How to fix the “Failed to Get Friends List” error in Pokémon GO

Another set of bugs are severely hurting some player’s Pokémon GO experience.

A nasty error has returned to Pokémon GO that is keeping players from loading their friends list and prevents them from using all of the game’s features.

This error is nothing new, as variations of the issue have plagued the game since friend lists were put in the game and with every content update since then, but this time it seems to be centered around new and returning users.

In all likelihood, if you are a player that has been active with Pokémon GO this problem won’t pop up, mainly if you have dealt with something similar in the past. It looks like the main issue is based on the app being installed and not being able to connect Niantic’s servers properly.

Not only does it hamper access to the friends list, but it also looks to be interfering with the game’s fitness metrics and occasionally removing the QR code on the battles tab of the pokemon finder. That stops players from adding and receiving/sending gifts to friends, battling, and properly tracking fitness numbers – which affects egg hatching and collecting buddy candies.

All of these problems are happening to users on both Android and iOS and across various phone models.

Niantic has been made aware of the issue and is looking into new fixes for the recurring problems. But as of now, there is no fix for any of the problems beyond hoping that uninstalling and reinstalling the game fixes the connection.

Thanks for reaching out, Wilson! We’ve received similar reports and are looking into this. Stay tuned to our official channels for further announcements. Appreciate your patience. ^SR

— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) July 20, 2019

Of course, just deleting and redownloading the game isn’t a guaranteed way to fix the problems and users discussing the bugs on Reddit say that restarting their phones and signing out of their accounts in-game did nothing either. This could mean the problem is with something in the most recent update of the game, causing the problem and not just a connection issue.

Niantic thanks the players who are experiencing any of the bugs for being patient as they are working on fixing them. They also recommend staying updated on any potential fixes by keeping an eye on the Niantic Support Twitter page.

Considering this problem has been an ongoing issue for three days, and players were forced to deal with it during the Mudkip Community Day, this should be resolved soon.