Along with several other smaller updates, Niantic has announced that players may start seeing Sponsored Gifts popping up while playing Pokémon Go.
These Sponsored Gifts will be similar to normal Gifts but will come with a sponsored message attached to them.
A Sponsored Gift can appear after spinning the Photo Disc at any PokéStop or Gym. They can also be obtained after finishing a Raid. The sponsors for each Gift will vary depending on your location.
Once received, you can tap on the Sponsored Gift and you’ll see the logo and name of the sponsor providing the Gift. You can open the Gift or simply exit the screen, though you won’t receive any items if you don’t open it.
Once opened, you’ll see the sponsored message and items from the Gift. You can tap the added “learn more” button to see additional details about whatever sponsored offer is being advertised or simply exit the screen once all of the items have loaded.
The two main differences between Sponsored Gifts and normal Gifts are also pretty small.
You can’t send Sponsored Gifts to friends. The items are actually added to the inventory of the player who receives the Gift. Players with “child accounts” also won’t be receiving any Sponsored Gifts, even if their account has been given permission to access sponsored content in the game.
Players aren’t guaranteed to receive any Sponsored Gifts while playing Pokémon Go and there’s a limit to the number of them you can receive in a day if you do find any. You can also opt out of receiving Sponsored Gifts by deselecting the “Show Sponsored Gifts” option that’s now available in the Settings menu.
If you see an inappropriate sponsored message attached to a Gift, you can report the ad from the screen where you view the message and collect your items.
