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Trainers,
We’re excited to share brand-new ways to interact with your friends in Pokémon GO! The Friends feature will start rolling out to Trainers later this week, allowing you to connect with your real-life friends and keep track of their adventures in Pokémon GO. You’ll be able to send them items, earn bonuses—and even trade Pokémon!
In order to add a friend in Pokémon GO, you must first ask them to share their Trainer Code with you. To invite a Trainer to become your friend, simply enter their Trainer Code and then send them a request. If they accept, you’ll become friends, and you’ll see them in your Friends List.
When you spin a Photo Disc at a PokéStop or Gym, you have a chance of receiving a special Gift. Although you can’t open the Gifts you receive from PokéStops, you can send them to a friend on your Friend List. Inside the Gift will be a stash of helpful items, which your friend will receive along with a postcard showing where you picked up your Gift. Gifts can also include a special surprise: an Egg that, when hatched, will contain an Alolan form of a Pokémon originally discovered in the Kanto region!
When you send a Gift to a friend or participate in a raid or Gym battle with them, you can increase your Friendship Level. As your Friendship Level builds, you’ll then unlock bonuses when you play together. For example, when you and a Great Friend participate in a Gym battle or Raid Battle together, you can earn an Attack bonus to give your Pokémon an edge! You can increase your Friendship Level once per day per friend.
You can also build your Friendship Level by trading Pokémon with a friend. If you’re near a friend and have a Trainer Level of 10 or higher, you can trade Pokémon you’ve caught with that friend. Completing a trade earns a bonus Candy for the Pokémon you’ve traded away, and that bonus can increase if the Pokémon you traded were caught in locations far apart from each other! All trades are powered by Stardust, and some trades require more Stardust than others. As you build your Friendship Level with the friend you are trading with, you’ll find that you can complete the trade with much less Stardust.
Certain Pokémon, such as a Legendary Pokémon, a Shiny Pokémon, or a Pokémon not currently in your Pokédex, require a Special Trade to complete, so keep that in mind before trading away that golden Magikarp! Special Trades can only occur once per day with a Great Friend or Best Friend, and it often requires a lot of Stardust to complete a Special Trade. Special Trades are a great way to show a friend how much you care!
So get out there and discover Pokémon GO with friends! Stay safe, and happy exploring!
—The Pokémon GO team