49 Hidden Tips for Pokemon Go Fanatics

Niantic promotes social experiences, not just in Pokemon Go, but in all of its AR mobile games. With Campfire, the developer created a dedicated social app to help you connect with other players. Use Campfire to set up meetings, organize events, message friends, and explore dynamic maps of your community. Campfire works across Niantic apps, but obviously Pokemon Go trainers will make the most of it.

Pokemon Go has new mechanics that add depth to the gameplay. With Mega Evolutions, select Pokemon (like Charizard and Gengar) can become more powerful versions of themselves for a limited amount of time.

To activate this feature, you'll need to accrue Mega Energy for the Pokemon you wish to evolve. The best way to score Mega Energy is by beating Mega Raids as fast as you can.

Pokemon Go's appeal is its fantasy of catching Pokemon in the real world. Unfortunately, if you go out into the real world these days, you might also catch a deadly virus. If you can, you should not only work from home, but game from home. To keep its players safe and healthy, Niantic has responsibly introduced alternative ways to play the Pokemon Go at home.

In the shop, you can buy Remote Raid Passes for 100 PokeCoins each. These let you virtually team up with other players to take down and capture impressive legendary Pokemon, most recently Giratina.

To join a Remote Raid, tap the Nearby button on the map and then the Raid button. You’ll see various Raid lobbies. Select whichever one you want, use your Remote Raid Pass, and forget about the real-world danger. 

Pokemon Home is Nintendo’s latest cloud-based service for storing all of your Pokemon and moving them across games. If you’re really committed, you can take a creature you caught during the Game Boy Advance era and move it all the way into Pokemon Sword and Shield.

The process is much simpler for Pokemon Go players. Connecting to Pokemon Home is as easy as going into Settings, and wirelessly connecting your game to your Nintendo Switch. Then launch the Pokemon Home app on Switch and transfer your monsters between devices. 

There’s also a Pokemon Home app for mobile where you can trade Pokemon, receive gifts, and read news. 

Pokemon Home lets you store 30 monsters for free. For $16 per year that number shoots up to 6,000. Your Pokemon don’t get deleted if you stop paying but you won’t be able to access them until you renew your subscription.

Capturing Pokemon with AR on is part of the fun, especially when the pocket monsters pop up in inappropriate places, but it's way easier to capture Pokemon without worrying about aiming your phone camera. Plus, strangers, for the most part, don't like having phones pointed at them. Why not turn off AR and relieve them of social anxiety?

You can do that by tapping the AR toggle when you're capturing wild Pokemon. Pokemon will then sit still on a grassy field, though they will occasionally hop or gyrate to make capturing difficult. But at least this way you can focus on just the Pokemon, and not worry about reorienting the camera or suffering the death stares of real-life NPCs.

The Pokemon locator tab has changed considerably since its early days. Now you'll see a series of real-world overlays of the Pokestops (for example, a picture of Madison Square Garden or the Liberty Bell), which you can then tap to view an overhead view, showing you where you should head toward. The Pokemon should be within a block or two of that particular landmark, and if you wander around log enough you should come across it.

When capturing wild Pokemon, you can throw a curveball to gain more XP. All you have to do is jiggle the ball! Jiggle it good! Basically, you tap the ball, hold it, and spin it around clock- or counterclockwise until it sparkles. Once it's shining up, toss it and boom! If you capture the critter you'll get a curveball XP bonus.

But wait, there's more: Where you throw the curveball depends on how you throw after the spin. Apparently, it helps to throw the ball in the opposite direction of the initial spin. So, if you're spinning it clockwise, you'll want to toss the ball to the left. How the ball moves after a spin seems pretty random, though.

Supposedly, if you botch a toss you can tap the Pokeball when it bounces or rolls away in order to retrieve it. But staffers here have been tapping away and trying this out for a while, with no real indication that it works. But some people online have say it works for them. Huge, if true.

CP simply means Combat Power, and it's the number above each wild Pokemon. It indicates their battle prowess, and as you gain more experience points (or XP) and level up as a Trainer, the CP of the Pokemon you find will become higher.

