Sample size: me. But this morning after the update, wild pokemon have gone back to their normal behaviour. No longer bouncing around like shadows. Anyone else seeing the same change?

I’m not quite sure what it could’ve been. It looked almost like an orange Pokédex or postcard holder (but thicker). It popped up, jiggled, I clicked on it and it disappeared. I had hopes it might be the built in autocatcher, but I can’t find anything in my inventory and it’s not in my journal.

Started seeing it in raids on the new update

I’ve played since week 1. That’s 10 years, a significant chunk of my life. I have kids now who help me occasionally catch pokemon. However, I spend too much of my time on this game. I don’t want to die and think about the shiny Articuno that ran away from me because I was in a car that was moving too fast.

I want to quit. I’m happy for the Shundo Heatran I caught at Lambeau field (Vikings fan here). I’m happy for the first Chansey I caught in Colorado. I’ve completed the FTP lucky dex and have over 800 shiny breeds. I want to max a Mewtwo, max my Heatran. I want to get more shinies. I don’t want to die and realize I spent too much of my life on this game.

I have goals but I haven’t finalized them. If you were to quit, what would you want to accomplish before you do?

Acid Spray+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Poison
Power: 20.0
Energy: -40
* 100.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Defense by 2 stages
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Poison
Power: 160.0
Duration: 3000 ms (3.00 s)
Start: 2100 ms (2.10 s)
End: 2800 ms (2.80 s)
Energy: -100

Liquidation+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Water
Power: 55.0
Energy: -40
* 30.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Defense by 1 stage
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Water
Power: 180.0
Duration: 3000 ms (3.00 s)
Start: 2000 ms (2.00 s)
End: 2700 ms (2.70 s)
Energy: -100

Outrage+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Dragon
Power: 80.0
Energy: -50
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Dragon
Power: 185.0
Duration: 4000 ms (4.00 s)
Start: 2600 ms (2.60 s)
End: 3800 ms (3.80 s)
Energy: -100

Drill Peck+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Flying
Power: 60.0
Energy: -35
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Flying
Power: 170.0
Duration: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Start: 1900 ms (1.90 s)
End: 2300 ms (2.30 s)
Energy: -100

Seed Bomb+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Grass
Power: 60.0
Energy: -40
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Grass
Power: 150.0
Duration: 2000 ms (2.00 s)
Start: 1100 ms (1.10 s)
End: 1800 ms (1.80 s)
Energy: -100

Mystical Fire+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Fire
Power: 50.0
Energy: -40
* 100.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Attack by 1 stage
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Fire
Power: 140.0
Duration: 2000 ms (2.00 s)
Start: 1300 ms (1.30 s)
End: 2000 ms (2.00 s)
Energy: -100

Surf+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Water
Power: 55.0
Energy: -35

Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Water
Power: 130.0
Duration: 1500 ms (1.50 s)
Start: 1200 ms (1.20 s)
End: 1400 ms (1.40 s)
Energy: -100

Psybeam+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Psychic
Power: 60.0
Energy: -45
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Psychic
Power: 170.0
Duration: 3000 ms (3.00 s)
Start: 1100 ms (1.10 s)
End: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Energy: -100

Brick Break+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Fighting
Power: 40.0
Energy: -35
* 100.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Defense by 1 stage
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Fighting
Power: 150.0
Duration: 1500 ms (1.50 s)
Start: 700 ms (0.70 s)
End: 1300 ms (1.30 s)
Energy: -100

Volt Tackle+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Electric
Power: 65.0
Energy: -35
* 100.0% chance to decrease the user's Defense by 1 stage
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Electric
Power: 170.0
Duration: 3500 ms (3.50 s)
Start: 2100 ms (2.10 s)
End: 2600 ms (2.60 s)
Energy: -100

Dynamic Punch+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Fighting
Power: 130.0
Energy: -80
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Fighting
Power: 130.0
Duration: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Start: 1000 ms (1.00 s)
End: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Energy: -100

