Buddy System
Another update that has since been introduce to Pokemon GO is the buddy System. This System was first discovered by a Pokemon Fan in the coding of the game, and niantic released the software less than a few weeks after this discovery.With this system, a player can assign a Pokemon as their buddy and can earn one of its given Pokemon Candy per walking either 1km, 3km, 5km or 20km. They can assign a Buddy by going into their Trainer Profile and clicking on the little icon in the bottom right corner, and then picking their Buddy. However, they can only choose between the Pokemon they have already captured and that are still in their Inventory.
Once a Pokemon has been picked as your buddy, they cannot be placed at gyms. Furthermore, each given Evolution in any given chain will receive the same amount of Distance/Candy Ratio (Ex: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusar all must walk 3km to receive the Candy Reward of one Bulbasaur Candy). Each Pokemon will also have a given position next to a player when set as their Buddy Pokemon (Shoulder, Behind, Side, Flying, Holding). A Pokemon can be changed as your Buddy at any time by simply going back into the Buddy System and selecting the “Up & Down Arrow†Icon on the Buddy Pokemon Profile; however, all current distance towards its next earned Candy will be lost.
