Knowing the right method to evolve your favorite Pokémon saves you a lot of trouble in the main series games—there are just so many possibilities. And when it comes to Pokémon Go, Niantic had to make some adjustments and simplifications. Some were made to guarantee it all fit into a mobile experience, while others happened because each game works differently in terms of items and progression.
To evolve most species in Pokémon Go, all you need to do is gather some Candy, which you can do by catching, hatching, or transferring Pokémon.
That can be considered the equivalent of evolving by leveling up in the RPGs. But others take a little more work, often borrowing a theme from the original method, like having a high friendship level or evolving at a certain time of the day.
You might be familiar with items like stones, which in the main series are related to the type of the Pokémon you wish to evolve. But in Pokémon Go, that is not how most of the stones work.
With the addition of Generations IV and V, two region-specific stones were also added: the Unova Stone and the Sinnoh Stone. They can be used alongside the usual Candy to evolve selected species from their respective regions, effectively replacing the type-related stones from the main series and a few other methods.
But Unova and Sinnoh Stones are also harder to come by than most evolution items, so if you’re having trouble, here is how to get each of them.
How to get Unova and Sinnoh Stones in Pokémon Go
In case you’ve been overlooking activities like Field Research tasks and Trainer Battles in the game, that may need to change.
Unova and Sinnoh Stones can be obtained by using two methods, one being the same for both items. That is the Research Breakthrough, which is the reward you get for completing Field Research tasks for seven days. Claiming a Research Breakthrough reward grants you Stardust, XP, a Mysterious Item (which can be one of the stones, Rare Candy, Pinap Berry, Poké Balls, or Ultra Balls), and a Pokémon encounter.
The second method of obtaining the Unova Stone, used to evolve species like Munna and the elemental monkeys, is by defeating the three Team GO Rocket Leaders. You can find Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra in PokéStops or Rocket Balloons as long as you have a standard Rocket Radar equipped.
As for the Sinnoh Stone, used mostly to evolve pre-Sinnoh species that got a new evolution in Generation IV, it can be obtained as a reward for Trainer Battles. When you complete the first three Trainer Battles and the first Team Leader Battle for the day, you get a combination of items and resources as a reward. That includes TMs, Stardust, Rare Candy, and Sinnoh Stones.
