PokéCoins

Overview

PokéCoins are the primary shop currency in Pokémon GO, used to buy individual items, special bundles, avatar clothing, and permanent upgrades to your Item Bag and Pokémon Storage. Any Trainer can open the shop to buy or spend PokéCoins, while earning free PokéCoins by defending Gyms unlocks at Trainer Level 5. You can also buy PokéCoin bundles with real money in the in-game shop or the Pokémon GO Web Store, where prices and bonus coin amounts can vary by region, currency, and promotion.

PokéCoins are completely separate from Gimmighoul Coins, which are used only to evolve Roaming Form Gimmighoul and cannot be spent in the shop.

How to get it

• Earn PokéCoins from Gym defense when a defending Pokémon's motivation reaches zero and it returns to you, up to the shared limit of 50 PokéCoins per calendar day (requires Trainer Level 5).

• Purchase PokéCoin bundles with real money through the in-game shop or the Pokémon GO Web Store, or earn bonus PokéCoins during select events, monthly GO Pass tracks, and ticketed research.

How to use it

1. Spend PokéCoins in the shop on permanent Item Bag and Pokémon Storage upgrades, individual items such as Raid Passes, item bundles, and avatar apparel. Compare the unit cost of the items you actually need before buying a bundle.

2. A ticket sold for real money is not necessarily purchasable with PokéCoins.

Worth knowing

The standard Gym earning cap is 50 coins per day across returning defenders, not 50 per Pokémon.

Several defenders returning on one day share that cap. A long Gym stay does not bank a separate 50-coin allowance for every previous day.

The day a defender returns matters

Gym defense coins are credited only when a defending Pokémon's motivation drops to zero and it is knocked out of the Gym, not continuously while it remains there. Each defender accrues 1 PokéCoin for every 10 minutes spent defending a Gym (6 PokéCoins per hour), up to a shared maximum of 50 PokéCoins credited per calendar day across all returning Pokémon.

For example, two defenders each staying ten hours do not necessarily earn 100 coins. If both return on the same day, the combined award is capped at 50. If they return on different days and you have no other Gym coins on those days, each can contribute 50.

A single Pokémon reaches the 50-PokéCoin daily cap after 8 hours and 20 minutes (500 minutes) of defending a Gym, though those coins are only awarded once it is knocked out. Staying in a Gym across multiple calendar days does not bank a separate 50-PokéCoin allowance for each day spent defending, and even though you can assign up to 20 Pokémon to different Gyms at once, all defenders returning on the same day still share that single 50-PokéCoin limit.

Gym income and comparing purchases

The 50-PokéCoin daily limit applies only to the Gym defender bonus, not to how many PokéCoins you can hold or buy. Spending PokéCoins does not reset your daily Gym earning limit. PokéCoins earned from other sources—such as select monthly GO Pass and GO Pass Deluxe reward tracks or historical ticketed Timed and Field Research like the Daily PokéCoin Bounty—follow that event's rules and do not count toward the daily 50-PokéCoin Gym cap.

When buying PokéCoins with real money, compare the final price and total coin quantity between the in-game shop and the Pokémon GO Web Store, taking regional pricing and taxes into account. Standard Web Store bundles include extra bonus PokéCoins, and special sales such as ”2x Bonus PokéCoins” promotions typically double only the bonus portion of a bundle rather than the entire base amount. Always check the exact coin total before purchasing.

Compare what a purchase gives you

At a 200-PokéCoin price, a 50-slot storage upgrade represents four days of the normal maximum Gym income. The extra capacity is permanent. A consumable costing the same amount may be useful immediately but needs replacing after use.

When evaluating bundles, divide the total PokéCoin cost by the number of items you actually plan to use. For example, a three-pack of Remote Raid Passes for 525 PokéCoins comes out to 175 PokéCoins per pass (compared to 195 for a single pass), whereas a three-pack of Premium Battle Passes for 250 PokéCoins averages about 83.33 PokéCoins per pass (compared to 100 for a single pass).

Because Remote Raid Passes let you join raids from a distance while Premium Battle Passes require participating in person or on the premium GO Battle League track, the lower per-pass cost does not make one a direct substitute for the other.

You cannot manually recall a Pokémon from a Gym or claim its accrued PokéCoins while it is still defending. Feeding Berries to a defender restores its motivation and helps keep it in the Gym longer—useful for holding a Gym until past midnight—but it never raises the 50-PokéCoin return-day cap. You can check how many Gym PokéCoins you have already earned for the day and monitor active defenders in the Today View, while return payouts are recorded under News notifications.