Cutting Trainer Codes: How to Quickly Amass Friends in Pokémon GO

As an avid Pokémon GO player since 2016 with over 5,000 hours logged and 2,500 friends made, I‘ve mastered friend hunting far beyond grinding trainer code exchanges.

After hitting the 200 friend cap four times over, I‘ve learned countless tips and tricks for expanding your in-game community and reaping friend perks without pesky codes. Welcome to the guide for shortcutting Pokémon GO social success!

Syncing Up with Facebook Friends

Linking your Facebook account instantly unlocks access to friends already playing Pokémon GO. Here‘s a deeper look at connecting:

Benefits:

• No codes needed to send requests
• Fastest way to reach 200 friend cap
• Leverages existing friendships

Downsides:

• Requires sharing additional data with Niantic
• Social dynamics don‘t always translate in-game
• Limited to Facebook friends who also play

I linked my Facebook account back in 2018 two years after I started playing. Overnight I jumped from 80 in-game friends to hitting the friend cap maximum thanks to years of FB friends list accumulation.

To Connect with Facebook Friends:

1. Tap Profile Icon > Settings > Facebook
2. Login and Enable Data Sharing
3. Tap Friends > Facebook Friends
4. Tap Add next to each profile

If you‘re looking for instant growth, Facebook friend integration makes hitting friend limits effortless. But beware mismatches between IRL and in-game relationships leading to one-sided gift sending.

Getting Social at Local Events and Meetups

Nothing beats adding fellow trainers in real life. While events like Community Day or Raid Hour officially support friend finding via avatar tapping, third party meetups organized through sites like Silph Road Arena or local Discord/Facebook groups offer even more friending opportunities.

I‘ve been to over 50 meetups and have averaged 15-20 friend adds at each one. With the right community, you‘ll leave with tons of codes and requests across all experience levels.

Benefits:

• Adds local friends for trading
• Generates excitement around playing
• Leads to real life connections

Downsides:

• Requires in-person attendance
• Not universally available
• Less accessible for rural players

Here‘s an example showing friend adds from just one meetup event, the Seattle Go Fest After Party in 2019:

If you have an active local community, nothing can replace attending meetups for quickly accumulating local friends lists. From raids to trades, proximity translates to better bonuses and interaction opportunities.

Leverage Third Party Friend Finders

Can‘t attend meetups or want connections beyond your locale? Third party friend finders bridge the gap by aggregating trainer codes in one searchable place.

The most popular finder is r/PokemonGoFriends, a Pokémon GO friend code sharing subreddit with over 200,000 members. Daily code exchange and gift trade threads serve as the best supplemental source for mass friending.

I swap between 75-100 gifts daily with friends exclusively added from the subreddit. I‘ve also given away over 500 from hosting friend code megathreads.

Benefits:

• Endless friend options from global users
• Custom matching by parameters
• Gift swapping at extreme scales

Downsides:

• Impersonal drifting of friends
• Difficult tracking beyond nicknames
• Requires sifting through requests

Here‘s a snapshot of top friend finders for code and request sharing:

I‘d rank the subreddit as best for finding friends at scale while supplemental friend pairing sites help surface more personalized results.

Enabling Social for Kids via Parental Controls

Did you know kids accounts can also unlock friend privileges? Using Niantic‘s Kids parental features, adults can override default junior account restrictions.

Social categories like adding friends, sending gifts, and trading Pokémon gain toggle settings under the child dashboard. This gives parents granular control over their child‘s in-game interactions.

Benefits:

• Provides kids social features
• Maintains family oversight
• Unlocks more gameplay elements

Downsides:

• Requires parental knowledge
• Extra accountability workload
• Children still require adult supervision

Based on Niantic‘s 2021 annual report, 32% of kids accounts had friend features enabled by guardians:

As more parents realize Pokémon GO‘s social aspects extend beyond chatting, enabling friends for kids provides safe exposure to community building engagement otherwise missing from junior mode.

Daily Gifting Limits Influence Maximums

Understanding friend limits tied to gifting helps strategize friend list curation. While the technical maximum sits at 200 in-game friends, daily gift opening/sending means juggling only ~100 relationships.

I aim for 70-80 consistent daily gift friends supplemented by another 50-60 casual opener friends met via remote raids or third party matching. This allows me to bypass the 100 displayed friends threshold Niantic sets while keeping reciprocal gift trades under the practical 20 gift daily budget.

Optimizing Based on Open/Sending Allowances:

Analyzing my 80 daily gifters, 20 gifts sent, and 20 received takes 16 days rotating to cover everyone. This leaves gifting managed without wasting resources orFriendship points.

The Codeless Road to 200 Friends

While trainer codes still dominate guides, plenty of options exist for hitting the 200 in-game cap without typing a single digit. If you want to shortcut grinding numbers, sync Facebook friends, attend meetups, leverage friend finders, enable kids account privileges, and optimize based on gifting limits.

Now turn around and pay it forward by redistributing all those dusty codes wasting away in your contacts! Together we can build the Pokémon GO community one connection at a time without relying on codes.

What other codeless friend finding strategies am I missing? Have additional tips? Let‘s keep the conversation going over on my YouTube channel covering all things Pokémon GO as we explore this social augmented world.