Pokémon GO Friendship Levels: Points, Bonuses & Forever Friends

Quick answer: Pokémon GO currently has six Friendship milestones: Friend, Good Friend, Great Friend, Ultra Friend, Best Friend, and Forever Friend.

You need:

• 1 Friendship Point for Good Friends
• 7 Friendship Points for Great Friends
• 30 Friendship Points for Ultra Friends
• 90 Friendship Points for Best Friends
• 180 Friendship Points for Forever Friends

Friendship is now best understood in terms of points rather than a fixed number of days. Normally, you can earn one standard Friendship Point with a friend per day, but Weekly Challenges can award additional Friendship Points and make progression faster.

Forever Friends is now the highest level and unlocks access to Remote Trading with that specific friend.

For the complete trade process, see the complete guide to trading in Pokémon GO. This page focuses on friendship milestones, discounts, and Remote Trading eligibility.

Pokémon GO Friendship Levels Chart

Here is the complete current Friendship progression:

These are base milestone XP values.

Temporary events, seasonal bonuses, or other XP modifiers can cause the amount displayed in-game to be higher.

Do not hard-code temporary boosted Friendship XP values as the normal permanent rewards.

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Friendship Points vs Friendship Days

Older Pokémon GO guides often describe Friendship progression entirely in days:

• 1 day to Good Friends
• 7 days to Great Friends
• 30 days to Ultra Friends
• 90 days to Best Friends

That was a useful shortcut when normal daily interactions were the primary way to progress.

But the more accurate current system is:

Friendship Points

If you earn exactly one standard Friendship Point with the same Trainer each day, then:

• Good Friends takes about 1 interaction day
• Great Friends takes about 7
• Ultra Friends takes about 30
• Best Friends takes about 90
• Forever Friends takes about 180

However, 180 Friendship Points does not necessarily mean 180 calendar days.

Weekly Challenges can provide additional Friendship Points, and temporary game bonuses can also change progression.

So when planning Friendship progression, pay attention to the point requirement, not just an old day count.

How Do You Earn Friendship Points?

Normally, your Friendship with a specific Trainer can increase once per day through an eligible interaction.

Common interactions include:

• opening a Gift from that friend
• trading a Pokémon with that friend
• battling each other in a Trainer Battle
• battling together in a Gym
• completing a Raid Battle together
• other qualifying friendship interactions supported by the game

Once you have already earned the normal daily Friendship Point with that Trainer, repeating normal interactions that same day does not continue adding standard daily points.

You can tell whether you have already interacted with someone that day from the Friend List interface.

Weekly Challenges Can Give Extra Friendship Points

Weekly Challenges changed one of the most important assumptions about Friendship progression.

A Weekly Challenge can award up to:

7 additional Friendship Points

with each existing friend who is participating in that Weekly Challenge group.

These points are in addition to the normal daily Friendship Point.

That means on the day the Weekly Challenge rewards are applied, you can potentially gain up to:

8 Friendship Points with the same friend

from:

7 Weekly Challenge points + 1 normal daily interaction point

Weekly Challenges can therefore make Friendship progression significantly faster than simply interacting once every day.

They can also provide an additional chance to become Lucky Friends with eligible Trainers.

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Good Friends — 1 Friendship Point

Good Friends is the first Friendship milestone.

Requirement:

1 Friendship Point

Base milestone reward:

3,000 XP

The most important trading change at this level is that Special Trades become available.

This matters for Pokémon such as eligible:

• Shiny Pokémon
• Legendary Pokémon
• Ultra Beasts
• unregistered Pokédex entries
• other Pokémon that trigger Special Trade rules

Good Friends is still the most expensive standard Friendship level for major Special Trades.

If you are planning an expensive trade, building Friendship first can save a huge amount of Stardust.

Great Friends — 7 Friendship Points

Requirement:

7 Friendship Points

Base milestone reward:

10,000 XP

Great Friends begins providing more meaningful gameplay bonuses.

These include:

• reduced Stardust requirements for trades
• an additional Premier Ball when raiding together
• an increased Attack bonus when battling together

Great Friends is also important because it is the minimum Friendship level required for certain newer systems such as using a Lucky Trinket on that friend.

Ultra Friends — 30 Friendship Points

Requirement:

30 Friendship Points

Base milestone reward:

50,000 XP

Ultra Friends provides a major jump in trading value.

Benefits include:

• much lower Stardust costs
• 2 additional Premier Balls when raiding together
• a stronger Attack bonus when battling together
• improved trade IV floor

For expensive Special Trades, the Stardust difference between Great Friends and Ultra Friends can be enormous.

If you are planning a rare Shiny or unregistered trade, waiting until Ultra Friends can save a substantial amount of Stardust.

Best Friends — 90 Friendship Points

Requirement:

90 Friendship Points

Base milestone reward:

100,000 XP

Best Friends was historically the highest Friendship level and remains one of the most important milestones.

