Trainers,

The Legendary Pokémon Latias and Latios are coming back to Raid Battles for a Special Raid Weekend event! These Eon Pokémon haven’t been seen in the skies since January of this year, so be sure to catch them during this weekend before they fly off again!

Date + Time

Friday, June 12, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. to Monday, June 15, 2020, at 10:00 p.m. local time

Features

• The Legendary Pokémon Latias and Latios will be in five-star raids.

Latias and Latios are both Dragon and Psychic type, so it’ll be best to bring along other Dragon-type Pokémon, such as Rayquaza and Dialga. They are also weak to Ice-, Bug-, Ghost-, Dark-, and Fairy-type attacks, so some recommended Pokémon to round out your Raid Battle teams are Tyranitar, Togekiss, and Mamoswine.

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

Trainers,

It appears something strange will be happening to the Eggs you can receive from Gifts—certain Pokémon’s Alolan and Galarian forms will be hatching from all 7 km Eggs! We aren’t sure how long this phenomenon will last, but we can assure you that Professor Willow is on the case.

When the Throwback Challenge event ends on Monday, June 8, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. local time, the following will be the only Pokémon hatching from 7 km Eggs until further notice.

• Galarian Meowth
• Galarian Zigzagoon
• Galarian Darumaka
• Galarian Stunfisk
• Alolan Sandshrew
• Alolan Vulpix
• Alolan Diglett
• Alolan Meowth
• Alolan Geodude
• Alolan Grimer

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

Trainers,

More exciting changes will be coming to Pokémon GO in the coming months, and we wanted to share an early update on a couple features you can expect this summer. One is a feature that was previously announced: the ability to invite friends to remotely join you in Raid Battles! The other is a new update that’ll allow you to personalize the Gifts you send to your friends with in-game stickers!

Make your friends smile with a Gift sticker

Sending Gifts to friends just got more personalized! Want to show a friend how much you appreciate them? Soon you’ll be able to add a special sticker to the Gifts you send!

When the feature is rolled out, you’ll get a set of stickers for free! Right before you send a Gift to a friend, tap ADD STICKER and pick a sticker to attach. At launch, there will be five stickers available. You can use a sticker only once, so be sure to stock up on more by opening Gifts. In the future, you’ll be able to purchase some designs from the shop.

Invite friends to raids regardless of their location

As we continue to make changes to Pokémon GO that further adapt gameplay to individual settings, we’re excited to announce that the ability to invite friends to raids will be rolling out soon!

When this feature is available, you’ll see a + button in both public and private raid lobbies that you’ve joined in person. After tapping the + button, you’ll be able to invite up to five friends to join you. Your friends will be able to see raid invitations on their Nearby screen or in push notifications. These invitations will allow them to enter the raid lobby. Your friends will use a pass only once the battle starts, not when they join the lobby.

While the feature will be released after the highly anticipated Legendary Pokémon Reshiram has already left raids, fret not! The Vast White Pokémon will be back in raids in the future, so you’ll have another chance to face off against it and test your resolve for truth.

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

Trainers,

Here’s what you can look forward to during the month of June.

June’s Research Breakthrough encounter: Trapinch with bonus Trapinch Candies

From Monday, June 1, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon, will be available as a Research Breakthrough encounter.

Zekrom makes its electrifying Pokémon GO debut

Starting Tuesday, June 16, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Zekrom, the Deep Black Pokémon, will be waiting for you to challenge it in five-star raids. In addition, there will be Raid Hour events featuring Zekrom every Wednesday while it’s in five-star raids.

• Wednesday, June 17, 2020, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time
• Wednesday, June 24, 2020, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time
• Wednesday, July 1, 2020, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time

Be sure to have your Remote Raid Passes stocked and Ground-, Ice-, Dragon-, and Fairy-type Pokémon ready for battle.

Throwback Challenge 2020 Special Research

Congratulations to Trainers who completed all four Timed Research lines! You’ve earned access to the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research. Join Professor Willow as you rediscover Pokémon originally found in the Unova region and meet Pokémon originally discovered in the Galar region as they make their Pokémon GO debut. Complete all four sets of tasks in this Special Research to earn five Rare Candies; reward encounters with Galarian Meowth, Galarian Stunfisk, and Genesect; and Professor Willow’s glasses as an exclusive avatar item! Unlike the previous sets of Timed Research, this Special Research isn’t time-limited and can be unlocked and completed at any time.

Don’t worry if you couldn’t complete all Timed Research lines—you’ll be able to purchase a ticket for the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research in the shop, which will grant you the same tasks and rewards as the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research. If you already have access to the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research and purchase a ticket for the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research in the shop, you’ll receive a version of the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research with the following changes: each time you would’ve earned a reward encounter with a Pokémon, you instead will earn 10 Candies for that specific Pokémon, and you’ll earn Stardust instead of Professor Willow’s glasses.

All Trainers can still enjoy an event taking place during the same time period. In this event, Galarian Stunfisk will be appearing in the wild, and you can hatch Galarian Meowth, Galarian Zigzagoon, Galarian Darumaka, and Galarian Stunfisk from 7 km Eggs. Plus, try evolving Galarian Meowth, Galarian Zigzagoon, and Galarian Darumaka!

