Pokémon Go is getting a huge update that’s all about making friends, trading goods

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The all-new Friends feature in Pokémon Go allows you to connect with your real-life friends and keep track of their adventures in the game. You’ll also be able to send them items, including Pokémon.

To become friends in Pokémon Go, you must ask them to share their Trainer Code with you. To invite them to become your friend, you’ll need to enter their Trainer Code and sent them a request. If they accept, you’ll become friends, and you’ll see them in your Friends List.

You can also give your friends gifts you receive from PokéStops. Inside these gifts, you can find helpful items and even the occasional special surprise: an Egg that contains an Alolan form of a Pokémon initially discovered in the Kanto region.

As Niantic explains:

You can also build your Friendship Level by trading Pokémon with a friend. If you’re near a friend and have a Trainer Level of 10 or higher, you can trade Pokémon you’ve caught with that friend. Completing a trade earns a bonus Candy for the Pokémon you’ve traded away, and that bonus can increase if the Pokémon you traded were caught in locations far apart from each other! All trades are powered by Stardust, and some trades require more Stardust than others. As you build your Friendship Level with the friend you are trading with, you’ll find that you can complete the trade with much less Stardust.

To trade certain Pokémon, such as a Legendary Pokémon, a Shiny Pokémon, or a Pokémon, require a Special Trade to complete. These types can only occur once per day and will require lots of Stardust.

First released in 2016, Pokémon Go remains one of the most popular mobile games, and that popularity will probably grow with this update. The Friends tool will start rolling out to Trainers later this week.

Are you looking forward to this Pokémon Go update? Let us know below. 

For more Pokémon GO goodies, check out: 

• Niantic’s Pokemon Go follow up will be a Harry Potter AR game
• You can now play Pokémon GO on your Apple Watch
• Pokemon GO suffers community collapse as Niantic Labs remains ignorant