Benefits include:

• maximum standard Friendship Stardust discount
• 4 additional Premier Balls when raiding together
• a strong battle Attack bonus
• standard trade IV floor of 5/5/5
• ability to naturally become Lucky Friends

Best Friends is particularly important for Trainers who trade expensive Pokémon frequently.

Forever Friends — 180 Friendship Points

Requirement:

180 Friendship Points

Base milestone reward:

150,000 XP

Forever Friends is the current highest Friendship level in Pokémon GO.

It sits above Best Friends.

Forever Friends retain the major Best Friend bonuses, including the large standard trade discount and raid-ball benefits, while adding new Friendship progression mechanics.

Most importantly:

Becoming Forever Friends awards a Remote Trade with that Trainer.

That means two Trainers who live far apart can eventually trade eligible Pokémon without needing to meet in person.

For the complete mechanic, see the Pokémon GO Remote Trading Guide.

Best Friends vs Forever Friends

The distinction is important.

Forever Friends does not replace the value of Best Friends.

Instead, it extends the Friendship system beyond 90 points and adds long-distance trading progression.

What Happens After You Reach Forever Friends?

Friendship progression does not simply become meaningless at 180 points.

When you first become Forever Friends with somebody, you earn:

1 Remote Trade

with that specific friend.

After completing that first Remote Trade, you need another:

90 Friendship Points

with that Forever Friend to earn another Remote Trade.

The cycle can continue.

So the progression becomes:

180 points → Forever Friends → Remote Trade

then:

+90 points → another Remote Trade

then:

+90 points → another Remote Trade

and so on.

Only one Remote Trade can be available with the same Forever Friend at a time.

For that reason, if you have already earned one, it is generally useful to complete it before expecting another to become available.

When Does the Remote Trade Tag Unlock?

You do not have to wait until the exact Forever Friends moment to begin preparing.

When you are:

5 Friendship Points away from Forever Friends

Pokémon GO unlocks the special:

Remote Trade tag

You can use this tag to mark Pokémon you are willing to offer in a future Remote Trade.

That gives both Trainers time to prepare before the trade itself becomes available.

If you want a more complete public trade inventory, you can also use World Storage and World Wishlist.

Friendship Level and Stardust Trade Costs

Friendship has one of the biggest effects on expensive Pokémon GO trades.

For the standard trade-cost structure:

Both Trainers pay Stardust.

Temporary event bonuses can reduce these values, so always confirm the final cost shown in-game before completing the trade.

The important takeaway is obvious:

An unregistered Special Trade at Good Friends can cost:

1,000,000 Stardust

while the same standard-cost category at Best or Forever Friends can cost:

40,000 Stardust.

For the full explanation, see the Pokémon GO Trade Stardust Cost Guide.

Friendship Level and Trade IV Floors

Friendship also affects the minimum IVs a Pokémon can receive after a normal trade.

Higher Friendship generally gives a higher minimum result.

However, that does not mean higher Friendship is always better for PvP.

Some Great League and Ultra League Pokémon benefit from low Attack IVs, so a high Friendship floor can make certain desirable PvP spreads impossible.

Read the full Pokémon GO Trade IVs Guide for the details.

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Friendship Raid Bonuses

Friendship also helps when you raid with another Trainer.

As Friendship increases, you can receive:

• additional Premier Balls
• increased battle damage when fighting together

The current standard Premier Ball progression is:

Current reference values for the battle Attack bonus progress approximately as:

• Good Friends: 3%
• Great Friends: 5%
• Ultra Friends: 7%
• Best Friends: 10%
• Forever Friends: 12%

Pokémon GO's official help documentation describes the Forever Friends benefit as an additional Attack boost over Best Friends, while current game-reference data identifies the value as 12%.

This makes high Friendship useful even if you never trade with that particular Trainer.

Friendship XP Rewards

Friendship remains one of Pokémon GO's major XP sources.

The standard base milestone rewards are:

These are the base values.

Do not confuse them with temporary boosted Friendship XP from seasons or events.

If Pokémon GO is running a Friendship XP bonus, the amount shown in-game may be higher.

This article should remain evergreen by presenting the standard base values and telling readers to check active event bonuses separately.

What Are Lucky Friends?

Lucky Friends is a special status available through Friendship.

Under the normal system, once you have reached Best Friends, subsequent qualifying Friendship interactions have a chance to make the two Trainers:

Lucky Friends

When that happens:

Your next trade together is guaranteed to produce Lucky Pokémon.

After that trade is completed, the Lucky Friend status is removed.

You can potentially become Lucky Friends with the same Trainer again through later eligible interactions.

Lucky Trades have a minimum IV floor of:

12/12/12

and Lucky Pokémon require less Stardust to power up.

