After what seems like years of players asking Niantic to extend the distance in which they could trade with friends, the developers are now testing that very thing.
From Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 at 12pm CT, players will see an increased trade range while using the Pokémon Go app.
Niantic has not specified the distance that trades will now function at, but according to multiple users on The Silph Road community Reddit, the range has been increased to around 12km or 7.4 miles. This is a massive improvement from the original limitation of only being able to trade with people who are physically close to you in the same area.
From the community tests being done, 12km is the limit, meaning any trade covering a distance equal to or more than 12km will not work. But this does mean friends who live in the same city will temporarily be able to trade from long distances without needing to meet up.
According to Niantic, this test is being done to see how functional a range extension could be and gauging interest from the community in this feature being added back in as part of future events. There is no sign that this will translate to a permanent range extension, which is what fans are really hoping for.
As for trade requirements, it can be done between two friends that are within 328ft from each other, they must be friends with each other on the app for more than one day, and there is a Stardust cost associated with each trade depending on which Pokémon are involved. You also need to reach level 10 to unlock the ability in the first place.
