Quick Links
- Viewing, Changing, And Feeding Your Buddy
- Earning Candy With Your Buddy
- Buddy Activities
- Buddy Levels
Pokemon GO players have had the joy of catching and keeping Pokemon right in their pocket for over half a decade. One of the best additions made to the game in that time has undoubtedly been Buddy Pokemon and all the fun activities that players can do with them.
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From snacking on berries to taking down Team GO Rocket members together, there are lots of things to do with your favourite Pokemon. Here, we make it as easy as possible to understand the buddy menu, the activities you can do once you've picked a buddy, and how hard you'll have to work to get some of the extra-special rewards.
Viewing, Changing, And Feeding Your Buddy
View Your Buddy Menu
To view your current buddy, there are two options. From the overworld, you can click on your buddy's image in the bottom left to go right to their menu. If you're at your personal menu (accessed by clicking your avatar's face in the bottom left on the overworld), you can also reach the buddy's menu by tapping on the image of it standing next to you. All the things you do with your buddy will start in their menu!
Change Your Buddy
To change your buddy, head to the buddy menu and scroll down. At the bottom, under the heading "Settings," there's a button labelled "Swap Buddies." Tap on that and then confirm that you want to change your buddy. Then just select another Pokemon from your storage.
You can change your buddy 20 times in a day, which should be more than enough for your purposes!
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Feeding Your Buddy
"Feeding Your Buddy" is a mechanic that was introduced alongside the "Buddy Adventure" content. To feed them, go to the buddy menu and tap on the button labelled "Play." It will prompt you to start AR so that you can play with your buddy in the real world, but this is just optional. For convenience, simply tap on "Quick Treat." Your buddy will walk onscreen and a menu will pop up that contains the berries you currently have in your inventory.
It'll take 3 regular berries to fill the circular metre at the top. Your other option is a special kind of berry called "Poffins." These are obtained via microtransactions or special events and have no purpose outside of buddy Pokemon. Just one Poffin will fill the buddy's entire metre by itself.
Choose a berry to feed your Pokemon, then toss it to them the same way you'd throw a Pokeball (without spinning it!). Once your buddy's metre is full, it will "join you on your adventure!" This means it appears in the overworld alongside your avatar. Feeding your buddy and having them in the overworld with you is a requirement for many of the buddy activities.
Earning Candy With Your Buddy
Making a Pokemon your buddy means that you earn candy for that particular Pokemon type every time you walk a certain distance. For example, if you were walking with Grotle, you'd be earning Turtwig candy. The rarer a Pokemon is, the longer you need to walk to earn one candy.
- 1 kilometre = 1 candy (Pokemon who are extremely common and their evolutions, like Pikachu, Magikarp, Wurmple, Basculin, and Fletchling)
- 3 kilometres =1 candy (the vast majority of Pokemon and their evolutions, like Meowth, Bulbasaur, Duskull, Munna, Litleo, and Deerling)
- 5 kilometres = 1 candy (rare Pokemon and their evolutions, like Eevee, Unown, Delibird, Feebas, Chimecho, Metang, Shinx, and Timburr)
- 20 kilometres = 1 candy (legendary and mythical Pokemon and their evolutions, like Celebi, Kygore, Meltan, Virzion, Cresselia, Darkrai, Victini, and Deoxys)
There are two small exceptions to these rules:
- If the player is level 40 or higher, there's a chance that their buddy will find a candy XL instead of the regular kind
- Buddy Pokemon can be "excited" and when they are, their usual distance requirement is halved
The first and foremost reason to have a buddy Pokemon is to earn candy! Candy is used to evolve and power up your Pokemon; it can be earned in a number of ways, from simply catching Pokemon to trading them with your friends. However, walking with them is a method that you have complete control over!
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Adventure Sync
When buddies were first introduced, the Pokemon GO app needed to be open in order to track your distance. Eventually, a setting called "Adventure Sync" was added, which allows the Pokemon GO app to track your steps and walking distance even when you're not using the game. To activate this, head to your settings from the main menu. Tap the circle next to "Adventure Sync" to activate it — though you'll need to give the app a few extra permissions, first.
Buddy Activities
There are a number of activities that you can do with your buddy while playing the game. These were introduced under the name "Buddy Adventure" and are detailed in the buddy menu. Doing activities with your buddy will help the two of you bond (indicated by earning "Affection Hearts") and subsequently will rise the "Buddy Levels."
Keep in mind that…
- A buddy can earn twice as many hearts when their mood is "excited".
- Activities reset at midnight (your local time).
To see how many hearts or how much distance you've accumulated in your time together, not just on that particular day, swipe to the left under the header "Today's Activities" on the buddy menu.
Walk Together
To earn these Affection Hearts:
- You must be actively using the app (unlike earning candy).
- Your buddy must be walking alongside your avatar in the overworld (this happens when they are fed).
The distance you walk will only count so long as both these requirements are met. Providing they have been met, every 2 kilometres you and your buddy walk together will earn you an Affection Heart (up to a maximum of three hearts per day).
