An update is coming for Pokemon Go soon, and it’s a big one. Developers Niantic announced a major update that will add two features that fans have been asking for since it’s launch in 2016: friends lists and trading Pokemon.
Friends!
Friends lists mean coordinating with your pals and being rewarded for it. Each trainer will be given a personalized trainer code (like a Nintendo friend code) that they can share with others. You can send and receive friend requests from anyone, allowing you to see each other’s stats and send gifts. It will also affect how trading works.
Yes, I said gifts. When you visit PokeStops, you will sometimes be given a gift item. While these are of no use to yourself, you’ll be able to send them to someone on your friends list instead.
Players can also now find 7km eggs (colored yellow) at PokeStops, these rare eggs will hatch into Alolan forms of classic Pokemon. Perhaps our super long-necked boy isn’t gone for good after all.
Players will have four levels of friendship with each other, Good Friend, Great Friend, Ultra Friend and Best Friend. Each tier has additional benefits. More on what those are below.
Trading!
You can finally trade Pokemon between you and your friends. While there are a few restrictions, it’s surprisingly free, even allowing you to trade legendaries.
The most important detail is that it’s only local. You have to be near each other to perform the trade. It’s not clear as to why this is necessary. We suspect its to prevent people from simply connecting online and trading, which goes against the “get up and go out” nature of the game. You will also have to be at least level 10 in order to trade.
This doesn’t mean trading Pokemon all willy-nilly. It costs Stardust to trade, and it’s not cheap. Depending on your friendship level, trading will cost somewhere between 40,000 stardust to as much as 1 million.
Certain Pokemon can only be traded if you’re close enough friends. These are known as Special Trades. If you want to trade a Legendary, a Shiny, or a Pokemon not yet added to your Pokedex, you have to be at least Great Friends to do the trade. These trades will also cost more stardust than normal trades.
For more information, check out the Niantic blog post about the update.