In an individual Pokemon's stat screen, you'll see a semi-circle at the top. The part that's bold with a dot at the end indicates that Pokemon's current maximum Combat Point potential. Some Pokemon have higher maximum CP than others. For example, an intimidating, spiky Pinsir will likely be stronger than a tiny, wormy Caterpie. But, if you find a 50 CP Pikachu, that doesn't mean it's stronger than a 20 CP one. For efficiency's sake, though, you'll probably want to Power Up the 50 CP Pikachu with Candies.

Whether you Power Up or Evolve a Pokemon first is up to you. Some believe powering up a 'Mon before evolving it results in even higher CP, but there's no confirmation of that yet. But, your Pokemon's max CP rises along with your Trainer level, so don't neglect those curve balls (more on that shortly) and be sure to visit Pokestops whenever you can! Get dat XP!

Extra Note: It looks like your Pokemon's weight/size (XL or XS) could affect their stats, like CP, HP, and dodge speed. Again, there's a lot of rumor mongering and unconfirmed info out there at the moment, so that could be a bunch of Bouffalant hockey.

You might catch a few different Staryus that are all around the same CP, but take a look at the two moves each Pokemon has when you catch it, and the power level of each move. If you catch a 98CP Staryu and a 105 CP Staryu, and the slightly weaker one has Water Gun and Psybeam, while the stronger one only knows how to Tackle and Body Slam, go for the better move set.

Next to each move you'll also see how much damage it does, along with a blue power meter for the second (more powerful) move, which indicates when your Pokemon's power move is ready to rock in a battle. Better moves, more power, better Pokemon. You can always make up some CP points later.

While visiting Pokestops, you'll probably pick up some eggs, from which Pokemon hatch. But first, you need to incubate them, and then walk around. To do that, go to your Pokemon collection, and in the upper-right you'll see an Eggs tab. Tap that, choose an egg, then an incubator. Then you walk around and wait for the hatch.

Here's some advice: Don't waste your time incubating the 2K (kilometer) eggs unless you really want more low-level Pokemon (though that isn't a bad way to get a starter you missed or snag yourself a Pikachu). The 5K eggs can net you some decent monsters, such as Cubone, Porygon, Machops, or Sandshrew. The 10K eggs get you more powerful, uncommon ones like Snorlax. Take a look at this handy infographic for a more in-depth egg breakdown, courtesy of Reddit.

You can hatch eggs if you're on a bicycle, bus, or train. The app just registers that you're moving; it won't actually care that you're not walking. So, you can hop on your bike and keep the app open to not only get some exercise, but hatch some sweet Snorlax bros, as well. Another great way to incubate and hatch eggs is to go for a run!

To pick up more incubators, you can either buy them outright in the real-money Shop or by getting lucky at Pokestops, though they are rare. You also gain more incubators and other rarer items as you level up. And remember: Pokestops replenish every 10 to 15 minutes, which is remarkably fast for a free-to-play mobile game!

By the way, 5 kilometers is about equal to 3.1 miles. Pokemon Go, not only does it bring us together, it educates.

We explained in our primer that razz berries are items you can feed a Pokemon to slow it down before you capture it. Updates have introduced multiple types of berries that each have different effects.

Nanab Berries: Use these berries to slow down a wild Pokemon's movements. Strategic use of these can be key to capturing a particularly elusive 'Mon.

Pinap Berries: These double the amount of Candy you get as a reward if your next attempt to capture a Pokemon succeeds. It's a bit of a risk though, because if you fail to capture your next target the berry goes to waste.

Razz Berries: Mechanics haven't changed here. Razz Berries can still be fed to a wild Pokemon to make it easier to catch.

Golden Razz Berries: Like their less shiny cousins, the Golden Razz Berries have the same function of making it easy to capture wild Pokemon, but are much more powerful.

You can use berries in tandem with a stronger Pokeball (especially once you start leveling up and unlocking Great Balls and Ultra Balls) to catch particularly feisty or extremely rare Pokemon that cross your path. However, don't use multiple berries at a time since their effects don't stack.

One of the aspiring trainers right here in the PCMag Labs caught themselves a Dragonair doing just that. Feed the Pokemon a razz berry, take out a Great Ball, give it some good arc on your throw, and catching just got a whole lot easier.

