How to play with your buddy in Pokémon GO

Pokémon

June 26, 2023

Zach Roberts

If you’re trying to get the best friend badge or for any other reason, you need to know how to play with your buddy in Pokémon GO. Buddies are able to do certain things that other Pokémon cannot and one of those things is being played with. They can also earn candies, find gifts and so much more. Playing with your buddy is an important step to becoming best friends, which comes with significant bonuses. Here’s what you need to do to accomplish this.

@ Pokemon GO

Playing with your buddy in Pokémon GO

To start, open up the Pokémon GO app. Once it loads, there are two ways you can go about this. In the bottom right of the screen, there’s an avatar for you and an avatar for your buddy. If you have a shiny Galarian Zigzagoon set as your buddy, it will be in the smaller circle while your character is in the bigger one on the left. Clicking the buddy will take you directly to his page. If you happen to hit your own avatar, you can still click the Pokémon GO buddy from there.

How to play with your buddy in Pokémon GO

The buddy screen in Pokémon GO

Once in the buddy page, there are several options. The one you need to pay attention to is the large, green “Play” button in the center of the screen. Click that and it should open the AR part of the game. Once you do, as long as your app is up to date, your buddy Pokémon will walk out. If you’re not on the current version, you may see yellow footprints on the screen. Clicking one of those footprints will bring the Pokémon out.

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From here, you can do any number of things. You can feed the buddy berries, take pictures of it, accept gifts from it (if you’re at the appropriate level of friendship) and so much more. Playing with it, fortunately, is very simple. To do this, just rub your finger across the Pokémon’s body several times rapidly. Mimic a scratching motion as if you were helping the Pokémon take care of an itch. Do this for a long time and a heart will flow from the buddy. You have now successfully played with your buddy.

What does playing with your buddy do inPokémon GO?

Playing with your buddy in Pokémon GO does one thing: improves friendship. Once a day, you can bring out your buddy (by following the above steps) and play with it. This adds one heart to your friendship level. One heart will improve your relationship to Good Buddy level. Great Buddy level requires 70 hearts. Ultra Buddy requires 150 hearts and Best Friend level needs trainers to earn 300 hearts with their buddies.

Friendship levels in Pokémon GO

Fortunately, you can feed berries, walk with, battle with, take pictures of and more with your Pokémon GO buddy to earn hearts in a single day, but playing with them is an easy method to earning hearts and improving that friendship level.

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