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Daily Rewards and Streaks: Catch and Spin Bonuses, Research Breakthroughs
How Pokémon GO's daily rewards work: first catch and first spin bonuses, seven-day streaks, Research Breakthrough stamps and other once-a-day freebies.
Pokémon GO pays a small bonus to anyone who opens the app and does a little each day: catch one Pokémon, spin one PokéStop, finish one research task. Keep it up for a week and those bonuses get noticeably bigger. Below: each daily reward, how the streaks reset, when the day ticks over, and how to save a streak on a busy day.
Three habits that build up
| Daily habit | What it takes | What you get | How it builds |
|---|---|---|---|
| First catch of the day | Catch any Pokémon | Bonus XP and Stardust | Seven days in a row, then starts again |
| First PokéStop spin of the day | Spin any PokéStop | Bonus XP and extra items | Seven days in a row, then starts again |
| Research stamp | Complete one Field Research task | One stamp toward a Research Breakthrough | One stamp a day; the days don't need to be consecutive |
Catch and spin streaks
Your first catch of each day earns bonus XP and Stardust, and your first PokéStop spin earns bonus XP and extra items. These are small on their own, but both build into a streak: keep going for seven days in a row and the seventh day pays a noticeably larger bonus. The spin streak's day-seven reward is a bigger haul of items than normal, which has often included an evolution item. After day seven the streak starts again from day one, so there's no penalty for completing it.
Miss a day and that streak resets to the beginning. Nothing you've already earned is taken away; you simply lose progress toward the next big day. The catch and spin streaks are tracked separately, so missing a spin doesn't reset your catch streak, and the other way round. Exact bonus amounts can vary, so treat the in-game popups as the current figures.
Research Breakthrough: one stamp a day
Finishing any Field Research task earns that day's stamp, and only one stamp counts per day. Unlike the catch and spin streaks, stamps don't need consecutive days, so a missed day only delays your Breakthrough rather than resetting anything. When the card is full, claim the Breakthrough from the research screen: a new card doesn't start until you do, so tasks you finish in the meantime won't add stamps. The reward is an encounter with one of the currently featured Pokémon, plus Stardust and a bundle of items. That line-up rotates, so check the research screen for the current one.
Our Field Research and Special Research guide covers the task system in more depth.
Other once-a-day rewards
- The free Raid Pass. Spinning a Gym's photo disc gives you a free Raid Pass if you don't already have one, normally once a day. You can only hold one free pass, so an unused pass blocks the next one: if you can raid today, use it.
- Gifts. You can send gifts to friends and open gifts from them, each up to a daily limit. Opening gifts gives items, and sometimes Eggs if you have space.
- Friendship. One interaction per friend per day moves your friendship forward: exchanging gifts (a gift counts once it's opened), trading, having a Trainer Battle, or raiding or battling a Gym together. Higher friendship helps with trading and raiding, as our guide to trading and friendship levels explains.
- Gym coins. Pokémon defending Gyms earn PokéCoins for the time they spend there, up to a daily limit, paid when they return. Our Gyms guide explains how.
- A free daily Incense. The game has offered a free Daily Adventure Incense meant for use while you're moving; see our guide to Incense and Lure Modules.
The weekly layer: Adventure Sync
If you turn on Adventure Sync and connect it to your phone's fitness data, the distance you walk counts even while the app is closed. Reaching the weekly distance milestones earns rewards, delivered in a weekly summary. It isn't a daily streak, but it rewards the same habit: moving a little every day.
How the day resets
Daily rewards reset overnight on your local time, so a catch just before midnight and another just after count as two separate days. That's handy if you've forgotten: a quick catch late in the evening still saves the streak. If you travel across time zones, give yourself some margin rather than cutting it fine.
Keeping a streak alive on a busy day
- Catch before you leave home. If a Pokémon spawns near your front door, catch it and the day's catch bonus is done.
- Know your nearest stop. Most people pass a PokéStop on a commute or school run. Stop walking for a moment to spin it, since spins made while travelling at speed may not give anything, and never play while driving.
- Keep an easy task on your Field Research list. Holding onto a task you can finish in a minute, such as a simple catch or throw task, means you can grab your stamp on a hectic day. Tasks you pick up from PokéStops normally stay until you finish or discard them, though event-only tasks can disappear when an event ends.
- Use Incense when nothing's around. If there are no spawns nearby, an Incense can bring one to you.
- Set a phone reminder. An evening reminder is the easiest way never to lose a day-six streak by accident.
The Stardust and items these habits bring in go further when you know what to spend them on, and the guides on the Trainer Hub homepage cover that side of the game.
Missed days and event weeks
Can I recover a broken streak?
Not at the time of writing: there's no in-game way to restore a missed day, so the streak simply starts again the next time you catch or spin. You keep everything earned so far.
Do daily rewards change during events?
Sometimes. Events have raised gift limits and let you collect extra free Raid Passes from Gyms. The event announcement lists what's changed.