The best way to grind XP is to capture multiple low-level Pokemon, pay attention to the number of candy they require to evolve, and wait until you have enough Candy for multiple evolutions at the same time. By capturing the same type of Pokémon over and over you gain more Stardust and Candy. So, don't think ill of all those Doduos, Caterpies, and Weedles! They're potentially useful because you can transfer duplicates, which will earn you 1 candy of that Pokemon type. Then, use a Lucky Egg and evolve all of the Pokemon at the same time to gain double the amount of XP. Pidgeys are especially pretty good for this.

Some words of wisdom on Stardust and Candy, though: think carefully about what Pokemon you want to power up now, and which ones you want to save for after you evolve. The more you power up a Pokemon you eventually plan on evolving, the longer it'll take you to collect the 25, 50, or 100 candies you need to evolve that little guy and see the Pokemon's CP skyrocket anyway. Pro tip: evolve the Pokemon first, then power it up. Better to use your stardust on Pokemon that are finished evolving or only have one form to optimize your battle lineup, with a bunch of even stronger Pokemon waiting in the wings, piling up candies to take your squad to the next level once they evolve.

Also to consider is that with the recent update, you get more Stardust and Candy when the Pokemon is higher in the evolution chain. The rewards are as follows:

First: 100 Stardust, 3 Candy
Second: 300 Stardust, 5 Candy
Third: 500 Stardust, 10 Candy

It's an egg that's lucky! Really, it's filled with happiness and most importantly, grants you double the amount of experience points you can gain for 30 minutes at a time. You can only buy these in the Shop, with Coins. If you've got a couple Pokemon you're almost ready to evolve, save up those candies until you've got a Lucky Egg, then evolve them all one after another while the Lucky Egg's dank XP aura is in the air to double down on that extra CP and XP.

Capture a Pokemon: 100 XP

Capture Bonuses:
Nice: 10 XP
Great: 100 XP
Excellent: 100 XP
Curveball: 10 XP

Hatch a Pokemon:
2K: 200 XP
5K: 500 XP
10K: 1000 XP

Evolve a Pokemon: 500 XP
Register a new Pokemon in your Pokedex: 500 XP
Check a Pokestop: 50 XP or 100 XP (if six or more items)
Training at a Gym: Depends on success
Battle Pokemon at a Gym: Depends on success

Using a Lucky Egg doubles the XP in the aforementioned activities for 30 minutes. It can be paired with a Double XP event to get a maximum of four times your usual XP if you really want to max out your bonuses.

So far, it looks like the maximum level you can reach in Pokemon Go is 50. You gain numerous rewards for each level gain, including Potions, Incense, Revives, Egg Incubators, and, eventually, Super Potions, Razz Berries, Hyper Potions, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls. The elusive Master Ball has yet to be glimpsed, but if you fulfill your destiny of finding and beating the Elite 4, maybe you can be the chosen one who's granted the ultimate Pokemon power and enters Cerulean Cave to find your Mewtwo.

Tap a Pokemon in the menu, scroll down below its bio, and tap Transfer. You get 1 candy per transfer. But you better be sure you want that Pokemon transferred to Professor Willow, because once you do, that Pokemon goes bye-bye.

Wily Reddit users found a way into the game’s code to figure out how Incense works. In case you need a reminder, Incense covers your Trainer in a pink, fluffy fragrance that attracts wild Pokemon to your location for 30 minutes. But you can’t just be complacent and sit there waiting for Pokemon. If you stay still, you’ll only see one Pokemon every five minutes, which isn’t a great way to spend your time. Instead, take a walk and you’ll lure one Pokemon every 200 meters.

If you want to rest on your laurels, then the Lunar Module is the item you want. It acts the same as the incense, except it attracts Pokemon to your position. A nice option for those who don’t feel like huffing down the block on a hot summer day.

Just like in the core, handheld Pokemon games (or real-life animals) certain Pokemon types only dwell in certain locations. Do you want to collect a lot of Magikarps to evolve one of them into a fearsome Gyrados? Or fetch yourself a Squirtle? Then head down to the river, lake, or reservoir, because that's where Water-type Pokemon will appear! Want to catch Beedrill, Bulbasaur, or other Bug- and Plant-type critters? Take a stroll through the woods. And big-city dwellers may wonder why there are so many Electric-type Pokemon like Magnemite and Voltorb around. That's because they like to hang around electric billboards (maybe).

