Use The Buddy System! Pokémon GO’s Buddy System Tips and Guide

No, no, not like that!

The latest update for Pokémon GO introduces the much-anticipated Buddy System, which allows you to choose one of your Pokémon and collect candy for evolution and levelling just by walking around. This way, you won't need to randomly find the same type of a Pokémon just to earn candy.

Of course, you will need to find or hatch the Pokémon first for it to become your buddy in the first place. But once you do, you can do your player's profile in the game (not your Pokémon list) and assign a buddy Pokémon. You'll know if it works if you see a little profile icon of your buddy Pokémon next to yours in the lower left-hand corner of the general screen.

 

Generally, the rarer the ​Pokémon is, the more distance you'll need to walk—either 1km, 3km, or 5km—to collect the candy from your buddy. Yes, it works exactly like the egg-hatching system. We'll list out the ​distances in the handy table below, but here are some special notes on the buddy system:

1) Note that Pikachu, Geodude, and Magikarp are under the 1km category.

2) It doesn't whether you choose a basic or an evolved form of a Pokémon. You'll still receive just one candy.

3) On rare occasion, you'll net two candies instead of one, you lucky dog.

4) Walking with Pikachu for 10km will have it sit on your shoulder. How totes adorbz!

5) Evolving your buddy Pokémon will reset the walking counter, so wait to evolve it if you're close to getting the candy by walking.

6) Consider GPS Drift. If there is a place in your house or work where your GPS can barely detect your phone, there is a chance that your character will walk on its own.

** – Denotes datamined fields for the Legendary Bird Pokémon​ Ditto, Mew, and Mewtwo