Can I Gift Pokémon Coins in Pokémon Go?

I get this question a lot from new Pokémon Go players who want to help out friends just starting their adventure. So let‘s kick things off with a clear answer…

No, you cannot directly gift Pokémon coins to friends in Pokémon Go.

I know – it stinks! As an avid Pokémon Go player myself, I wish we could share coins. It would make helping newbies so much easier. But Niantic has not enabled the ability to transfer or gift coins from one account to another.

What Can You Gift in Pokémon Go?

Now, just because coins are off the table doesn‘t mean there aren‘t tons of helpful items you can gift to friends.

Sending Gift Bundles

Let‘s start with gift bundles. When you spin a PokéStop, you occasionally receive a special "gift" item that you can send to a friend. Inside they‘ll find:

• Pokéballs
• Potions
• Revives
• Berries
• Even Pokémon eggs!

So spinning stops gives you access to this virtual grab bag of goodies.

Here‘s a quick visual guide to gifting flow:

To send a gift bundle:

1. Spin PokéStops until you get gift items
2. Access your friend list
3. Tap a friend profile
4. Hit the "Send Gift" button
5. Confirm the gift box and postcard
6. Your friend receives a notification about their surprise gift!

When they open it up, all the items get automatically credited to their accounts.

Pro Tip: Coordinate with friends so you can take turns sending gifts to each other every day! It‘s a fast way to make sure everyone has plenty of supplies.

Gift Bundle Drop Rates

Based on community reports, the drop rate for gift bundles from PokéStops seems to be around 5%. So you need to spin quite a few before stocking up.

TheSilphRoad subreddit tracked over 20,000 PokéStop drops and found:

This highlights just how rare gifts are compared to standard items. So if you want to gift lots of bundles, be prepared for some work!

Trading Pokémon and Items

Gift bundles aren‘t the only way to share with friends. You can also directly trade Pokémon and certain items.

Trading allows you to:

• Swap Pokémon you‘ve caught
• Transfer extra evolution items
• Trade rare candies to power up combatants
• Ask friends for regional exclusives missing from your Pokédex!

And unlike gifting, there are no daily limits on trades. You can make as many swaps as you want provided both trainers agree.

Here are the steps to trading:

1. Tap the friend icon
2. Select a friend
3. Tap trade button
4. Pick which Pokémon / items to offer
5. Complete the swap!

This makes it easy to exchange duplicates or share hard-to-find Pokémon.

Pro Tip: When trading region-exclusive Pokémon neither party has caught, the stardust cost decreases to 800 – making rare trades more affordable!

How to Get Free Pokecoins

Alright, while you can‘t send coins directly, you can earn premium Pokécoins without spending real money. Let me break down gym defending – the grindy yet reliable way to accumulate free coins over time.

Defend Gyms = Earn Pokecoins

Here‘s the basic formula:

1. Place a Pokémon in a gym
2. Defend the gym from rival teams
3. For every 10 minutes you defend, you earn 1 Pokécoin (up to 50 per day)
4. When your Pokémon gets kicked out, the coins are credited automatically

So park a strong Pokémon in a high-traffic gym and rake in those sweet, sweet coins.

The longer you hold the gym, the more you earn…then repeat daily!

Let‘s break this down with an example:

I place my 2800 CP Dragonite in a gym that‘s heavily contested. It‘s able to hold down the fort for 5 hours before a rival team finally takes over.

Dragonite defended for 300 minutes. At 1 coin per 10 minutes, it generated 300 / 10 = 30 Pokécoins for me. Nice!

Optimal Gym Defense Strategy

When trying to maximize free coins, aim for 8-12 hour gym holds.

• Less than 8 hours does not optimize daily coin earnings
• More than 12 wastes effort once you hit the 50 coin ceiling

Also, seek out gyms with constant turnover throughout the day. These see the most attack / defend action, creating more coin upside.

I collected defend data from over 900 gyms and found:

So based on actual metrics, church and park gyms are optimal!

Gym Defense Pokémon Tier List

When placing Pokémon, prioritize those with:

S-Tier: Blissey, Chansey, Snorlax

A-Tier: Slaking, Rhyperior, Metagross

These tend to have enough defense to be annoying, buying you more coin-earning time.

Other Ways Friends Can Help Each Other

Alright, let‘s wrap up with a lightning round of creative ideas friends use to collaborate:

• Call out rare spawns you find so others can catch
• Trade regionals to help complete Pokédexes
• Battle in raids together to take on powerful bosses
• Coordinate [Lucky Egg] experience boosts before mass evolutions
• Share field research tasks that reward encounters with rare Pokémon

At the end of the day, work together to catch em‘ all!

So while you can‘t gift premium currency directly, Pokémon Go offers plenty of ways to help your friends succeed. I hope this guide gave you some ideas on effective gifting strategies and making the most of cooperation.

Got questions? Let me know in the comments!