit Trainer Code. This is the only method that works when you and the other trainer aren't in the same room — which is why every code-sharing community, including [this site](/), is built around it. Find your own code the same way: Friends tab → Add Friend → your code is shown at the top, with a copy/share button next to it. ## 2. QR code (same room, no typing) If you're standing next to another trainer, the **QR Code** tab on the Add Friend screen opens your camera. Scan their code (or have them scan yours) and the request sends immediately — no digits to mistype. Handy at a Community Day or raid hour, useless for adding anyone remote. ## 3. Nearby players (same room, no code needed at all) Also on the Add Friend screen: a list of trainers currently nearby, based on location. Tap **Add Friend** next to a name and the request goes out — you don't even need to see their code. Same limitation as QR: it only surfaces people physically near you right now. ## Which one for which situation - **Building an active list from scratch, or hunting specific countries** for [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country) → trainer codes, since QR and Nearby can't reach anyone outside your immediate area. [Grab a fresh one](/) or [browse codes by country](/codes). - **At an in-person event** (Community Day, a raid hour, a local meetup) → QR or Nearby are faster than reading digits aloud. - **Rebuilding after a prune** → trainer codes again, for the same reason: your existing local friends are already added, so the room has nothing new to offer. ## FAQ **Do all three methods create the same kind of friend?** Yes — once accepted, a friend added by QR, Nearby, or trainer code behaves identically: same gifts, same friendship levels, same trading rules. **How long does a request stay pending?** 7 days. If it isn't accepted in that window, it expires and you'd need to send a new one. **Can I add someone with a trainer code if we're standing right next to each other?** Yes — the methods aren't exclusive. Trainer code always works; QR and Nearby are just shortcuts for when you're co-located. **I don't have anyone to add — where do I get codes?** [The front page](/) gives you a fresh, unused trainer code with one tap, deduplicated so you never get the same one twice. --- # Pokémon GO Weekly Challenges: how matchmaking can add friends for you URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/weekly-challenges-matchmaking Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Since January 2026, Weekly Challenges let you opt into matchmaking with strangers - and finishing the challenge together auto-adds them as a friend. Here's exactly how the points, Lucky Friend chances, and matchmaking work. **Short answer: Weekly Challenges group up to 4 trainers (level 13+), and since 19 January 2026 you can opt into matchmaking with strangers — finishing the challenge together adds them as friends automatically, no trainer code needed.** Completing one pays up to 7 bonus friendship points and one extra Lucky Friends chance with each groupmate. Weekly Challenges are a group research task that resets every week - and since January 2026, they double as a friend-making tool if you opt into matchmaking. Here's how the whole system works. ## The basics - A Weekly Challenge group holds **up to 4 Trainers**. - You need to be **Trainer Level 13 or higher** to participate. - Everyone in the group works toward the same shared research task; finishing it together pays out to the whole group. - Groups can be friends you invite yourself, **or** - since **January 19, 2026** - Trainers you've never met, via an opt-in matchmaking option that auto-joins you to an existing group. ## The friendship payout Finishing a Weekly Challenge with someone pays a bonus on top of your normal daily interaction: - **Up to 7 bonus friendship points** with each groupmate when the challenge completes. - **1 chance to become [Lucky Friends](/guides/lucky-friends-fast)** with each groupmate. Since this stacks with the regular 1-point daily cap, the day your group finishes a challenge you can pick up **up to 8 friendship points and 2 Lucky Friend chances** with the same person - see the full point table in our [friendship levels & XP guide](/guides/friendship-levels-xp). ## The part that matters for a friend-code site: matchmaking auto-adds friends If you opt into matchmaking and get grouped with Trainers who aren't already on your friends list, finishing the challenge together **automatically adds them as a friend** and applies the friendship-point bonus above to that new friendship. You don't send or accept a separate friend request - completing the challenge does it for you. That makes Weekly Challenge