How to get it
- Buy Poffins in the shop or earn them from research that explicitly lists them, including eligible AR mapping tasks.
How to use it
- Feed the Poffin to your active buddy from the buddy interaction screen.
- Plan a walk and buddy activities during the effect to make use of the extra heart opportunities.
Worth knowing
A buddy with a normal 20 km Candy distance needs 10 km per Candy while excited. The item does not promise Candy XL on every reward.
Excitement can also be reached through buddy interactions without a Poffin; the item saves the setup time.
Match the treat to your buddy’s walking distance
Buddy Candy distances are 1, 3, 5, and 20 km. Halving the distance has a different practical value depending on how far you intend to walk during the excited period.
For example, starting from zero progress, a 10 km walk with a normally 5 km buddy would reach two Candy thresholds. At a 2.5 km excited distance, the same walk reaches four. This example ignores event bonuses and assumes the mood stays active throughout; Candy XL is a separate chance, not a guaranteed second reward.
Buddy mood and buddy friendship are different systems. A Poffin quickly creates excitement, but it does not instantly make the Pokémon a Best Buddy or grant the Best Buddy level boost.
| Normal Candy distance | Excited distance |
|---|---|
| 1 km | 0.5 km |
| 3 km | 1.5 km |
| 5 km | 2.5 km |
| 20 km | 10 km |
Sources & further reading
- Pokémon GO: A Quantitative Approach by nick blackVersion 1.0.6 (October 4, 2026), §4.4, pp. 25–26; Table 8.12, p. 106
Event rewards, shop offers, and limits can change. Check the current in-game description for event-specific rules. Worked examples are illustrative calculations.