Overview
Incense is an item that attracts wild Pokémon directly to your Trainer's location for 60 minutes. A pink aura surrounds your Trainer while it is active, and attracted Pokémon appear on the map with a matching pink ring. These spawns are strictly personal, so other Trainers nearby cannot see or catch them. Walking increases how often Pokémon appear, and the normally green Incense icon turns orange whenever an active event modifies the pool of Pokémon it can attract.
How to get it
Buy it in the shop or earn it from eligible research, level-up rewards, and Showcases.
How to use it
Activate it from Items when you are ready to play. The timer continues while you are not catching.
Walk to improve its usefulness; event bonuses can change its duration and encounter behavior.
Worth knowing
Have balls and storage ready before starting the timer.
Incense, Daily Adventure Incense, Mystery Box, and Coin Bag have activation conflicts. Finish the current attraction effect before starting another.
Recognize which encounters are yours
Incense-generated Pokémon have their own swirling pink map effect and belong solely to the Trainer using the item. They do not become shared encounters just because a friend is walking beside you. Lure Modules work differently: they attach to a PokéStop rather than your Trainer, and any nearby Trainer can see and catch the Pokémon they attract.
Pokémon attracted by Incense or Lure Modules do not appear in the Nearby list, so you need to watch the map directly while the timer runs. Only one attraction effect can run at a time: Incense cannot be activated alongside Daily Adventure Incense, the Mystery Box, the Coin Bag, or the encounter-attracting Adventure Effects of Dusk Mane Necrozma's Sunsteel Strike and Dawn Wings Necrozma's Moongeist Beam. Plan those sessions separately.
Timers, encounters, and shop offers
An ordinary Incense lasts 60 minutes. You can activate additional Incense at any time to extend the timer up to a 24-hour maximum; stacking adds duration rather than multiplying the number of Pokémon appearing at once. Event bonuses such as Community Days often extend how long a single Incense lasts, so check active event details before activating severalIncense back to back.
Common shop offers are one Incense for 40 PokéCoins or eight for 250, which works out to 31.25 coins each in the larger bundle. Compare current offers with level-up, research, and Showcase rewards. Incense does not normally drop from spinning a PokéStop.
Getting the most out of an Incense
Begin when you are ready to walk and have room for both Pokémon and items. Ordinary Incense can attract Pokémon while you are stationary, but moving makes it more productive. Daily Adventure Incense is different: its normal duration is 15 minutes and movement is required for its spawns.
The timer keeps running in real time while you catch Pokémon, manage storage, or close the app. Origin Forme Dialga’s Roar of Time Adventure Effect can pause an active Incense timer at a cost of 5,000 Stardust and 5 Dialga Candy per 6-minute increment. Because Incense does not prevent an attracted Pokémon from fleeing, choose your Poké Ball and Berry with the encounter’s value in mind.