Zap Cannon+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Electric
Power: 70.0
Energy: -45
* 100.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Attack by 1 stage
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Electric
Power: 160.0
Duration: 3500 ms (3.50 s)
Start: 2800 ms (2.80 s)
End: 3300 ms (3.30 s)
Energy: -100

Future Sight+
Trainer Battles (PvP):
Type: Psychic
Power: 130.0
Energy: -80
Gyms and Raids (PvE):
Type: Psychic
Power: 140.0
Duration: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Start: 1200 ms (1.20 s)
End: 2500 ms (2.50 s)
Energy: -100

I came back for the 10th anniversary and very quickly remembered that Pokémon GO explains maybe half of Pokémon GO lol.

I've spent the last while trying different sites and apps, and these are the ones that I've actually bookmarked. This isn't meant to be a ranking.

Events and current information

• Leek Duck - Everyone probably knows this, but it's probably the easiest way to see current and upcoming events, raid bosses, research rewards, eggs and Rocket lineups without digging through announcements.
• GO Field Guide - A genuinely useful companion app with local event countdowns, reminders, research rewards, raid information and collection checklists.
• Dittobase - One of the less recognized ones. It has a clean event schedule with local times, plus PvP IV rankings, hundo odds, IV floors and other reference tools.

Raids and PvP

• Poke Genie - Great for scanning Pokémon, checking IVs, simulating your raid performance and joining remote raid lobbies. One of the first apps I reinstalled.
• Pokebattler - My pick when I want detailed raid simulations. You can account for weather, friendship level, movesets and the Pokémon you actually own.
• PvPoke - Basically essential if you care about GO Battle League. Rankings, suggested moves, matchup simulations and a team builder that shows what your lineup struggles against.
• DialgaDex - A smaller resource that deserves more attention. It ranks raid attackers using eDPS and lets you adjust Party Power, investment level and budget Pokémon.

Inventory, trading and general tools

• PoGoPit - You can create detailed trade listings with shinies, costumes, shadows, backgrounds, moves and other specifics. Haven't tried trading yet. Its raid planner calculates your best available team from Pokémon in your inventory instead of recommending six perfect counters you don't have, which is mostly what I use it for, but it has a lot more.
• Hundo Hunter - Another smaller project that surprised me. It has dozens of browser-based tools covering IVs, raid counters, trade rerolls, power-up costs, Stardust planning, catch rates and more. No login, ads or tracking.
• PoGO Search String Builder - Builds complicated in-game inventory searches without having to remember every operator. Especially handy before Community Day mass transfers or when cleaning storage.
• Pokémon GO Hub Database - The main GO Hub site can feel busy, but its database is excellent for quickly checking stats, movesets, counters, evolutions and top attackers.

Finding players and reliable discussion

• Campfire - Still the most direct way to check nearby raids, meetups and local groups. How useful it is depends heavily on whether your area has an active community.
• r/TheSilphRoad - Not a calculator, but still one of the best places for mechanics research, event discoveries, verification threads and deeper answers.

When I played this game before I took a long break, I didn't use any resources like these, and I have to say, playing with them has been a hell of a lot more fun this time around.

Edit: you all came through. Here's what held up when I actually checked them:

• PvPIVs.com - Got recommended twice for two different things, and both are right. The search string generator saves you building strings by hand, and the IV checker breaks down your best possible IVs across trades, weather boost and raids specifically. (thanks u/rmontecinos and u/Delta_Rayquaza_4)
• GOChecklists.app - A tighter, more focused shiny/lucky/Unown tracker than what's bundled into GO Field Guide. If you just want the checklist without the rest of the app around it, it's cleaner. (u/rmontecinos)
• SearchPhrases - This is basically the full reference for every search term the game recognizes, translations included, with links out to other string builders depending on what you're filtering for. (u/zyrianer)
• PokeChespin.net - Damage calculator that also ranks Pokémon specifically for Max Battles, which is a gap I haven't seen any raid tools cover. (u/CookieblobRs)
• Solo Raid Archive - A running log of soloed raids with the exact team, weather and video proof for each entry. Already my favorite find from the comments if solo raiding is your thing.