matchmaking a genuine, built-in alternative to trading trainer codes if all you want is a handful of extra friends for the weekly bonus. It's not a full replacement, though: - You don't choose *who* you're matched with - no picking a country for [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country) or [regional trades](/guides/regional-pokemon-via-friends). - It only grants the group's bonus points, not a relationship you can rely on for daily gifting, [trading](/guides/trading-basics), or raiding. For friends you actually want to keep interacting with - or need from a specific country - a [fresh trainer code](/) or a browse through [codes by country](/codes) still gets you there faster than waiting on a random match. ## FAQ **Do I have to use matchmaking, or can I still invite my own friends?** Both options exist - matchmaking is opt-in and sits alongside inviting people already on your friends list. **Does matchmaking work if I'm below Level 13?** No - Weekly Challenges as a whole require Trainer Level 13. **Can a Weekly Challenge group have more than 4 people?** No, the group itself caps at 4 Trainers, though invite flows around it have changed over time - check in-app for the current limit before assuming an older guide (including this one) is exact. **Does the Lucky Friend chance guarantee Lucky Friends?** No - it's a chance, not a guarantee, the same way regular daily interactions give you a chance rather than a set outcome. --- # Where to find Pokémon GO friend codes (Reddit, Discord, Facebook — and why they run dry) URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/where-to-find-friend-codes Updated: 2026-08-29 Summary: Reddit megathreads, Discord servers and Facebook groups are the classic ways to find Pokémon GO friend codes - and the classic way to hit dead codes and full friend lists. Here's how each works, and a faster alternative. **Short answer: the three classic sources are r/PokemonGoFriends on Reddit, Discord servers such as Pokémon Go Hub, and regional Facebook groups — and all three fail the same way.** A popular code fills the poster's friend list (around 550–650) or their pending-request queue before you get there, and an unaccepted request expires silently after 7 days. Before a site like this one existed, trainers hunted friend codes across three places: Reddit, Discord, and Facebook. All three still work. All three also share the same problem — a code that looked fresh five minutes ago can already be sitting in 200 other trainers' pending-request inboxes by the time you find it. ## Reddit **r/PokemonGoFriends** is the biggest dedicated community for trading codes — its rules are built around exchanging Trainer Codes and organizing remote raids and friendships. **r/TheSilphRoad** and **r/PokemonGoRaids** run their own recurring code/raid-group threads too, though they're mixed in with general news and raid logistics rather than being code-only. The catch: a code posted to a 700k-member subreddit gets hammered immediately. Popular posts can fill a trainer's pending-request queue before you've even finished typing the digits in. ## Discord Servers like **Pokémon Go Hub** and the dedicated **Pokemon GO Friends** server run a friend-code channel alongside raid coordination, IV checking, and trading. Most big cities and several countries also have their own local Pokémon GO Discords, findable by searching Disboard or asking in r/PokemonGoFriends. Discord is better than Reddit for finding an *active* trainer, since you can see when someone last posted — but codes scroll out of view fast in a busy channel, and there's no de-duplication: nothing stops five people from posting the same code you already have. ## Facebook groups Regional and national Pokémon GO Facebook groups (search "Pokémon GO friends [your country]") work the same way as Reddit threads — public code dumps, first-come-first-served. They tend to skew toward players who are already active locally, which helps if you specifically want nearby friends for in-person raids. ## Why codes from all three "die" fast Every method above runs into the same two walls: - **The friend list cap.** Accounts max out around [550–650 friends](/guides/friend-list-cap) — a popular code-poster hits that ceiling and simply can't accept anyone new. - **The pending-request cap.