Pokemon GO Best Buddy Guide: Earn 300 Hearts Faster With These Daily Habits

The One Status That Makes Your Pokemon Better in Every Battle

There are 300 hearts standing between you and Best Buddy — the only in-game status that permanently raises your Pokemon’s CP while you use it in battle.

That CP boost applies everywhere: Raids, Gyms, Team GO Rocket encounters, and GO Battle League. It doesn’t cost Stardust. It doesn’t require a lucky Pokemon. It just requires a daily routine anyone can maintain.

This guide breaks the entire system down step by step, including the exact activities that earn hearts, how to trigger the Excited mood that doubles your daily earnings, and the timing mistakes that cost players progress they don’t realise they’ve lost.

Quick Start Checklist

• Set the Pokemon you want to Best Buddy as your active buddy
• Walk at least 6 km per day with your buddy on the map (hunger meter must not be empty)
• Feed your buddy 3 berries (or 1 Poffin for instant Excited mood)
• Play with your buddy once in AR mode until it jumps and spins
• Complete 3 battles with your buddy on your team (GO Battle League, Gyms, or Rocket)
• Take 1 snapshot of your buddy in AR mode
• Spin 1 new PokéStop or Gym you haven’t visited before

That routine earns 10–13 hearts per day and reaches Best Buddy in roughly 23–30 days without spending PokéCoins.

Step 1 — Understand the Four Buddy Levels

Your buddy progresses through four levels as you accumulate Affection Hearts. Each level unlocks new perks that make the next stretch faster.

The CP Boost is the target. It is the only buff that makes a Pokemon stronger at its current Power-Up level without spending additional Stardust — as long as that Pokemon remains your active buddy. It’s most valuable on Pokemon you use regularly in Raids and competitive content, where every CP increment translates to extra damage output.

Note that Great Buddy (70 hearts) and Ultra Buddy (150 hearts) also unlock bonus heart categories — Presents and Souvenirs respectively. These bonus hearts are separate from the seven daily activities and actively accelerate your progress through the final 150 hearts to Best Buddy.

Step 2 — Know Your Seven Daily Heart Activities

Each day resets at midnight local time. You have seven activities that earn hearts — and hitting all of them is what separates a 30-day path from a 50-day one.

1. Walk Together (up to 3 hearts/day)

Earn 1 heart for every 2 km walked, for a maximum of 3 hearts per day (6 km total). Your buddy must be on the map — meaning the hunger meter must not be empty — for walking distance to count toward hearts. Feed your buddy before any long walk session.

2. Give Treats (up to 3 hearts/day)

Feed your buddy 3 Berries to earn 1 heart. Any Berry type works: Razz, Pinap, Nanab, or Golden Razz. With standard berries you earn 1 heart per feeding when the hunger meter is low enough to accept food. Feed 1 Poffin instead and you earn all 3 treat hearts instantly, filling the hunger meter for 6 hours.

3. Play Together (1 heart/day)

Tap the Play button on your buddy screen to enter AR mode. Rub your buddy’s back until it jumps and spins — that earns the single daily heart. Allow 15–20 seconds for your buddy to fully materialise before interacting.

4. Battle Together (up to 3 hearts/day)

Earn 1 heart per battle for a maximum of 3 hearts per day. Any battle type counts: GO Battle League, Gym attacks or defences, Team GO Rocket encounters, or Trainer Battles against the team leaders. Losses count. Three quick GO Battle League matches earns the full 3 hearts in under 10 minutes.

5. Take a Snapshot (1 heart/day)

Open AR mode from your buddy screen and photograph your buddy once. The heart triggers even if your buddy doesn’t appear clearly in the frame — the camera action itself registers it.

6. Visit a New Place (1 heart/day)

Spin a PokéStop or Gym Photo Disc you have never visited before. Once you’ve covered your local area, this is the hardest heart to earn consistently — but any newly-added PokéStop counts as new, and visiting towns you haven’t played in before resets the pool.