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Give Your Buddy A Treat
"Giving your buddy a treat" is just another way to say "feed your buddy." It can be done in AR mode or "Quick Treat" mode — it makes no difference. One Affection Heart is earned once the buddy's food metre is completely full (up to a maximum of one heart per day).
Play Together
You can play with your buddy by going to the buddy menu and selecting the button labelled "Play." Keep in mind that you must use AR.
These are the gestures that can be used to play with your buddy:
- Tap on the Pokemon (it will perform its Charged Attack).
- Double tap on the Pokemon (it will perform its Fast Attack).
- Swipe to the left or right (it will spin around).
- Slowly swipe across the Pokemon (it behaves as if it is being patted).
Repeat these gestures until the buddy pokemon lights up and heart bubbles appear, kind of like when you've fed the Pokemon — this means you've earned an Affection Heart! Only one Affection Heart can be earned this way per day.
Battle Together
Players can earn one heart per day by battling with their buddy Pokemon. The buddy doesn't need to be fed, it just needs to be in your party when battling…
- In Gyms
- Other Trainers
- In Raids
- In Training
- Team GO Rocket Grunts or Leaders
It doesn't even have to be used during the battle! As long as it's present in the party, you'll earn this Affection Heart.
Take A Snapshot
Players earn one heart per day by simply taking a picture of their buddy Pokemon! There are two ways to do this. First, you could hit the button labelled "Play" and use the camera icon at the bottom to take pictures. Or, you could find the Pokemon in your storage and click on the camera icon in the top right corner to start taking pictures. Either way, you'll need to use AR and can only earn one Affection Heart a day this way.
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Visit A New Place
Players can earn one Affection Heart per day in the "Visit A New Place" category. To do this, feed your Pokemon so that it's walking alongside you in the overworld. Next, go to and spin a Pokestop or Gym that you've never been to before.
Bonus
The player can earn three bonus Affection Heart per day. There are three ways to get a bonus, but each method can only be used once a day.
- Your buddy Pokemon brings you a Souvenir.
- Your buddy Pokemon brings you a Present.
- You visit a PokeStop or Gym that your buddy wants to visit.
Buddy Levels
Players improve their relationship with their buddy by earning Affection hearts through Buddy Activities. Each of the four levels requires you to culminate a certain number of hearts.
Good Buddy
Affection Hearts Required: 1
The player earns two perks at this level…
"Adventuring Buddy" means that your buddy can appear in the overworld with you and it can earn candy more quickly while walking beside you.
"Readable Mood" means that you can tell how happy your buddy is. There's a scale of moods depending on how many points the buddy has. Interacting with your buddy provides points and improves their mood.
- Tired Mood – 0 points
- Dull Mood – 1 point
- Normal Mood – 2 points
- Happy Mood – 4 points
- Smile Mood – 8 points
- Fun Mood – 16 points
- Excited Mood – 32 points
Great Buddy
Affection Hearts Required: 70
Two new perks for the player and their buddy are unlocked at this level…
"Catch Assist" is seen when catching wild Pokemon. If your Poke Ball bounces off of the wild Pokemon because it attacked, there's a small chance that your buddy Pokemon will appear in the encounter and hit the Poke Ball back at the wild Pokemon.
"Finding Presents" indicates that the buddy Pokemon will start bringing presents for the player to open. The present will contain an item like a Poke Ball, a Potion, or a Sticker. You'll know you've received a present because it appears on their buddy menu as a leafy satchel.
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Ultra Buddy
Affection Hearts Required: 150
Another two new perks are unlocked after working your way up to Ultra Buddy…
"Finding Locations" means that your buddy will start telling you when they find a location that interests them. This appears on the map in the form of a special indicator. If you visit that PokeStop or Gym, you get bonus items when spinning it and an Affection Heart with your buddy!
"Finding Souvenirs" is similar to "Finding Presents." It means that the leafy pouch they present to you might include a souvenir of your time together, instead of an item. The possible souvenirs are:
- Beach glass
- Cactus fruit
- Chalky stone
- Flower fruits
- Lone earing
- Marble
- Mushroom
- Pinecone
- Pretty leaf
- Skipping stone
- Small bouquet
- Stretchy spring
- Torn ticket
- Tropical flower
- Tropical shell
- Confetti pieces (exclusive to GO Fest 2020)
- Pikachu visor (exclusive to GO Fest 2020)
Best Buddy
Affection Hearts Required: 300
The last two perks that players unlock with their buddy are…
"CP Boost" means that any time this Pokemon is set as your buddy, it will have a higher CP during battles. The CP Boost is equivalent to powering up the Pokemon twice. In the case of a Pokemon with maxed-out CP, it will still add CP to their total as if you were one level higher than the maximum player level.
"Best Buddy Ribbon" is exactly what it sounds like: the Pokemon wears a brightly coloured ribbon on their body indicating their Best Buddy status. If you don't like the way this looks, check your settings. There's an option to disable them.
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