** Niantic limits how many *unaccepted* incoming requests an account can hold at once (roughly 200) and unaccepted requests expire after 7 days regardless. A code that goes viral on Reddit can fill that queue in hours, long before most readers see the post. Neither failure shows up as an error on your end — the request just sits pending, then quietly expires a week later. ## The one-tap alternative This site exists to skip all three steps above. Every tap on [the front page](/) hands you a fresh Trainer Code that: - hasn't been served to you before (de-duplicated, unlike a Reddit thread you might scroll twice), - is tagged by **country** — handy if you're specifically hunting [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country) rather than just any trainer, - comes from someone who submitted it *to be added*, not from a screenshot that's been circulating for a month. Browse by [country on /codes](/codes) if you want to target a region directly, or [submit your own code](/) to get added back by other trainers using the same pool. ## FAQ **Are Reddit/Discord/Facebook codes safe to use?** Yes, same as any Trainer Code — sharing one only exposes what's on your public trainer profile. See [our safety breakdown](/guides/are-trainer-codes-safe) for exactly what that is and isn't. **Why do so many codes I find online just... not work?** Almost always one of the two caps above: the poster's friend list is full, or their pending-request queue already maxed out before your request reached them. It's not a bug on your end — try a different code. **Should I stop using Reddit/Discord entirely?** No — they're still the best place to coordinate *live* raids and find trainers in your own city. For volume — building a list fast or targeting specific countries — a de-duplicated source like [the button up top](/) is just faster. **Is there a limit to how many codes I can grab per day?** Yes, a fair-use daily cap so the pool lasts for everyone; see the front page for your current count. It resets at midnight UTC. --- # Is it safe to share your Pokémon GO trainer code? URL: https://trainercodes.app/guides/are-trainer-codes-safe Updated: 2026-07-14 Summary: What a 12-digit trainer code can and cannot do, exactly what friends see about you, and the privacy toggles Niantic gives you. Short answer - yes, with sensible defaults. Short answer: **yes — sharing your trainer code is low-risk by design.** Here is precisely what the code does, what friends can see, and which privacy switches exist if you want to lock things down. ## What a trainer code actually is Your 12-digit Trainer Code (and its QR version) does exactly one thing: it lets someone send you a **friend request**. Nothing happens until **you accept** — requests you ignore expire after 7 days. The code gives no access to your account, your email, your password or your payment details. If your code ever ends up somewhere you regret, you can **permanently reset it** anytime (the refresh icon next to your code in the Friend List) — the old code stops working immediately. ## What friends can see about you Once you accept someone, Niantic's official list of what they see is: your avatar, Buddy Pokémon, team, number of Pokémon caught, most recently caught Pokémon, Trainer level and XP, distance walked, and battles won. Friends also see your **rough location when you send a gift or trade** (the Photo Disc location on the postcard), and — only if you both opt in — your online status. Worth knowing, and easy to control: - **Settings → disable "Catch and Share"** if you don't want your latest catches visible. - **Online status** is off unless you turn it on. - Your **Niantic Profile** settings let you hide your last-played date and usernames. ## Removing a friend You can remove any friend at any time — and Niantic confirms **they are not notified**. Their view of your profile ends immediately. That makes the whole system reversible: accept generously, prune freely. ## So should you post your code publicly? There is no official Niantic policy against it — the code is treated as a shareable identifier, with the reset button as the safety valve. Community code-sharing (boards, Reddit, this site) is how most trainers fill their friend list for [XP](/guides/friendship-levels-xp), [gifts](/guides/gifts-and-postcards), [Lucky Friends](/guides/lucky-friends-fast) and [Vivillon patterns](/guides/vivillon-friends-by-country). Sensible defaults: share the code freely, keep "Catch and Share" off if the catch feed feels too personal, and reset the code if you ever want a clean slate. ## FAQ **Can someone hack my account with my trainer code?** No. The code only triggers a friend request that you must accept. **Do I have to accept everyone who adds me?** No — requests can be ignored (they expire after 7 days) or denied. **Does the person I remove get told?** No, removal is silent. **Where do I share or find codes?** [Submit your code on the front page](/) — it goes to the front of the queue flying your country's flag, and you get friend requests from trainers worldwide (you can even see how many trainers your code reached). ---