If you remember the original Pokemon cartoon, you may recall the three Eevee Brothers, who each owned one of Eevee's evolutions: a Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon. If you nickname your Eevee one of the brothers' punny names, then it will evolve into your desired evolution!

• Want a Flareon? Then name it Pyro.

• Want a Jolteon? Name it Sparky!

• Jonesing for a Vaporeon? Then call it Rainer.

This only works once per evolution type, however. Still, it's an almost-guaranteed way to evolve one of your Eevees. Be sure you check Eevee's silhouette before you confirm the transformation to ensure you get the evolution you want.

Niantic has since added this unique name trick to all other Eevee evolution types:

• Linnea evolves Eevee into leaf-type Leafeon.

• Rea evolves Eevee into ice-type Glaceon.

• Sakura evolves Eevee into psychic-type Espeon.

• Tamao evolves Eevee into dark-type Umbreon.

• Kira evolves Eevee into fairy-type Sylveon

If you're already a Level 30 trainer, then you may not care about this tip. But if you're just starting out and you're about to select your starter Pokemon (Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle), don't! Like Lord Humongous says: "Just walk away!" Instead, walk away from the starters, and keep ignoring them, and eventually, the plump electric mouse himself will appear for you to recruit. Finally, you, too, can be just like Ash Ketchum.

If you're anything like us, you shoot from the hip and let Pokeballs fly where they may. And, if you're anything like us, eventually, you're going to run out of Pokeballs that way. And if you stroll by a Pokestop, chances are your bag will be full and you will be unable to collect more Pokeballs! Well, don't let that stop you. Just open your inventory and chuck some potions. Chances are you don't need 99 of every Potion type, so get rid of some and you'll get your Pokeballs back in no time…so long as you stroll by more Pokestops, or wait around for them to refresh.

You don't have to evolve everything you come across. With patience, you could potentially find a Blastoise, or even a Charizard, out in the wild. Maybe even a Gyarados. Just don't expect Mew or any of the legendary birds, however—although their existence has been found in the game's code. They're locked away for now, but one day, we'll get 'em.

Having a tough time battling gyms? Well, Reddit user Kyurun figured out how to guarantee your evolved Pokemon will have over 1,000 CP. Turns out, your unevolved 'Mon needs to have a minimum amount of CP before it can evolve. Refer to the handy chart above to find what those numbers are! It's not exact, however. You may evolve a Raichu with a CP number outside of the predicted range. For more accurate results, you'll have to pay attention to your Pokemon's IVs…

That's right. This is some advanced stuff. Just like in the core games, there are hidden stats called Individual Values, or IVs, that affect a Pokemon's strength. Wild Pokemon IVs are randomly determined, so that Pikachu with high CP and HP that you caught may actually—ultimately!—evolve into a weaker Raichu than a Pikachu with lower CP and HP, but higher IVs. That's why it's important to catch as many Pokemon as you can, so you can whittle them down to the best of the best.

If this all sounds confusing, don't worry about it. Just plug in your Pokemon's CP, HP, and the Stardust needed to evolve it into this IV Calculator. With that, you can figure out exactly which of your Pokemon to evolve. This is especially helpful if you have multiple candidates to evolve but a limited amount of Candy. It's like the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, but with Snorlax!

If you're just starting out, you may notice gyms that are blue, red, or yellow. And you've probably figured out that you can't do anything with gyms yet! That's because you need to be at Level 5. Once you are, visit a gym and join one of three teams: Team Mystic (blue), Team Valor (red), or Team Instinct (yellow). Each team has a leader: Blanche for blue, Candela for red, and Spark for yellow. Not only that, each team represents one of the three Legendary Birds: Articuno for blue, Moltres for red, and Zapdos for yellow.

Once you reach level 5, visit a gym, and choose a team, you can do a few things, like battle other Pokemon from other Trainers. If the gym is the same color as you, you can battle the Pokemon stored there and replace it with yours so you can become a Defender (more on that soon). Or, if you visit an opposing gym claimed by another team, you can battle for supremacy.

