My first experience playing Pokémon happened when I installed Pokémon GO on my iPhone, and it didn’t take long before I discovered “gotta catch ’em all” doesn’t mean you have to catch every one you see. I quickly hit my 250 Pokémon storage limit, mostly with Pidgeys, but also found you can offload as many as you like to make room for that Pikachu you really want. Read on to learn how.
Here’s how to release Pokémon you’ve caught but don’t want:
- Tap the Poké Ball menu button
- Tap Pokémon
- Tap the Pokémon you want to remove from your collection
- Scroll to the bottom of the character’s description and tap Transfer
- Tap Yes to confirm you really want to get rid of the character
Transferring a character opens a space in your Pokémon collection so you can catch something else, and each one released earns you a candy point. The downside is that more powerful or rarer characters don’t get you any more points than that 10CP Pidgey you just offloaded. Still, it’s better than letting that Chansey you just found in Starbucks get away.
Bonus Tip: You can use this technique to more quickly increase your Trainer Level. Just load up on Pidgeys, evolve them, then tap Transfer. It’s called “Pidgey Grinding” because you’re grinding them up to make candy—figuratively speaking, of course. Grinding up real birds like that would be creepy.