For a deeper explanation, see the Pokémon GO Lucky Trades Guide.

Can Forever Friends Become Lucky Friends?

Yes.

Forever Friends are beyond the Best Friend milestone, so they can still participate in the Lucky Friends system.

If you are Lucky Friends with a Forever Friend and have an eligible Remote Trade available, that Remote Trade can also be Lucky.

That creates a powerful long-distance trading opportunity for rare Pokémon.

Trainer Level 70+ and Lucky Friends

There is another newer Friendship bonus worth knowing.

Trainers at:

Level 70 or higher

have an increased chance of becoming Lucky Friends with Trainers they have reached Best Friends with.

This does not guarantee Lucky Friends.

It simply improves the chance compared with the standard mechanic.

What Is a Lucky Trinket?

A Lucky Trinket is a one-time-use item that can turn an eligible friend into a Lucky Friend.

Unlike naturally becoming Lucky Friends, you do not necessarily need to already be Best Friends.

The current requirement is that the two Trainers must be at least:

Great Friends

The Lucky Trinket does not make long-distance trading automatically possible.

It changes Lucky Friend status.

Normal trading-distance requirements still apply unless you separately qualify for Remote Trading through Forever Friends.

That distinction is important:

Lucky Trinket = Lucky status

Forever Friends = Remote Trade access

They are different systems.

Best Friend List Search Strings

Pokémon GO also supports useful filters in the Friend List.

These are different from the Pokémon Storage search bar.

Friends You Have Not Interacted With Today

Use:

interactable⧉

This is extremely useful when Friendship grinding because it helps identify Trainers with whom you can still make daily progress.

Friends You Already Interacted With

Use:

!interactable⧉

Friends Who Can Receive a Gift

Use:

giftable⧉

Lucky Friends

Use:

lucky⧉

Search by Friendship Level

Use:

friendlevel0⧉

for Friends with no Friendship progression.

friendlevel1⧉

for Good Friends.

friendlevel2⧉

for Great Friends.

friendlevel3⧉

for Ultra Friends.

friendlevel4⧉

for Best Friends.

friendlevel5⧉

for Forever Friends.

You can also combine filters.

For example:

friendlevel4&interactable⧉

helps find Best Friends you have not yet interacted with today.

Or:

friendlevel5&lucky⧉

helps find Forever Friends who are also Lucky Friends.

For Pokémon Storage searches such as 4*⧉, shiny⧉, tradeevolve⧉, age0⧉, and many more, see the Pokémon GO Search Strings Cheat Sheet.

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Fastest Practical Way to Increase Friendship

There is no need to make Friendship progression complicated.

A good routine is:

1. Search interactable⧉

This identifies friends you can still progress with today.

2. Prioritize Valuable Friendships

Focus first on:

• friends close to Ultra Friends
• friends close to Best Friends
• friends close to Forever Friends
• active trade partners
• Lucky Friends
• Trainers you regularly raid with

3. Use Gifts Efficiently

An unopened Gift can provide an easy qualifying daily interaction.

Do not waste Gift opens on friends with whom you already progressed that day if your goal is maximizing Friendship advancement.

4. Join Weekly Challenges Together

Weekly Challenges can add up to seven extra Friendship Points and make a major difference when progressing toward Best or Forever Friends.

5. Prepare Trades Before Forever Friends

When you approach Forever Friends, start deciding:

• what you want
• what you can offer
• whether the Pokémon is eligible
• whether the trade is worth the Stardust
• whether you should wait for Lucky Friends

You can prepare by using:

• World Storage
• World Wishlist
• Trade List Generator
• Trade IV Calculator

Does Friendship Decrease If You Stop Interacting?

Normal inactivity does not make your Friendship level slowly decrease.

If you stop interacting for a while, you simply stop earning new Friendship Points.

You do not gradually fall from Best Friends back to Ultra Friends because you took a break.

Removing a Trainer from your Friend List is different.

When somebody is removed, Friendship bonuses no longer apply. Pokémon GO can restore the previous Friendship level if that Trainer is re-added within the game's limited restoration period.

Because that recovery window can be subject to game changes, do not rely on removing important friends as a Friendship-management strategy.

Can You Earn More Than One Friendship Point Per Day?

Under ordinary daily Friendship interactions:

normally only one standard point with the same friend per day.

Doing five raids with the same person after already progressing your Friendship that day does not normally give five standard daily Friendship Points.

However, Weekly Challenges are different.

They can award additional Friendship Points beyond the standard daily interaction, which is why it is now possible to gain more than one point with the same friend on certain days.

Is Best Friends Still Worth Reaching?

Absolutely.

Best Friends remains extremely useful even though Forever Friends now exists.

At Best Friends you already receive:

• the highest standard Stardust trade discount
• 5/5/5 normal trade IV floor
• strong raid bonuses
• Lucky Friends eligibility
• 100,000 base milestone XP

Forever Friends adds additional benefits on top rather than making Best Friends obsolete.