First, you can pick six Pokemon to take into battle. Then, you'll face off against the weakest creature at the gym and work your way to the strongest. If you beat the gym, you take it over for your team! If not, you faint. Then, you have to go into your inventory and heal your Pokemon with Revives and Potions. You need to heal them, otherwise fainted Pokemon can't participate in battle.

Fighting in Pokemon Go is a bigger mess than Brock's love life. You're supposed to be able to swipe left and right to dodge the incoming attacks of opposing Pokemon. You can time the dodge by watching the opponent's attack animation. If you have decent cell service, and a bit of luck, you should even be able to dodge special attacks. You're also supposed to tap your opponent over and over to attack. Attacks' effectiveness is based on the rock-paper-scissors system of strengths and weaknesses found in the core Pokemon games. That means fire is weak against water, grass is weak against fire, water is weak against grass. You can check what type your Pokemon is in its bio, or refer to this handy-dandy chart.

But, the Pokemon Go app's performance issues turn fights into random kerfuffles. Your best bet is to have a ton of potions and revives at the ready in case you need to revive and heal fainted Pokemon, and just tap away, and tap and hold once in a while to unleash your Pokemon's special attacks, which consumes some special meter (which you can also check up on in that creature's bio).

When you come across a vacant gym, or a gym claimed by your team, you can add your Pokemon to the roster by tapping the gym, and then tapping the icon on the bottom left. However, once you assign a Pokemon to a gym, you are genuinely leaving it there. You won't be able to do battle with it at other gyms. For that reason, it's a good idea to leave your second-strongest Pokemon defending a gym, while you keep your most powerful gym for attacking rival gyms. An easy way to figure out who's your strongest is by resorting your roster by highest CP. Just go into your Pokemon collection, tap the lower right icon (it may be an A-Z, heart icon, or a clock), then tap Combat Power.

So you’ve captured the gym and put your best team in it. You’re set, right? There’s no way someone is going to take it from you. That used to be the case, but with the latest update things have changed. Now you have to take into account motivation, which is your Pokemon’s willingness to fight translated in combat power. Every day you hold a gym, the CP of your Pokemon drops. Once it hits zero, your Pokemon get kicked out of the gym unless you feed berries to each one holding it. To make matters worse, Pokemon with CP above 3,000 lose motivation faster. This ensures a more dynamic map, but also makes it harder to hold gyms. That’s why you’ll want to keep yourself well stocked with berries so you can keep your Pokemon in fighting shape.

Now that you've got a Pokemon defending a gym, go to the in-game Shop, tap the Shield icon and get free Coins and Stardust. Coins are in-game currency that you can use to buy items like Pokeballs, Potions, and even bigger item bags. You can also buy coins with real-world money! What, did you think there were no micro-transactions in innocent little Pokémon Go? Of course, the only real way to play for free is to acquire Coins by assigning a Pokemon to defend a gym. Pressing the Shield will get you 10 coins and 500 Stardust per each Pokemon of yours defending that gym. However, you need to wait 21 hours before you can tap the Shield again! So be sure to defend the gym, or place Pokemon in multiple gyms! Ah, don't you love Energy mechanics in mobile games?

Battling at a gym can change that gym's prestige level. Basically, the higher the gym's prestige level , the more Pokemon can stay there. Alternatively, you need to take down an opposing team's gym prestige level down to zero before you can claim it for your team. If your team claims, or has claimed a gym, you can battle the Pokemon stationed there to increase that gym's prestige level. Raise the prestige high enough, and you can leave up to 6 Pokemon at that gym as long as they're not of the same type. So if you want to, but can't leave a Pokemon at a friendly gym, you'll have to fight to raise the level. You'll want to fight all the time, because you gain XP for each fracas, even if you lose!

Changing your nickname is easy-peasy. Just tap the Pokeball on the main screen at the bottom > Settings > tap Change Nickname. You'll get a warning that you can only change your nickname once, so choose wisely, and make it count! And make sure it's at least PG-rated because other Trainers are going to see it.

You can select a Pokemon to travel alongside you. Does it actually walk with you on the main screen? No, but it does stand next to you in the profile screen and a little icon displaying your chosen Pokemon shows up next to your avatar icon on the field.

To actually select a buddy Pokemon, you need to tap on the picture of your Trainer in the lower left corner of the main screen. Then tap on the Menu button on the lower left. Tap on the Buddy icon between the Journal and Customize options. Then, tap on the Pokemon you want as your Buddy.

