Pokémon Go: Where to find your Friend Code

They say life is better with friends and in Pokémon Go, that is definitely the truth. There are plenty of benefits to making friends in Pokémon Go and adding friends couldn't be easier. We'll walk you through how to add friends, all the benefits, and even how to find new friends in Pokémon Go!

Check out our in-depth, filterable Pokédex for Pokémon GO!

Why should I make friends in Pokémon Go?

Friends in Pokémon Go provide tons of benefits. From experience to gifts to bonuses in battle, you're going to want to have a bunch of friends. You can have up to 200 Friends but there are some stricter limits on certain interactions. While you're limited on Gifts and some types of trades, you can Raid with Friends or battle at Gyms together every day, allowing you to increase your Friendship level.

Aside from the fact that playing games with friends, in general, is much more fun, Pokémon Go rewards players with tons of XP for having friends and increasing their friendship levels. Even better, if friends time their activity right, a Lucky Egg can double that XP.

• Good Friends get 3k XP
• Great Friends get 10k XP
• Ultra Friends get 50k XP
• Best Friends get 100k XP

This is a great way to level up and it's super easy to increase your friendship level.

Friends can also send each other Gifts once per day. Normally, players can open 20 of these gifts each day and hold up to ten Gifts at a time. However, Niantic has temporarily increased the limts to receiving 30 Gifts per day and holding up to 20 Gifts at a time. Players can find Gifts to send out by spinning PokéStops or from their Buddy Pokémon. Gifts can contain many useful items, including:

• Poké Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls
• Potions, Super Potions, and Hyper Potions
• Revives and Max Revives
• Pinap Berries
• Evolution items such as King's Rock and Up-Grade
• Stardust
• 7 KM Eggs that feature Alolan variant Pokémon and baby Pokémon

In addition to gifts, Pokémon friends get bonuses during Raids that increase the damage inflicted upon the Raid Boss as well as provide additional Premier Balls when catching the Raid Boss. This means if you raid with friends, you beat the Raid Bosses faster and get more chances to try to catch it. Given the low catch rates on some of the Legendary Raids, every extra Premier Ball you can get is crucial!

• Good Friends get a 3% attack bonus
• Great Friends get a 5% attack bonus and one extra Premier Ball
• Ultra Friends get a 7% attack bonus and two extra Premier Balls
• Best Friends get a 10% attack bonus and four extra Premier Balls

One of the core features of most every Pokémon game, trading in Pokémon Go can only be done between friends. Whether you're looking for a Regional Exclusive or helping out a friend who missed an event, you're going to want to use this feather. Trading, like so many features in Pokémon Go, costs Stardust but the better a friendship, the lower the cost.

• Great Friends get a 20% Stardust discount on trades
• Ultra Friends get a 92% Stardust discount on trades
• Best Friends get a 96% Stardust discount on trades and the chance to get Lucky Pokémon from trades

Another feature that having friends makes even better is the PVP battle system. Unlike trading, you can battle another player in person without being friends but if you make it to Ultra or Best Friend status, you can battle each other remotely at any time. Trainer Battles not only give experience battling but come with some great potential rewards, including:

• Stardust
• Rare Candies
• Sinnoh Stones
• Charged and Fast TMs

As if all of that weren't enough, there are also a number of Special Research tasks that require making friends. While Special Research isn't critical to gameplay, it is often the only way to get certain special Pokémon.

Where is my friend code anyway?

Now that you know how beneficial friendship in Pokémon Go is, I bet you're eager to add as many friends as you can. Fortunately, finding your code to add friends is super easy and can be done in two different ways.

1. From the main screen, click on your avatar in the bottom left corner to open the profile screen.
2. Select Friends from your profile screen.
3. Select Add Friend.

4. Select Share my Trainer Code to post your code directly to any social media or messenger app already installed on your phone.
5. Or select Copy my Trainer Code to copy the code to the clipboard where you can then paste it elsewhere.
6. Or select QR Code to generate a QR Code that can be scanned within the app to add friends in person.

Voila! You have your friend code in a number of easy to share forms.

What if I don't know other Pokémon Go players?

While many of the benefits to having friends are gained by playing together in person, some of us just aren't lucky enough to have a bunch of local friends who play Pokémon Go (or, in my case, a big family with kids who all love the game as much as their father and I!) Fortunately, the internet is a great tool for connecting with other Pokémon Go players, both locally and from around the world. Social platforms, like Facebook or Reddit, are great for finding groups and communities of like-minded individuals. In my own area, there are nearly a dozen local Facebook groups spread across the county, including a few that are even team-specific. Likewise, there are international groups that exist solely for exchanging Friend Codes.

Are there any limits?

While the idea of being able to send out an unlimited number of presents to an unlimited number of players all around the world is appealing, sadly, there are some limits. Currently, the limits are:

• You can have a maximum of 200 Friends.
• You can hold up to 10 presents a day.
• You can send out 20 presents a day.
• You can collect 20 presents a day.

Keep in mind that during some events, the limits on the presents you can hold, gift, and receive are temporarily raised.

Questions about making friends in Pokémon Go?

Do you have any questions about making friends in Pokémon Go? Any tips for those struggling to find friends? Drop us a comment below and be sure to check out our other Pokémon Go guides!