What is Niantic Social and how does it work in Pokémon Go?

Niantic, most famously known for Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is growing the number of games it’s developing. The company has plans to release 10 new games in the future, bringing two new titles every year. With so many Niantic-based games available, players may overlap in what titles they play. To help Niantic players keep track of all of their friends playing these games, the developer is creating Niantic Social, and it’s first coming to Pokémon Go.

Niantic Social will serve as a way for players to keep track of all their friends playing various games developed by Niantic. You will be able to compare how much you have walked compared to your friends, who are currently online, your profile level, and the activities they have done while playing the game. 

These features will likely be the same across all of Niantic’s available games. Niantic Social will make it easier for you to reach out to your friends and know what they’re doing during a limited-time event, making it a more natural experience to play with them, even in a world full of social-distancing practices.

Niantic Social should be arriving sometime in June, but we have no exact date for when the feature will come. It will be available a good month before Pokémon Go Fest 2020 releases, which is July 25 and 26, so you will be able to use this upcoming feature to see which of your friends are online and are ready to play in the fest with you, regardless of their location. You can expect additional features to come to Niantic Social as the application expands and makes it easier for players to interact across Niantic-based games.