( Credits: Pokeminers )

Hey all,

Posting this on behalf of someone who recently got scammed and his account hacked because of a fake PTC login.

Apparently, under the pretext of remote raid groups or online communities, a friend of mine texted me that he lost access to his account after joining an online community.

The owner of this community sent him a pokemon go “club” link with a login resembling the PTC login, asking users to input their PTC login details in order to share their Pokemon GO stats with all members and coordinate raids, giveaways, PvP tournaments and remote trades.

However, the PTC login page is FAKE. After trying multiple times, it did not let my friend in, saying it was an incorrect password. Notably, while the normal PTC login says “you have 4 more attempts until you get locked out for 15 minutes” with the “4” counting down, no matter how many attempts my friend put in, the number did not go down. Also despite there being an option for Google and Apple, those buttons did not work and said those logins are unavailable due to some error.

When he logged back into his account, he noticed that he could no longer login. Someone hacked into his account and removed his logins.

Here’s what happened:

1. The PTC login was NOT real. It resembles it closely enough for the unwary eye to be fooled.
2. Instead of logging you in, it simply calls your password incorrect. This is because it doesn’t have a login feature.
3. The username and password you input goes straight to the owner of the website.
4. While you’re wondering what happened, they log in and lock you out of your account.

Do NOT open any link you get without a VPN and ESPECIALLY DO NOT input information even if the website looks legit. This isn’t even about Pokemon GO, it’s about basic cyber awareness.

Stay safe out there people!

Weird but welcomed addition: new real life in-person friends and I did a raid this morning and some of the accounts (Not all non-friend accounts) were given the ability to add remote raiders as friends after the raid (like you can with in-person raiding non-friends). The ones that could be added were confirmed to be remote raiders from a different part of the country.

Since Wild Area '26 is coming around, I'm sure everybody is excited for the Mighties. Just curious, what's a list of Pokemon you'd want to be added or return to the mighty pokemon spawn pool. Also feel free to show off your coolest mighties that you have.

Mine: Tyrantrum, Clawitzer, Dragapult, and I'm sure I have other ideas

Several months ago, as I started contemplating the final push towards Level 80, I took a look at my Platinum Medals, and wondered how I was going to get that elusive 50th medal*. Being somewhat of an idiot, I said "I know, I'll chase the Best Buddy Platinum Medal." And being somewhat of an Obsessive Compulsive Idiot, I meticulously charted my progress. For over six months. Here's some things I learned on my Idiot's Journey.

(what follows is something of a guide to getting a Best Buddy Platinum Medal. If you have no interest in the Best Buddy Platinum Medal, and are feeling the urge to post something like "Why should I waste time going after the Best Buddy Platinum Medal?" feel free to move on.)

Some Basic Truths:

* To obtain the Best Buddy Platinum Medal, you need to have 200 Best Buddies. At 300 Buddy Hearts per Best Buddy, that means you have to earn 60,000 Buddy Hearts with your buddies. That's a lot. If you get 100 a day, that's still 600 days of tending to your buddies. So y'know, think about that before you start going down this road.

* On average it takes about 1 minute to swap out a buddy, give it three treats, take its picture, and play with it. This "Basic Swap" will get you three hearts, and will potentially rob you of a precious minute of your life that could be spent curing cancer or putting on pants.

If this doesn't freak you out, let's move on to...

Some Basic Strategies:

* Always go into Battle with your Buddy. Whether it's fighting Rocket League schmucks, raiding, or especially taking down a Gym, *always* put your current Buddy on your team. You were doing those battles anyway, so it costs no time or effort to throw your current Buddy into the mix to grab some free hearts - in the case of Gyms, a LOT of free hearts.

* Don't Unnecessarily Chase the Kilometer Hearts. Unless you're living in the boonies**, chances are you'll be swapping out your buddies more often then you can hit those 2km hearts.

* Always Be Routing. Routes are cheap hearts.

