Your buddy Pokémon isn’t just cosmetic — walking, feeding, and battling with it unlocks free Candy, item discovery, and eventually a permanent CP boost. Here’s how the friendship system actually works and which Pokémon are worth keeping as a long-term buddy.
The Four Buddy Levels
Buddy friendship is measured in hearts, and each level unlocks a new perk on top of the last:
| Level | Hearts Required | Perk Unlocked |
|---|---|---|
| Good Buddy | 1 | Your buddy appears on the map and walks with you |
| Great Buddy | 70 | Catch Assist — your buddy can knock a Poké Ball back toward a Pokémon that deflected it |
| Ultra Buddy | 150 | Your buddy can discover new PokéStops and bring back souvenirs |
| Best Buddy | 300 | A CP boost in battles (raids, Gyms, and Trainer Battles), plus a visible ribbon |
Hearts are earned by walking together, feeding your buddy Berries or Poffins, battling with it as your lead Pokémon, and taking snapshots together — there’s a daily cap on how many hearts you can earn from each activity, so spreading them out across a few days is faster than trying to max a buddy in one sitting.
Walking Distance and Candy
Every Pokémon has a walking distance requirement to earn Candy as your buddy — 1 km, 3 km, 5 km, or 20 km depending on the species, generally scaling with how rare or powerful that Pokémon’s final evolution is. Setting a Pokémon you need Candy for as your buddy is usually the most reliable way to farm Candy for a specific evolution line, especially for Pokémon that rarely spawn in the wild.
Is a Best Buddy Boost Worth It?
Once a Pokémon hits Best Buddy status, it gets a CP boost equivalent to a small level increase beyond the normal level cap — a meaningful edge for a raid attacker or PvP Pokémon you’re trying to squeeze every bit of performance out of, though not a replacement for good IVs or the right moveset. It’s most worth chasing on a Pokémon you already plan to invest heavily in — a top raid attacker from our Best Attackers by Type guide, or a core PvP pick from the Great League Meta Report — rather than spreading buddy time across whichever Pokémon you happen to be carrying that day.
Picking a Buddy Worth Keeping
Since hearts and distance both take real time to accumulate, it’s worth being deliberate about who you set as your buddy. Good picks are usually either a Pokémon you’re actively trying to farm Candy for, or a Pokémon you already plan to power up to Level 40+ for raids or PvP — that way the eventual Best Buddy CP boost lands on a Pokémon that will actually use it, rather than one you’ll swap out of your roster later.
How to Earn Hearts: Daily Activities and Caps
Hearts only arrive through Buddy Adventure activities, and each activity has its own daily cap that resets at local midnight. The caps below come from Serebii, Pokémon GO Hub and Bulbapedia, which agree on the main values. Your buddy has to be out on the map, so a hungry buddy that has left earns nothing until you feed it.
| Activity | What you do | Hearts per day |
|---|---|---|
| Walk together | Walk with your buddy on the overworld map | 1 per 2 km, up to 3 (6 km) |
| Give a treat | Feed Berries | Up to 3 |
| Battle together | Use your buddy in a Gym, Raid, Trainer Battle or Team GO Rocket battle | Up to 3 |
| Play together | Pet your buddy in AR mode | 1 |
| Take a snapshot | Photograph your buddy in AR mode | 1 |
| Visit a new place | Spin a PokéStop you have not visited | 1 |
| Follow a Route | Complete a Route with your buddy walking | 1 (per Pokémon GO Hub) |
| Bonus activities | Receive a Present, receive a Souvenir, or spin a PokéStop your buddy found | 1 each |
| Sleep sync | Sync sleep data through Pokémon GO Plus + | Up to 2 |
Bulbapedia, last edited in July 2026, puts the ceiling at about 12 hearts a day from standard activities, with Bonus hearts on top. Treat the table as a planning guide and confirm against your own Buddy screen, since values have changed between updates.
Mood, Excited and the Poffin
Every activity also raises your buddy’s mood. On Pokémon GO Hub’s scale, Excited sits at 32 points, most activities have a 30-minute cooldown, and mood decays if you ignore your buddy. Once your buddy is Excited, daily heart caps roughly double (Bulbapedia lists a maximum of 26 hearts a day, not counting Bonus), and the walking distance for each Candy is halved.
A Poffin skips the climb: it makes your buddy Excited instantly and keeps it walking beside you for six hours instead of the three hours you get from Berries.
Best Buddy Requirements and Exact Boost
You need 300 hearts with the same Pokémon. At that point it becomes your Best Buddy and gets a Best Buddy Ribbon, which you can switch off in settings. The reward is a CP boost equal to one extra power-up level, which Pokémon GO Hub describes as powering the Pokémon up twice, since each power-up is half a level. Bulbapedia notes it can push a Pokémon up to Level 51. It applies only while that Pokémon is your active buddy, so remember to set it before a Raid or battle.
A Best Buddy does not make a weak Pokémon strong, so check its stats with the IV Calculator and read Pokémon GO IVs Explained before investing.
Buddy Candy Distances by Group
Every species falls into one of four walking-distance groups: 1 km, 3 km, 5 km or 20 km per Candy. Legendary, Mythical and Ultra Beast Pokémon sit in the 20 km group. Verified examples:
- 1 km: Caterpie, Pidgey, Pikachu, Magikarp
- 3 km: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle
- 5 km: Eevee, Dratini, Onix, Lapras
- 20 km: Articuno, Mew, Mewtwo
For any other species, use our Buddy Distance tool. For Candy targets, use the Candy Calculator and the Stardust Calculator.
How to Get a Best Buddy as Fast as Possible
- Choose the Pokémon first. Hearts belong to the individual Pokémon, so pick one you will actually use and keep.
- Start the day with a Berry or Poffin. An unfed buddy leaves the map and stops earning.
- Do the one-heart tasks early: pet it, take a snapshot, spin one new PokéStop.
- Stack the three-heart tasks: walk 6 km, feed up to three Berries, and battle (a Gym, Raid or Trainer Battle all count).
- Chase Excited. Spread your activities across the day to respect the 30-minute cooldowns.
- Collect Bonus hearts. Open Presents and Souvenirs, and spin PokéStops your buddy points out.
Maxing the standard caps daily means roughly 25 days to 300 hearts (simple arithmetic on the figures above); Excited days and Bonus hearts shorten that.
Common Mistakes
- Swapping buddies constantly. You can swap up to 20 times a day, but hearts go to whichever Pokémon is out, so splitting your time slows them all.
- Forgetting that the Best Buddy boost only applies while assigned, then wondering why your Raid attacker underperforms.
- Skipping the cheap one-heart actions because walking feels like the main event.
Buddy System FAQ
How many hearts do I need for Best Buddy?
300 hearts with that Pokémon. Good, Great and Ultra Buddy unlock at 1, 70 and 150 hearts.
Does Best Buddy add a full level?
It adds CP equal to one extra power-up level while that Pokémon is your active buddy, up to Level 51.
Do hearts reset every day?
Only the daily caps reset, at local midnight. Earned hearts stay with that Pokémon.
Does Excited mood help?
Yes. It roughly doubles heart caps and halves the walking distance per Candy.
Related Guides
- Buddy Distance tool
- Candy Calculator
- Stardust Calculator
- IV Calculator
- Pokémon GO IVs Explained
- How to Maximize XP and Level Up Fast in Pokémon GO
- Pokémon GO guides hub
Sources: Bulbapedia: Buddy Pokémon, Pokémon GO Hub: Guide to Buddy Interactions, Serebii: Buddy, Dexerto: 5 km buddy list, Nintendo Life: Buddy distance chart.