7. Follow a Route (1 heart/day)

Complete any Route in the game with your buddy on the map. Routes are available via the Routes section in the main menu. This is the newest addition to the buddy system and the easiest “extra” heart for active walkers.

Daily Heart Summary

Step 3 — When Hearts Reset (and Why Timing Matters)

Hearts reset at midnight local time — not server time. This creates a useful double-up opportunity: completing all activities before midnight and then repeating them just after 12:01 AM gives you two full day’s hearts in a short window. This is most practical for snapshot, play, and battles — the activities that take seconds rather than requiring you to walk kilometers.

Switching buddies does not reset your accumulated Affection Hearts. Progress toward each buddy level is stored permanently on that Pokemon. What does reset is the buddy’s current mood — it drops back to Normal — and any partial walking progress toward the next heart that day. If you fed a Poffin and then switch buddies, the Excited mood is lost. Keep one buddy for the full day if you’re running a Poffin session.

Step 4 — How to Trigger Excited Mood (And Why It Doubles Hearts)

When your buddy reaches Excited mood, every applicable activity earns double hearts for the duration. At maximum efficiency on an Excited day, you collect 26 hearts — more than double the normal daily cap.

Method 1: Poffin (Instant Excited)

Feed your buddy a Poffin from your item bag. This fills the hunger meter instantly, earns all 3 treat hearts, and locks in Excited mood for 6 hours. One Poffin costs 100 PokéCoins in the in-game Shop.

Cost math: At 12 days minimum to Best Buddy with daily Poffins, that’s roughly 1,200 PokéCoins. Players who consistently hold Gyms earn up to 50 free PokéCoins per day — 24 days of Gym holding covers the full Poffin supply for one Best Buddy run without spending real money.

Method 2: Activity Points (Free Path)

Every buddy interaction earns Emotion Points (EP) toward the mood meter. You need 32 EP to reach Excited. Feeding, playing, and battling all contribute EP, and mood decays roughly 1 EP every 25 minutes without interaction. If you complete most daily activities spread across the day — morning feed, afternoon battles, evening play — you can reach Excited organically by evening without a Poffin.

The limitation: this requires interaction spread across multiple sessions. A single 20-minute daily play session rarely accumulates enough EP to hit Excited without a Poffin.

Poffin vs Free Path: Timeline Comparison

Tips and Tricks to Earn Hearts Faster

Use Community Day for Walk Hearts

Community Day events concentrate Pokemon spawns over a 3-hour window, which means most players walk significantly more than usual. Set your target buddy before the event and let Community Day do the heavy lifting on walk hearts — 6 km during a 3-hour Community Day session is easy. Check our Community Day guide to plan which events are worth attending for maximum walking opportunities.

Great Buddy Unlocks Bonus Hearts That Speed Up the Final Push

Once your buddy reaches Great Buddy (70 hearts), they begin bringing Presents — consumable items that also count toward a Bonus Heart category. At Ultra Buddy (150 hearts), Souvenirs add more. These Bonus Hearts are separate from the standard 7 activities. The last 150 hearts to Best Buddy are faster than the first 150 for this exact reason: you’re earning from more categories simultaneously.

Excited Mood Halves Candy Walking Distance

While your buddy is Excited, the walking distance required to earn Buddy Candy is halved. A Pokemon that normally requires 5 km per candy only needs 2.5 km while Excited. If you’re also farming candy for evolution or powering up your buddy, timing walks during Excited windows maximises both hearts and candy in the same session. See our Power-Up guide for how candy efficiency affects the overall cost of maxing a Pokemon.

Battles Are the Fastest Hearts Most Players Skip

Three GO Battle League matches = 3 hearts in under 10 minutes, even on a losing streak. Yet battle hearts are the most commonly skipped in casual play. If you’re only doing snapshot, play, and berries each day, you’re leaving 3 hearts per day unclaimed. Adding battles alone drops a 50-day casual timeline to roughly 33 days.

