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Welcome, Trainers!
In Pokémon GO, a Buddy Pokémon is a feature that allows you to choose one of your Pokémon to accompany you on your journey. Your Buddy Pokémon will appear alongside your Trainer avatar on your profile screen and earn Candy for their species as you walk together.
Pokémon GO: Full Guide
Here’s a breakdown of how Buddy Pokémon work and their various benefits:
Buddy Pokémon add an extra layer of interaction and engagement to the Pokémon GO experience, encouraging Trainers to bond with their favourite Pokémon while also providing valuable rewards along the way. Whether you’re looking to power up your Pokémon for battles or simply enjoy the company of your favourite creature, Buddy Pokémon offer a fun and rewarding feature in Pokémon GO. In this guide, we will teach you not only how to level up your Buddy, but everything you need to know in order to take full advantage of this in-game system!
Choosing Your Buddy Pokemon
Choosing your Buddy Pokémon in Pokémon GO depends on your current goals and priorities within the game. Here are some factors to consider when selecting your Buddy Pokémon:
Remember that you can change your Buddy Pokémon at any time, so feel free to switch between different Pokémon based on your evolving goals and priorities in the game.
Unfortunately, not all Buddies will sit on your shoulder. Most Buddies will stand beside your avatar. However, Eevees, Pidgeys, and Weedles will all sit on your shoulder!
How to Choose and Swap Your Buddy
Tochoose your Buddy, follow these directions:
Toswap your Buddy, follow these directions:
You can also go to the Buddy History page, and tap the Swap Buddies button on the page with the Pokemon you’d like to have as your buddy instead. You can only swap 20 times a day.
All Buddy Levels and Bonuses
Buddy Level
Affection Hearts Needed
Good Buddy
Great Buddy
Ultra Buddy
150 Hearts
Best Buddy
300 Hearts
How to Level Up Buddy Pokémon
Your Buddy level can go up a total of four times, starting from Good Buddy and ending with Best Buddy. Each friendship level is dependent on the amount of Affection Hearts you have with your Buddy, and not how much time your Buddy has been your Buddy necessarily. Instead, this mechanic almost entirely ignores passive time and focuses entirely on how much you interact with your Pokémon.
You can earn up to 13 Hearts a day to increase your Buddy’s friendship level, without any bonuses. Additionally, if you manage to get your Buddy Excited, you can earn an additional 18 for a total of 31 Hearts in a day (this includes the bonuses). With some luck, and you keeping on top of this every day, you could potentially have a Best Buddy in as few as 10 days.
Here are all the activities you can do that will collect Affection Hearts.
Description
Maximum Affection Hearts Rewarded Per Day
Walk Together
Walk a minimum of 2km to get a heart.
Give Treats
In order to get Hearts for this, your Buddy’s meter needs to be depleted to 0. Filling it to full again will give you an additional Heart.
Play Together
Tap your buddy and pet them with your finger for a few seconds. They will eventually jump around, signalling that you have gotten a Heart.
Battle Together
you’re able to fight in Gyms, Raids, Team GO Rocket, or Trainer Battle fights with your Buddy. Your Buddy does not actually have to participate in combat to earn the bonuses.
Take a Snapshot
Take pictures of your Buddy.
Visit a New Place
Visit a PokeStop or Gym that you have never visited before.
The distance you have to walk with your Buddy for a Heart is shortened if your Buddy is Excited.
How to Earn Affections Hearts By Sleeping
In order to get any additional bonus hearts, you can use the Pokémon GO Plus + to earn an additional 3 Hearts per day. You can turn this setting on by following these directions:
From there, you simply need to set the time of day you would like to recieve your sleep rewards. When you go to sleep at night, start a sleep session by simply holding down the Main Button on Pokémon GO Plus + until the indicator light flashes, and you hear a lullaby.
How to Get Your Buddy Excited
Each action you do with your Buddy has a hidden point value that contributes to your Buddy’s excitement level. We have this information available to us thanks to a Twitter (recently known as X) user @7eveen_, whose account I could not find.It is now immortalized as a screenshot at Pokemon Go Hub.
Visiting a new Gym/PokeStop
Open a souvenir/present
Visit a location found by your Buddy
You will need 32 points per day to reach Excited.
Each Activity you do has a 30 minute cooldown, except for walking.
You need to do these activities three times per day, as you’re able to earn 14 Points from completing all of them.
Additional Tips
Pokémon Go: Level 40 to 50 All Tasks and Rewards
Ascending the levels from Level 40 onward is no easy task. This guide exists to help you navigate and prepare for these tough challenges.
