Trade Pokémon With Friends

Pokémon GO has always been about community. Back in the day, you’d nod knowingly at other players on the sidewalk as they flicked at their screens. You joined groups battling for Gyms. And you would get together to swap stories of miraculous catches.

As tight-knit as this network may have been, there was one thing you couldn’t do with other players: trade.

At last, all that has changed. You can now swap Pokémon—albeit with a few restrictions. Let’s go over the rules.

Trading only works with people who are nearby. If you’re in Los Angeles, you can’t initiate a swap with someone in Tokyo. So keep your friends close and your Pokémon trainers closer.

Want to trade for a Legendary Pokémon? You and your trading partner need to be on each other’s friend list, and you’ll have to boost your shared level to Good Friend. Only then can you swap for that fearsome Moltres you were never able to find on your own. High fives all around.

The obvious benefit of trading is getting the exact Pokémon you want. But with every trade, you also get candy, an important resource for evolving and powering up Pokémon.

Pokémon with origin points that are further away earn even more candy. So if you bring a Squirtle from Munich to trade with a friend in Mexico City, you’ll reap extra rewards. Plan your vacation days accordingly.

Look, if there were no trading restrictions, it’d be total chaos. So Niantic put a limit on daily trades, and you get one new Pokédex entry per day. So sorry, you can’t immediately go out and fill every empty Pokédex slot.

One more important detail: Traded Pokémon cannot be traded back. Impulse swaps are not your friend. Once you trade away that Pikachu in a party hat, it’s gone forever.

Pokémon GO

Epic AR adventure & online RPG

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