[Updated] Pokemon Go trade feature disabled (trading not working or unavailable) to investigate lucky friend issue, says support

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on January 20, 2022) follows:

Pokemon Go is a successful AR-based game set in the universe of the iconic franchise that has been around for decades. The game is available for mobile devices (Android/iOS).

Just like the console games, Pokemon Go is based on capturing creatures around the world. The difference is that the world of Pokemon Go is a map of the real world.

One of the options that the game offers after capturing a Pokemon is to trade with other players to get other Pokemon. But, in the last hours, Pokemon Go trade feature was disabled (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

According to multiple reports, Pokemon Go trade feature is not available for any player. This was discovered suddenly and without apparent explanation. So, the most normal thing is to think that it was a bug.

Option for trade is missing, so only have gift and battle option for friend. How do I trade?

I’ve traded several times before, so I don’t know if I’m just having a blonde moment or what, but I can’t figure out how to trade. Now, the option seems to have just disappeared.
Source

Trades? Where did they go?

So I just got on and did my daily gift giving and receiving. But, I noticed that the trade feature is gone on all my friends? Did they do an update that I don’t know about?
Source

Shortly after many reports surfaced regarding the Pokemon Go trading not available or disabled issue, the developers of the game confirmed that it was, in fact, an intentional decision.

Trainers, trading is currently unavailable as we investigate an issue. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will continue to update here. Thank you for your patience.
Source

Apparently this was done in order to investigate an issue with the lucky friend feature. A glitch was being exploited by some players to illegally gain in-game advantages.

The bug in question was not specified by the company in its publication. However, it could all be related to recent posts on Reddit about how to exploit a bug with the Lucky Friend feature.

A user managed to trade 100 Pokemon with a friend, and they all turned into Lucky Pokemon. For those who don’t know, a Lucky Pokemon requires half as much Stardust (compared to the standard Pokemon) to power up.

So, players were able to gain huge advantages by taking advantage of the exploit. But, doing this is no longer possible, with the disabling of Pokemon trading.

11:44 am (IST): Niantic Support confirmed that this issue has been resolved. Moreover, they have increased the max number of trades per day to 150 which will last until Jan 24 at 10 am PST.

Trainers, we’ve resolved the issue affecting trades and this feature is available again. We’ve increased the max number of trades per day to 150. This increase will last until Jan 24 at 10am PST to make up for lost time trading and earning XL Candy. Thank you for your patience. (Source)

This article is updated with new events as the situation develops. To top it off, you can also check the Pokemon Go bugs/issues tracker.
PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.