Pokémon GO Remote Trades: Eligibility, Wish Lists and Protecting Your Lucky Trade

For a successful Remote Trade, check three things before choosing Pokémon: you have an available trade with that Forever Friend, both Pokémon are eligible, and the final offer is the exchange you actually want. If you are also Lucky Friends, complete your intended Lucky exchange before making another trade with that person.

Remote Trading is already available globally. It does not require both players to be online together, but it does require responses at several stages. This guide explains how to prepare the offers, avoid a stalled exchange and use a limited Remote Trade deliberately.

Unlock the trade with the right friend

Forever Friends unlocks at 180 friendship points with that specific Trainer and awards your first Remote Trade together. Subsequent Remote Trades require another 90 points. You can hold only one available Remote Trade per Forever Friend, so treating them as an unlimited stockpile wastes opportunities.

The special Remote Trade tag appears when you are five points away from Forever Friends. Tagging Pokémon is preparation; it does not mean you have already reached the trading milestone.

Ordinary friendship interactions provide up to one point per day with a friend. Weekly Challenges can add more. For example, if you need 12 points, 12 ordinary daily points would close the gap; a qualifying challenge reward can shorten that route. Do not confuse “12 points remaining” with a guaranteed 12-day wait, or expect several ordinary interactions on the same day to provide several points.

Prioritize the friend who has a Pokémon you genuinely want and who wants something you can offer. Reaching the milestone with someone whose collection does not match yours may unlock a trade without producing a useful exchange.

Check the Pokémon before you negotiate

Remote eligibility is stricter than “I can see this Pokémon in my storage.” Use this checklist before promising a particular catch.

An older catch is not automatically eligible: a Pokémon caught six months ago but received through a trade still fails the previously-traded rule. Likewise, making a Pokémon available from a temporary assignment does not remove an unrelated restriction.

For a useful offer pool, start with older duplicates you would genuinely exchange. Do not tag your only copy merely to make your list look appealing. Your Forever Friends can see tagged offers, so a smaller accurate pool is more useful than a large list containing Pokémon you intend to refuse.

Wish lists are requests, not the final exchange

Open your Trainer Profile, select Friends, choose your Forever Friend and enter Remote Trade. The process has three decisions:

1. Request up to three Pokémon from your friend's tagged offers. Your friend makes a wish list from yours.
2. Choose one of your Pokémon from your friend's requests to offer. Your friend chooses one of theirs from your requests.
3. Review the resulting one-for-one exchange, then confirm or cancel.

Selecting three wishes does not mean receiving three Pokémon. It gives the other player alternatives. Include only options you would be happy to receive in the final exchange.

Worked example: why the third choice matters

Alex wants either Bea's older shiny Dratini or her older shiny Bagon. Bea wants Alex's older shiny Ralts. Alex should request Dratini and Bagon; Bea should request Ralts. Alex then offers Ralts, while Bea decides which of the two requested Pokémon to offer.

If Alex adds an ordinary Pidgey as a third wish just to fill all three slots, Bea can select that requested Pidgey. The system has followed Alex's request, even though the resulting deal is disappointing. Alex can cancel before completion, but the unnecessary third option created avoidable back-and-forth.

For a precisely agreed exchange, request only the agreed eligible Pokémon. For a flexible exchange, use alternatives that are genuinely acceptable. In either case, review the final offer rather than assuming your first wish was selected.

Keep the exchange moving across time zones

You do not need a shared online session. Each stage allows 48 hours for the required response; missing the approvals can cause the process to expire and restart. This is a response window for each step, not a promise that the entire exchange will finish within 48 hours.

Suppose you make a selection on Monday evening and your friend answers on Tuesday morning. You can handle the next required decision when you return. The practical habit is to check the trade whenever you open the game, not to wait until both players happen to appear online.

Before starting with a friend who is travelling or busy, agree that you can both check in over the next few days. If you have a way to contact them, a short note naming the next required action is more useful than repeatedly asking whether they are online: “I've selected my request; please choose your offer when you can.”

You can cancel and start over during the process. Use that option when the final combination is wrong, rather than completing an unwanted exchange simply because you have already spent time arranging it.

Preserve Lucky Friends for the trade you want

Lucky Friends applies to the next completed trade with that person. A Remote Trade can use it, but beginning a remote request does not reserve the bonus for that request. You can also trade in person while a Remote Trade is pending.

That combination creates an important trap. Imagine you and Bea are Lucky Friends and have prepared a valuable Remote Trade. Before finishing it, you meet and trade two common duplicates. That completed in-person exchange uses the Lucky Friends benefit. The pending remote exchange no longer has that guarantee from the same Lucky Friends status.

If the remote exchange is the one you want to make Lucky, finish it first. If you prefer to use Lucky Friends on an in-person exchange, do that deliberately and evaluate the remote offer without assuming it will also be guaranteed Lucky.

Being Forever Friends and being Lucky Friends are different conditions. Forever Friends provides access to Remote Trading; Lucky Friends guarantees the next trade's Lucky result. One does not automatically imply the other.

Spend the daily opportunity on the right exchange

You can complete one Remote Trade per day. Remote Trades do not count as Special Trades, but that exemption does not remove the remote daily limit or the Pokémon eligibility rules.

When more than one friend has a useful exchange ready, rank the choices by purpose:

• Collection goal: the offer adds something you actually want rather than another duplicate with no planned use.
• Lucky goal: you and that friend are Lucky Friends, and the selected Pokémon is the one you intend to make Lucky.
• Timing: both players can complete the remaining steps without letting the response window lapse.
• Progress: an available trade is being held with a friend whose next earning cycle is approaching; decide whether you have a worthwhile deal rather than assuming another trade will stack behind it.

There is no need to accept a poor offer just to use the day's allowance. A limited trade is valuable because of the exchange it enables, not because the button can be pressed.

Before you confirm

Before the final confirmation, check the exact outgoing Pokémon, the exact incoming Pokémon and whether your intended Lucky Friends status is still active. Those three checks prevent the expensive mistake: successfully completing the wrong trade.