How to play with your buddy Pokemon and raise buddy status in Pokemon GO

Trainers who want to earn the Best Buddy status in Pokemon GO are going to have to play with their buddies.

Surprisingly, there are several benefits to raising a Pokemon to Best Buddy status. Perhaps the biggest benefit is that the Pokemon’s Combat Power (CP) will be raised if it becomes a Best Buddy. Other than that, the Pokemon might also find extra items while walking around, and it will take less walking distance to get candy for it.

---

Ways to help Pokemon achieve Best Buddy status

Playing with a buddy Pokemon is certainly one of the simpler tasks to complete in the game. All trainers need to do is open the buddy profile, which should be found on the bottom-left corner of the screen.

This will bring up a list of tasks that trainers can do to raise the Pokemon’s buddy status. There will be a section titled 'Play', which trainers can click on.

Doing so will take the player to a screen that shows the Buddy Pokemon out in a real-life environment using the augmented reality (AR) feature. From here, trainers will just need to pet their buddy with their finger until they see yellow sparks emanating from the Pokemon.

If a trainer has the AR disabled, they can still play with their buddy Pokemon. It will just happen with a generic grassy background instead of real surroundings.

Playing with a Pokemon is one of six things trainers can do to raise its buddy status. The full list of ways trainers can raise buddy status is as follows:

• Walk with the buddy (for at least 2 km)
• Give the buddy a treat
• Play with the buddy
• Battle with the buddy
• Take a snapshot of the buddy
• Visit new PokeStop or Gym with the buddy

There are also four different statuses that a buddy Pokemon can have:

• Good Buddy: Follows trainer around map and has mood displayed on profile page.
• Great Buddy: May pick up items and may help trainers catch Pokemon.
• Ultra Buddy: Draws attention to new PokeStops and may find souvenirs.
• Best Buddy: Receive CP boost as long as the Pokemon is active as a buddy. Also receives special commemorative ribbon.