How to invite friends to raids in Pokémon Go

Need a buddy to help you out in a raid while playing Pokémon Go? Trainers at level 40 now have the chance to send out an invite to any of their Pokémon Go friends to help them in a raid. The service will gradually roll out to other trainers, and Niantic will announce the next round of trainers who can take part in the new feature. It should happen pretty quickly.

When you want to raid with a friend, you first need to start the raid on your side. When the raid lobby is ready, a new ‘+’ icon for the public and private lobbies will appear. Click on the plus icon, and you can choose five friends from your friend’s list to invite to help you out. Those trainers should see the notification and have the option to help you if they have a raid pass available to assist. Their raid pass will not be consumed until the raid starts. If they somehow drop out of the lobby before it begins, it does not consume their raid pass.

You can send out invites to a maximum of five friends, and it should help you take down much more challenging foes, such as the legendary Pokémon for five-star raids. Most of these Pokémon require a full group of five to six trainers, but some teams can optimize themselves only to need a total of three trainers to take it down. Regardless, the feature should make it easier for trainers to locate and takedown five-star gyms. Everyone who participates will have a chance to attempt to capture the legendary Pokémon after the battle.

We don’t know if this feature is being rolled out to make it easier for players under quarantine for COVID-19 to play together, or if this is becoming a permanent feature. You can use a Remote Raid Pass, a Raid Pass, or a Premium Raid Pass to make it work.