For more information, check out this blog post.

The solstice-themed event and the Bug Out event return to Pokémon GO

Some familiar events are coming back later this month.

• The solstice-themed event will run from Friday, June 19, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. to Wednesday, June 24, 2020, at 10:00 p.m. local time
• The Bug Out event will run from Friday, June 26, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. to Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at 10:00 p.m. local time

We’ll share more details as we get closer to the event dates.

Upcoming Pokémon Spotlight Hours

In the month of June, Pokémon Spotlight Hour will take place every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. local time except for June 2, and each hour will spotlight a different Pokémon and special bonus!

• Tuesday, June 2, 2020: There will be no Pokémon Spotlight Hour.
• Tuesday, June 9, 2020: Patrat will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for evolving Pokémon.
• Tuesday, June 16, 2020: Numel will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Stardust for catching Pokémon.
• Tuesday, June 23, 2020: Clefairy will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for catching Pokémon. If you’re lucky, you might encounter Shiny Clefairy!
• Tuesday, June 30, 2020: Kricketot will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Candy for catching Pokémon.

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team

Trainers,

In 2019, our Pokémon GO Fest lineup was bigger and better than ever before. That summer, we held more than one Pokémon GO Fest in the same year for the first time ever! Chicago, Dortmund, and Yokohama hosted individual Pokémon GO Fest events that, in total, brought together over 600,000 Trainers for a special summer of live events.

This year, we’re bringing you a totally reimagined Pokémon GO Fest experience. Save the dates: on July 25 and 26, Pokémon GO Fest 2020 will take place as an entirely global event in a virtual format, which will allow Trainers worldwide to participate from wherever they play. In another first, all ticket holders will be able to attend both days of this two-day event.

While we’ll miss the traditional congregation of Pokémon GO fans, we’re thrilled to bring a special Pokémon GO Fest experience to Trainers. Not only are you in for an exciting weekend of bonuses, Pokémon encounters, and Special Research, there will also be exciting ways to connect with other Trainers and experience other fun surprises throughout the entire summer.

Be sure to check the Niantic blog and the Pokémon GO Fest website for more updates in the coming weeks. We can’t wait to share them all with you. Until we can all meet again in the same park and under the same sky—let’s GO!

—The Pokémon GO team

Trainers,

We have a couple of exciting features rolling out soon: Reality Blending and PokéStop scanning.

Reality Blending

Trainers have always dreamed of having their Pokémon by their side in the real world. As Pokémon GO has grown throughout the years, Trainers have been able to walk, play, and take snapshots with their Buddy Pokémon.

We are now introducing a new way for your buddy to become part of your world like never before. By taking advantage of the latest AR functionality on devices like the Samsung Galaxy S9, Samsung Galaxy S10, Google Pixel 3, and Google Pixel 4, we are developing ways your buddy can appear more realistically within the world around you. We are excited to announce that we are testing the new Reality Blending feature in snapshots for Pokémon GO.

With Reality Blending, Pokémon will be able to move behind objects, either partially or completely. Watch your Pokémon peek at from behind a bookcase, or jump out from behind the couch! This cutting-edge AR feature will roll out for testing to a small number of random Trainers with certain Android devices, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S9, Samsung Galaxy S10, Google Pixel 3, and Google Pixel 4. We’ll then roll out Reality Blending to more devices so more Trainers can share even more experiences with their buddies in the real world!

Help us map the world in AR

At Niantic, we are working to develop a dynamic 3-D map of existing PokéStops and Gyms so we can continue to develop and refine AR features in the future. To help in this mission, we are bringing an opt-in feature to the Pokémon GO community called PokéStop Scan, which will be first available to level 40 Trainers in early June before rolling out to more players by level.

An adaptation of a feature released in Ingress, this feature will let Trainers upload videos of real-life PokéStop and Gym locations to Pokémon GO, which can help us on this mapping journey. If you opt in, you’ll be asked to record video of a PokéStop or Gym’s real-life location from as many angles as possible, up to a maximum of 30 seconds per video.

These videos will allow us to generate dynamic 3-D maps of PokéStop locations. This can give us a better understanding of how virtual objects persist and where they are in relation to one another, which will help us improve the game’s overall AR experiences. In addition, the 3-D objects allow our devices to further understand what they are looking at in order to augment reality in real time.

Pokémon Trainers will be able to contribute to building 3D maps of their favorite PokéStops and Gyms by walking around their favorite public places and recording a stream of images with their phone. Techniques such as blurring potentially recognizable objects like faces or license plates are automatically applied to information that Trainers choose to send to Niantic. Niantic does not collect or store any personal data in connection with this information and it is not tied to specific player accounts. For more information, please read our privacy policy.

While there are still a lot of challenges to tackle to improve AR, we hope these additions will help us continue to create fun and exciting ways for people to interact with the world. By bringing better interactions to AR and by making it possible for people to share the places that matter to them, we hope to create a special map of the world that inspires people to explore.

Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.

—The Pokémon GO team