Note: On the Pokemon screen, you'll see a speech bubble icon next to the Pokemon you chose as your Buddy, so you can keep track of what you're Pokemon are up to.

Go for walks! No, really, now that you have a designated Buddy you should go on strolls. Similar to egg-hatching, you can gain Candy for your buddy the more kilometers you rack up. Interestingly, different Pokemon require you walk different distances. For example, you need to walk 3 kilometers before you get a Candy for Slowpoke. You only get one candy after walking that specific distance, though.

You can find out more about your Buddy's progress by tapping the Trainer profile icon, then tapping the top of the screen, where your Trainer and Buddy are hanging out. At the top of the screen you'll see the total distance traveled. In the middle, you'll see your Buddy (tap him for a yell!). At the bottom, there's a gauge that shows how far you still need to walk for a Candy.

To replace your Buddy, click on the Trainer avatar picture on the main screen, then tap the Pokemon Buddy on the Trainer profile screen. After that, tap the Swap icon on the lower right. You'll get a message that asks if you're absolutely sure you want to swap buddies. Tap Yes, if you're a fair weather friend. But beware; you'll lose any progress you have made if with your Buddy if you swap too soon! You'll want to swap Pokemon Buddies out after walking the full distance for a Candy.

Also, you should not evolve your Buddy, at least not until after you're done walking and collecting Candy for it. When you evolve your Pokemon, that creature's Candy resets. So, to repeat: Do. Not. Evolve. Your. Buddy. Wait until you got enough Candy, then evolve.

Raid battles are arguably Pokemon Go’s biggest feature. Once you hit level 20, you can access raid events in which a powerful Boss Pokemon appears at certain times of the day. If there's a raid happening close to you, you get a notification and have the chance to join. But if you walk right up to a gym, you’ll be disappointed when the bouncer at the door asks for a Raid Pass or Premium Raid Pass and you don't have one. These can be gotten by going to a gym and spinning the photo disc. Only one raid pass can be used per day, otherwise, you need to purchase a Premium Raid Pass from the shop to participate in raid battles more often.

Winning a raid battle is not as easy as your average gym match. Boss Pokemon are seriously powerful, with a difficulty ranging from level 1 to level 5. The higher the level, the higher the CP. Fortunately, you’re not alone. Anyone who has a Raid Pass can join the battle, with up to 20 players in a a group. Combat is like any gym battle: attacks are the same, you can heal your Pokemon, or even flee and rejoin the battle as long as the raid isn’t over.

Victory. You and your team have done the hard work and taken down the Boss Pokemon. Balloons fall from the ceiling, the fireworks go off, and the credits roll. Not so fast. There are more rewards to be had. Once you beat the Boss, you and your group are rewarded with potions, revives, and coins. You also get Premier Balls, which are the only kind of Pokeball you can use to capture the Boss. The amount of Premier Balls awarded depends on how well you did in the battle, and they disappear after your attempt to capture the Boss is over, so you want to be careful and take your time. Make sure to use lots of berries to improve your chances. Once all the Premier Balls run out, the Boss Pokemon flees.

Bored of your old style? Getting a new look is just as easy as changing your name. Tap your profile at the bottom left of the main screen, which should show an image of you. Then go to Style to be able to change everything from your hair and skin color to your backpack and shoes. There are plenty of options to customize and accessorize your appearance, though some require payment in Pokecoins.

Like location, weather plays a role on the kinds of Pokemon you encounter. On certain days, you're more likely to encounter particular types. For instance, a rainy day will result in more spawns of water-type Pokemon and also increase their strength. Plus, when you capture them you get bonus Stardust.

Here's a breakdown of what each weather type boosts:

• Clear/Sunny: Fire, Grass, and Ground

• Partly Cloud: Normal and Rock

• Cloudy: Fairy, Fighting, and Poison

• Rain: Water, Electric, and Bug

• Snow: Ice and Steel

• Fog: Dark and Ghost

• Windy: Dragon, Flying, and Psychic

Field research tasks are essentially a list of quests given to you when you spin a Pokestop, like, "Use 5 Berries to help catch Pokemon," or, "Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather Boost." Completing them successfully gives you various bonuses including Stardust, items, and encounters with rare Pokemon like Jynx.