Player Strategy by Type

The single biggest jump is from Casual to Casual-Plus-Battles. Adding 3 battles per day costs 10 minutes and cuts roughly 10 days off the timeline — the best effort-to-result ratio of any change you can make to a casual routine.

Common Mistakes That Slow You Down

Feeding Berries Before the Hunger Meter Drops

Berries earn a treat heart only when your buddy’s hunger meter is low enough to accept food meaningfully. If the meter is full, berries can still be fed but don’t register a heart. Wait until the hunger meter has dropped before feeding standard berries — or use a Poffin, which always earns the full 3 treat hearts regardless of current hunger.

Walking Without the Buddy on the Map

Walk distance only counts toward hearts when your buddy is physically on the map — which requires a non-empty hunger meter. If the meter empties during a long walk session, distance stops counting. Feed your buddy before any walk longer than 2 km.

Playing in AR Mode Without Waiting for the Buddy to Appear

The Play heart requires the petting animation to complete. If you tap Play and stop before your buddy materialises and responds, you won’t earn the heart. Give AR mode 15–20 seconds for your buddy to appear and acknowledge the interaction before closing the screen.

Switching Buddies During an Excited Window

Swapping to a different buddy resets Excited mood to Normal. If you just fed a Poffin and then switch, that Poffin’s effect is wasted for the session on your original buddy. Keep one buddy active for the full day whenever you’re running an Excited session.

Expecting the CP Boost Without Keeping the Pokemon as Active Buddy

Best Buddy status grants the CP Boost only while that Pokemon is your active buddy. The Best Buddy Ribbon is permanent — the CP Boost is not. If you swap to a different buddy after reaching Best Buddy, the boost disappears until you swap back. Plan which Pokemon you want boosted and keep them set as your buddy during battles and raids.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does switching buddies reset my hearts and lose Best Buddy progress?

No. Accumulated Affection Hearts never reset when you switch buddies. Your progress toward each buddy level — Good, Great, Ultra, and Best — is stored permanently on that Pokemon. What resets is the buddy’s current mood (drops to Normal) and any partial walking progress toward the next heart for that session. You can maintain multiple Pokemon at advanced buddy levels and rotate freely without losing milestones, but you can only actively earn new hearts with one buddy at a time.

Is the Best Buddy CP Boost worth the grind compared to powering up normally?

Yes, especially for Pokemon you use at Level 40 or higher in Raids and GO Battle League. The boost adds the equivalent of one Power-Up level beyond your Pokemon’s current CP — at Level 40, that single level costs roughly 5,000 Stardust and Candy under normal circumstances. Best Buddy gives you that level for free, tied to active buddy status. For Raid attackers you run every week, the CP difference is consistent and cumulative. The trade-off: you have to keep the Pokemon set as your buddy to maintain the boost, which limits how often you rotate buddies.

Can I earn Best Buddy hearts without spending PokéCoins?

Yes. All 7 daily activities are completely free. Poffins speed up the Excited mood trigger but aren’t required — the free path reaches Excited organically by stacking activities across multiple interaction windows during the day. The free-path timeline is 23–28 days versus 12–15 days with daily Poffins. Players who hold Gyms consistently can also accumulate free PokéCoins over time — 50 PokéCoins per day from Gym defence covers a Poffin every two days without any real-money spending.

Verified against Pokémon GO mechanics as of April 2026. Niantic updates activity values and daily caps periodically — check official sources if numbers differ in your game version.

Sources

• “Buddy Pokémon” — Bulbapedia (bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Buddy_Pok%C3%A9mon)
• “Buddy Adventure” — Official Pokémon GO Help Center, Niantic (niantic.helpshift.com)
• “Tips to Make the Most of Buddy Adventure in Pokémon GO” — The Official Pokémon Website (pokemon.com)