Pokemon GO announces new social features and raid updates

Pokemon GO developer Niantic has just announced new social features that will be available for players in a separate app they will need to download. Early this month, the company launched a social app experience in closed beta, which was only available for Ingress players.

During the closed beta, the app allowed Ingress players to find other players by creating local communities, add and manage friends and other players across all Niantic titles, organize chats with friends in one place and coordinate raids, as well as create and share local events, farms, or meetups with reminders.

All, or at least some of the most important features, will be available in Pokemon GO sometime in the next few months. They are meant to make communication between Pokemon GO players easier and let them discover new communities, as well as enjoy local raid battles.

Additionally, starting this month, Mega Energy and Rare Candy XL will be available as rewards for completing local raid battle, which will make it easier to evolve and strengthen Pokemon. Furthermore, beginning on May 23, the shop’s 1 PokeCoin Event Box will no longer include Remote Raid Passes and will instead feature a rotating array of items.