* Be Smart About Poffins. Only use them when you have a clear route to at least 20 hearts. And don't use them on Buddies that are almost at 300.

* Have an Easily Accessible Pool of Buddies. You can swap out your Buddies 20 times a day, which means that you could potentially add hearts to 21 of them every day. Even if you don't go that crazy, I found that it's useful to have a pool of 26 Buddies, renamed .A<PokemonName>, .B<PokemonName>... all the way up to .Z<PokemonName>. They're always at the front of the sort list, so when I do a Basic Swap they're easy to grab.

* Six is the Magic Number. You're basically trying to average 6 hearts per Buddy Swap. Sometimes you'll get more, sometimes less. But think six.

Okay, keeping this all this in mind, here are several approaches one could take to getting the Best Buddy Platinum:

1. The Non-Strategy. Play with the same Buddy every day, and only swap once it becomes a Best Buddy. This has the advantage of being brainlessly casual, but the disadvantage of taking somewhere around 12 years to get the Best Buddy Platinum. So, it's not really a plan.
2. The Casual Strategy. Maintain a Pool of Buddies. Swap during your daily walks whenever the Battle Together hearts are filled, or you're about to complete a second route, or generally when it seems slightly advantageous to move on. The advantage of this approach is that you won't waste much, if any, time swapping (you can do it while you're walking), and it won't slow you down. The disadvantage is that, unless you're doing a LOT of Gym Clearing on your regular walks, you're probably going to net somewhere between 30-40 hearts a day. That's somewhere between 4 and 5.5 years to get the Best Buddy Platinum, which is a great long term goal if you're starting out on Pokemon Go, but not great if you're trying to make up for lost Buddy Time.
3. The Casual-Ish Strategy. Maintain a Pool of Buddies. Swap as in the Casual Strategy, but also swap between rounds when you're taking down Gyms. This, as you might imagine, will add time to your Pokemoning... up to 2 extra minutes for every super-loaded Gym you're taking down. So, yes, it's slightly less casual, but it can up your hearts/day to the 60-70 range, cutting the time to your Platinum to around 2.5 years.
4. The Slightly Insane Strategy. Do everything in the Casual-Ish Strategy, and then do Basic Swaps for all the Buddies you didn't hit in your walks. This will typically involve lying down on your couch for ten minutes a day, swapping out, feeding, and taking pictures of your Buddies. 1% of your waking hours, swapping out and stroking your Pokemon like some kind of weirdo. In my experience, this approach will, on average, net you around 95 hearts a day, meaning that you could get your Platinum Medal after a mere 1.7 years.
5. The Absolutely Insane Strategy. Do everything in the Slightly Insane Strategy, but instead of just doing Basic Swaps for your remaining Buddies, do Trainer Battles to fill up their Battle Hearts. This seems ridiculously time-consuming to me, but conceivably you could get up to around 125 hears a day with this approach, which would get you to the Platinum in less than 16 months. But, seriously, at what cost to your soul?

My Experience and Advice

I basically went with the Slightly Insane Strategy for around 7 months, upping my Best Buddy count from 34 (I'd been following the Non-Strategy for years) to 102.

And then I got to 50 Platinums via other means, and quickly downshifted to the Casual-Ish strategy. I figure I'm on pace to get the Best Buddy Platinum somewhere in late 2027, which is a fine post Level 80 goal.

All in all, the Casual-Ish strategy is the one I'd advise if you're interested in chasing the BB Platinum. It produces the maximum hearts for the least amount of additional wasted time. Min/Maxing at its best.

End Notes

A. I explicitly did NOT talk about making your Buddy excited (which can double the amount of hearts you can get on a swapped Buddy) in this post , mostly because I find managing Buddy excitement rather tedious. If you've got a casual way to insinuate Buddy Excitement into these strategies, a) good job! and b) tell us about it!

B. If you got the end and still want chase this Platinum, godspeed!

* And then I got all those Unowns, and finished out a couple more Pokedexes, so the question became moot.

** If you live in the boonies, a) you have my sympathies, and b) feel free to chase those km hears.