There are currently three kinds of tasks:

• Field Research: These are basic goals with a single objective. You get one of these a day and they're usually something simple like spinning a Pokestop.

• Special Research: These tasks are more story-based and give you multiple goals that require several steps to complete, like catching and transferring a Pokemon.

• Research Breakthrough: These tasks are based on collecting stamps and give you rewards like Stardust, items, and rare Pokemon encounters.

• You can only have up to three tasks at a time, but don't worry, you can trash a task if you think you can't complete it successfully. Clearing a task allows you to pick up a new one.

From now on, when you trade Pokemon, there's a chance for them to become Lucky. That means they require less Stardust to power up than regular Pokemon. This makes them easier to train up to become powerful. Every trade won't result in a lucky Pokemon, but there's always a chance to get one, so there's no better time than now to add a friend and try your luck.

Pokemon Go is no fun without friends. Adding friends is a feature available to players who are over the age of 13.

AR Plus turns the game's augmented reality feature into something a bit more clever. It lets you transport Pokemon you’ve captured into the real world and take pictures of them from virtually any angle with the Go Snapshot feature. Apart from the apparent novelty of this idea (it's something right out of Pokemon Snap) this gives you a fun way to earn experience points. AR Plus tends to drain your battery quite rapidly, so we recommend enabling it only in short bursts.

Pokemon Go has introduced Adventure Sync, a mode that gives you more ways to play without actually opening the app. This function pairs with either Apple Health or Google Fit and tracks your steps with either your phone’s pedometer or compatible wearables.

Apart from providing you with statistical information, such as distance or calories burned, Adventure Sync also lets you accumulate rewards at the 5, 20 and 50 kilometer marks each week.

Enabling Adventure Sync is a simple matter of switching it on in your Pokemon Go settings. If you want to keep track of your distance on a run or the treadmill, just make sure your Google Fit or Apple Watch account is connected with Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go has made it easier than ever to add people to your friend list, basically giving you no excuse to not hit that 200-person limit. Don't want to type in that long-winded trainer code? You can now generate a QR code for people to scan that adds you to their lists in quick fashion. If you’ve enabled Facebook access, you can add friends who have done the same.

Once you've reached level 10, you can battle trainers in local or remote play. Local battling requires you to select a trainer from the “Nearby” menu, which generates a connecting QR code. Remote battles can only be initiated with Ultra or Best friends; they simply need to accept the invitation.

For the low price of 1,000 PokeCoins (roughly $10) you can purchase a team medallion that lets you change your team affiliation. These medallions are single-use items that can also be earned through regular play.

Swapping teams is certainly a welcome addition, but the process is not without its caveats. For example, any Pokemon that are defending gyms after you swap teams will be returned to you with zero PokeCoins earned once they are defeated.

The Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu games let you migrate Pokemon from your phone to your Nintendo Switch. While you are currently limited to transferring the original 150 Pokemon, you can add Pokemon to your roster that would otherwise be exclusive to your Let's Go version. The process isn’t super apparent, so we’ve outlined the steps here.

1. Make sure you have Bluetooth enabled on your phone.

2. Go to Settings in your Pokemon Go account.

3. At the bottom of the Settings screen, tap the “Nintendo Switch” option.

4. Go to the settings menu of Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu.

5. Select "Open Pokemon Go Settings."

6. Follow the prompts to pair your Pokemon Go account with your Nintendo Switch account.

7. On your switch, head to the Pokemon Go park complex in the middle of Fuschia City.

8. At the central desk, talk to the attendant and select “Bring Pokemon.”

9. Go to the Pokemon Go Pokedex and select the Switch icon.

10. You can now select up to 50 Pokemon at a time and select "Transfer" to move them to your Switch.

11. Once the transfer has completed, talk to the attendant again and select “Enter a Go Park.”

You can now enter the park where you transferred your Pokemon. Catch them to add to your Nintendo Switch Pokedex.

When you're done trying to catch them all, consider some of the other great games on these lists.

• The Best Nintendo Switch Games

• The Best PC Games

• The Best iPhone Games

• The Best Android Games

• The Best Video Games for Kids

Alice Newcome-Beill contributed to this story.