Pokémon Go is finally bringing Remote Trades into the mix with a new friendship tier
Gotta trade em' all
- Remote Trade and the new Forever Friends tier begin rolling out globally
- Spend Remote Trades by building up friendship points
- This is the biggest friendship update since launch
Pokémon Go is rolling out one of its biggest social updates in years, and it finally answers the question Trainers have been asking since 2016: why can’t I trade with someone who lives on the other side of the world? The answer is here, sort of.
Remote Trade and the new Forever Friends tier have begun a phased launch, kicking off in New Zealand before expanding globally.
Forever Friends sits above Best Friends and works like a long-term relationship meter. Interact with someone enough - battling, sending Gifts, trading, weekly challenge progress - and once you hit the new threshold, the two of you unlock a Remote Trade.
From there, continued interactions earn more friendship points and more Remote Trades over time. There’s a small catch. You can only hold one Remote Trade at a time per Forever Friend, so you’ll want to use them before they overflow.
To make this work, Niantic has introduced a Remote Trade tag. You’ll pre-mark the Pokémon you’re willing to part with, your Forever Friends do the same, and both sides build a little wish list from each other’s tagged selection.
Each Trainer chooses one of the requested Pokémon, reviews the final matchup, and either accepts or resets the offer. Lucky Friends still guarantee a Lucky outcome, even remotely, and none of these count as Special Trades.
There are limitations, of course. Recently caught Pokémon, previously traded Pokémon, Mythicals, Shadows, buddies, defenders, fused forms, crowned Zacian/Zamazenta, and anything caught within the last 30 days are off the table.
But for long-term collections and regional swaps that would’ve required a plane ticket, this is easily the biggest friendship update the game has ever had.
If you want to prep for everything happening this month, or just stock up properly, you can check out our Pokémon Go codes!
