Remote trading in Pokémon GO: the Forever Friends rules

Last updated 2026-08-09

Pokémon GO added remote trading in December 2025. Trainers who reach Forever Friends, the friendship level at 180 friendship points, can trade with each other at any distance. The trade is asynchronous, capped at one Remote Trade per Trainer per day, and only works on Pokémon caught more than 30 days ago.

Can you trade Pokémon remotely in Pokémon GO?

Yes. Since December 2025, Pokémon GO supports Remote Trades between Trainers who have reached the Forever Friends friendship level. Physical distance is irrelevant, so you can trade with a Forever Friend on another continent. Every other trade in the game still requires both Trainers to be in the same place.

Most trading guides still state that Pokémon GO trading is proximity-only. That was true until December 2025 and is now wrong for one specific case: a Remote Trade between two Forever Friends. Remote trading did not replace in-person trading, and it does not remove the proximity rule from ordinary trades.

How do you unlock remote trading in Pokémon GO?

Becoming Forever Friends with a specific Trainer is what unlocks remote trading with that Trainer, and Forever Friends is the friendship level reached at 180 friendship points. Each subsequent Remote Trade with that same friend requires a further 90 friendship points: the progress bar refills, and you can trade with them again.

One milestone sits just before it and is easy to confuse with it. At 175 friendship points, 5 points before Forever Friends, the Remote Trade tag unlocks. That tag is how you mark which of your Pokémon you are willing to offer. The tag unlocking is not the same event as remote trading unlocking: you can tag Pokémon at 175 points, but you cannot remote trade until 180. The requirement itself is a fixed 180 friendship points, not a fixed number of days. Points accrue at up to one per day per friend from actions such as opening Gifts, raiding, battling or trading together, so 180 days is the floor rather than the target; Weekly Challenges, which can grant more than one point in a day, are what shortens the calendar time. Trading of any kind is also gated behind Trainer level 10.

How does a remote trade work, step by step?

Both Trainers tag the Pokémon they are willing to offer with the Remote Trade tag. Each Trainer then selects up to three of their friend's tagged Pokémon. The process runs asynchronously from there: each side has 48 hours to respond to each step, and the trade completes once both sides have responded through to confirmation.

The two Trainers do not have to be present at the same time. That is the main structural difference from an in-person trade, and it is what lets a Remote Trade run across time zones. Because each step carries its own 48-hour window, a slow partner can stretch a single Remote Trade over several days. Either Trainer can also decline, which ends that attempt.

How many remote trades can you do per day?

One. Trainers can complete only 1 Remote Trade per day. Reaching Forever Friends with a second, third or tenth person does not raise that cap; it only adds people you are allowed to remote trade with.

The per-friend pace is governed separately: after a Remote Trade with a given friend, another 90 friendship points with that same friend are required before you can remote trade with them again. A pending Remote Trade also does not appear to lock you out of trading with that person in person. Niantic's Trading Remotely help page is reported to say an in-person trade can still be completed with a friend while a Remote Trade with them is pending, but that page returns 403 to automated fetches and the wording was only seen through search-result extracts, so treat it as reported rather than confirmed.

Does a remote trade cost extra Stardust?

Nobody outside Niantic knows. Niantic publishes no Remote-Trade-specific Stardust table, so the Stardust cost of a Remote Trade is not documented anywhere first-party. Do not assume it matches the in-person price for your friendship level, and do not assume a surcharge either.

For reference, Bulbapedia's in-person table gives these figures at Best Friend and Forever Friend level: 100 Stardust for a Pokémon already registered in the recipient's Pokedex, 800 for a Special Trade of a registered Shiny, Legendary or Ultra Beast, 800 for a new Pokedex entry, and 40,000 for a Special Trade that is also a new Pokedex entry. Those are Bulbapedia's numbers, not Niantic's: Niantic publishes no Stardust figures at all, only 'small', 'medium' and 'large' reductions. They are also in-person costs, and the full table by friendship level is in the trade Stardust cost guide. Because Niantic states Remote Trades never count as Special Trades regardless of what is exchanged, inferring the remote price from the Special Trade column is not safe.

How old does a Pokémon have to be to trade it remotely?

More than 30 days old. Any Pokémon caught within the last 30 days cannot be sent in a Remote Trade, even though it would be eligible for an in-person trade. This is the single most common reason a Pokémon does not appear in the Remote Trade tag list.

The full list of Pokémon Niantic excludes from Remote Trades: caught in the last 30 days; previously traded once already; Shadow Pokémon; Mythical Pokémon; Pokémon currently defending a Gym or stationed at a Power Spot; Pokémon placed at a Pokémon Playground; your current buddy; currently Mega-Evolved Pokémon; Fused Pokémon; and Crowned Sword Zacian or Crowned Shield Zamazenta. Mega Evolution is temporary, so a Pokémon blocked for that reason becomes eligible again once it reverts. Shadow Pokémon cannot be traded at all in Pokémon GO, remotely or in person. Purified Pokémon are tradeable, and in person a Purified trade counts as a Special Trade; the tradability guide covers that and the rest of the matrix.

What happens if you miss a step of a remote trade?

You and your friend each have 48 hours to respond to each step of the Remote Trade. If either Trainer misses that window, the step expires. Whether the earned Remote Trade itself is preserved or consumed when that happens is not documented, so do not plan around either outcome.

The practical advice is the boring one: respond promptly. Agree the trade in a chat app first, so both sides know a step is waiting rather than discovering it 47 hours later. Either Trainer can also decline deliberately at any point.

Do Special Trades and Lucky Trades work remotely?

Remote Trades never count as Special Trades, regardless of which Pokémon are exchanged, so a remote trade does not consume your daily Special Trade. Lucky works normally: if you are Lucky Friends with your Forever Friend, your next completed trade is a Lucky Trade even when that trade is remote.

A Remote Trade is not automatically Lucky. Because you get so few Remote Trades, many players hold the trade until Lucky Friends triggers with that partner, so the one trade they are allowed produces a Lucky Pokémon. As with in-person trading, Lucky Friends status is consumed once the trade completes.

How is remote trading different from in-person trading?

Remote trading removes the distance requirement but adds four constraints in exchange: Forever Friends only, one Remote Trade per Trainer per day, Pokémon must be over 30 days old, and each step allows up to 48 hours for a response. In return, a Remote Trade never burns your daily Special Trade.

Niantic's help page words the in-person requirement as both Trainers being physically in the same location and does not publish a distance in metres.

How do you find someone to remote trade with?

You cannot match with a stranger and trade remotely the same day. A Remote Trade requires 180 friendship points with that specific Trainer, which is at least 180 days of daily interaction at the base rate of one point per day. Finding partners is therefore a long-term exercise.

The practical approach is to add friend codes well before you need them, keep opening Gifts daily with the people whose collections you want access to, and use Weekly Challenges to earn more than one point per day. Friend-code exchanges, local Discord servers and trade-matching sites such as PoGo Alley are the usual routes; the guide to finding trading partners covers them in full.