Pokémon GO Friendship Levels & XP Explained

Building friendship in Pokémon GO unlocks some of the biggest XP rewards in the game, plus trade discounts and raid bonuses. Here's how each level works.

The five friendship levels

Friendship increases by one point per day when you interact with a friend — opening a gift, trading, or battling/raiding together. Each new level grants a one-time XP bonus:

• Good Friends (1 day) — 3,000 XP
• Great Friends (7 days) — 10,000 XP
• Ultra Friends (30 days) — 50,000 XP
• Best Friends (90 days) — 100,000 XP
• Forever Friends (90 days after Best Friends) — 150,000 XP

What is Forever Friends?

Forever Friends is the fifth and highest friendship tier, added in a major friendship update. You reach it after 90 more daily interactions once you've become Best Friends — roughly 180 days of consistent play with that trainer. On top of the 150,000 XP bonus, Forever Friends unlocks some powerful perks:

• Remote Trade: reaching Forever Friends grants a Remote Trade, letting you trade Pokémon with that friend without being near each other.
• Extra Premier Balls: raiding with a Forever Friend gives you 4 additional Premier Balls to catch the raid boss.
• Repeatable rewards: Forever Friends keeps going — every additional 90 friendship points earns another Remote Trade. Note that unused Remote Trades don't stack, so use one before earning the next.

Other friendship bonuses

• Trade cost: higher friendship levels dramatically reduce the Stardust cost of trades.
• Lucky Pokémon: trades with higher-level friends have a greater chance of producing Lucky Pokémon.
• Raid attack bonus: raiding with friends grants an attack boost that scales with your friendship level.

How to level up friendship faster

Since friendship only increases once per day, the key is consistency: open a gift from each friend every day. The more active friends you have, the more daily XP and gifts you collect.

New to adding friends? Start with How to Add Friends in Pokémon GO.