Is Forever Friends Permanent?

Forever Friends is the highest Friendship milestone.

Once reached, your relationship remains at that level during normal continued play.

The progress system then becomes useful for earning additional Remote Trade opportunities rather than advancing to another named Friendship tier.

Do Remote Trades Stack?

You can only have:

one Remote Trade available with a specific Forever Friend at a time.

That means continuing to build Friendship while you already have an unused Remote Trade with that Trainer does not allow an unlimited pile of Remote Trades to accumulate.

Complete the available Remote Trade before planning around the next +90-point cycle.

How to Use Friendship for Better Trades

Friendship affects several different parts of a Pokémon GO trade at once.

Higher Friendship can mean:

• dramatically lower Stardust costs
• higher minimum IV floors
• potential Lucky Friend opportunities
• eventual Remote Trading through Forever Friends

A useful PogoTrades workflow is:

1. Find active Trainers.
2. Build Friendship consistently.
3. Publish what you can trade in World Storage.
4. Publish what you need in World Wishlist.
5. Use the Trade List Generator to make your offers easier to share.
6. Check possible IV outcomes with the Trade IV Calculator.
7. Check expensive trade costs with the Stardust Cost Guide.
8. Once you reach Forever Friends, use the Remote Trading Guide to plan long-distance trades.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many Friendship Levels are there in Pokémon GO?

There are currently six milestones:

• Friend
• Good Friend
• Great Friend
• Ultra Friend
• Best Friend
• Forever Friend

How many Friendship Points do you need for Good Friends?

1 Friendship Point

How many Friendship Points do you need for Great Friends?

7 Friendship Points

How many Friendship Points do you need for Ultra Friends?

30 Friendship Points

How many Friendship Points do you need for Best Friends?

90 Friendship Points

How many Friendship Points do you need for Forever Friends?

180 Friendship Points

Does Forever Friends take exactly 180 days?

Not necessarily.

If you only gain one standard Friendship Point per day, the progression roughly corresponds to 180 interaction days.

Weekly Challenges can award additional Friendship Points, which can make the journey faster.

Can you earn more than one Friendship Point in one day?

Yes, through systems that award additional points such as Weekly Challenges.

A Weekly Challenge can provide up to seven additional Friendship Points on top of the normal daily point.

What happens when you become Forever Friends?

You earn a Remote Trade with that specific Trainer and continue gaining Friendship Points toward future Remote Trades.

How many points are needed for another Remote Trade?

After completing the initial Remote Trade, another:

90 Friendship Points

are required with that Forever Friend to earn another.

When does the Remote Trade tag unlock?

It unlocks when you are:

5 Friendship Points away from Forever Friends.

Can Best Friends become Lucky Friends?

Yes.

Once you are Best Friends, eligible Friendship interactions can give you a chance to become Lucky Friends.

Can Forever Friends become Lucky Friends?

Yes.

Forever Friends can still become Lucky Friends.

Does a Lucky Trinket require Best Friends?

No.

The current minimum is Great Friends.

Does a Lucky Trinket let you trade remotely?

No.

It creates Lucky Friend status.

Remote Trading requires the separate Forever Friends and Remote Trade system.

Does Friendship affect trade IVs?

Yes.

Higher Friendship levels increase the minimum IV floor for normal trades.

What is the Best Friend trade IV floor?

5/5/5

What is the Lucky Trade IV floor?

12/12/12

Does Friendship affect Stardust cost?

Yes.

Higher Friendship levels dramatically reduce the Stardust required for expensive trades.

Does Friendship decrease if you stop playing together?

Normal inactivity does not gradually reduce your Friendship level.

What does interactable⧉ mean?

It filters your Friend List to Trainers with whom you have not yet completed your normal daily Friendship interaction.

What does friendlevel5⧉ mean?

It filters the Friend List to Forever Friends.

Friendship Is More Than a Day Counter

Pokémon GO Friendship now affects far more than Gifts.

It influences:

• trade Stardust costs
• trade IV floors
• raid bonuses
• milestone XP
• Lucky Friend opportunities
• Remote Trading
• long-distance trade planning

The key milestones are easy to remember:

1 → Good

7 → Great

30 → Ultra

90 → Best

180 → Forever

But the modern Friendship system is no longer just:

"Interact once per day for 90 days."

Weekly Challenges can accelerate progress, Best Friends unlock Lucky Friend opportunities, and Forever Friends extend the system into repeatable Remote Trading.

If your main goal is trading, the best approach is to build relationships with active Trainers rather than simply filling your Friend List.

Start with the PogoTrades Friend Finder, organize what you have in World Storage, list what you want in World Wishlist, and let Friendship progression make those future trades cheaper and more useful.