You’ve been catching them for years. Thousands of digital monsters sitting on your phone, taking up space, and potentially gathering dust if you don't play as often as you used to. It's a weird feeling, right? Having a Shiny Rayquaza stuck on a mobile app when you’d rather see it in high-def on your Switch.
Honestly, the process to link Pokemon GO to Pokemon HOME isn't as scary as the UI makes it look. But if you mess it up, you might send something away that can never, ever come back. That's the one-way street problem. Once a Pokemon leaves GO for HOME, it's a permanent move. No U-turns. No "oops, I clicked the wrong one."
Why bother with the GO to HOME link anyway?
Most people do this for two reasons: Meltan and space.
The Mystery Box is basically a free lure that only spawns Meltan. It's the only way to get enough candy to evolve Melmetal unless you're planning on walking about 8,000 kilometers with a tiny hex-nut buddy. By connecting your accounts, you get that box every few days.
Then there’s the storage issue. Niantic keeps raising the cap, but it costs PokeCoins. HOME gives you a place to dump those "Living Dex" entries so your phone doesn't lag every time you open your collection.
The Technical Handshake: Setting It Up
You need a Nintendo Account. Not a Trainer Club account, not a Google login—a real Nintendo Account. If you play Sword, Shield, Scarlet, or Violet, you definitely already have one.
Open Pokemon GO. Tap that Poke Ball in the center. Hit settings in the top right. You’ll have to scroll down past all the AR toggles and notification settings until you see "Connected Devices and Services." Tap that. Then tap Pokemon HOME.
It’s gonna ask you to sign in. Do it. Once the accounts are linked, your name and Support ID should show up in the GO settings menu. If it doesn't, force close the app and try again. It's buggy sometimes. That's just Niantic being Niantic.
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The GO Transporter Energy Problem
Here is where it gets annoying. You can't just dump 300 Pokemon at once.
The GO Transporter uses "Energy." You have a max of 10,000.
- Regular Pokemon cost almost nothing (10 energy).
- Shinies cost a lot (around 2,000).
- Legendaries cost even more (1,000 for regular, 10,000 for shiny).
Basically, if you transfer a Shiny Legendary like Kyogre, you are tapped out. Your energy bar hits zero. It takes roughly a week to recharge fully, or you can pay PokeCoins to skip the wait. Don't pay the coins. It's a rip-off. Just wait the few days.
What about those "Special" Pokemon?
You can't move everything.
Costume Pokemon? Nope. That Pikachu wearing a detective hat or the Squirtle with sunglasses is staying in GO forever. Spinda is also blocked because its pattern coding is a nightmare to translate between different game engines. Shadows also can't go. You have to purify them first, which honestly feels like a waste of Stardust most of the time unless the IVs are perfect.
Mega Evolved Pokemon can't travel either. You have to wait for the Mega timer to run out before the game will even let you select them in the transfer screen.
Receiving the Goods in HOME
This is the step everyone forgets.
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After you hit "Transport" in GO, those Pokemon are in a weird digital limbo. They aren't in your HOME boxes yet. You have to open the Pokemon HOME app—either on your phone or your Switch—and "receive" them.
On the mobile version, you'll get a pop-up as soon as you open the app saying "Pokemon have been sent from Pokemon GO." If you don't see it, go to Settings, then "Link to Pokemon GO," and check for a "Receive" button.
On the Switch version, there’s a little icon on the main menu that looks like a Poke Ball. Click it. It’ll check for pending transfers. If you have a full box in HOME, it’ll error out. Make sure you have space.
The CP to Level Conversion Secret
Ever wonder what happens to your Level 50 Pokemon when it hits the Switch?
The math is actually pretty consistent. Pokemon GO doesn't use "Levels" in the same way, but the underlying data is there. When a Pokemon moves to HOME, its level is rounded down to the nearest whole number based on its GO "Power Up" stage. Its IVs are also recalculated.
In GO, stats are out of 15. In HOME, they are out of 31.
The formula is usually $(GO Stat \times 2) + 1$.
So, a 15 Attack in GO becomes a 31 (Best) in HOME.
Speed is the wild card. Since GO doesn't have a speed stat, the game just randomizes it when you transfer. You could have a "Hundo" in GO that ends up with a "Decent" speed stat in Scarlet and Violet. It’s a gamble.
Practical Steps to Maximize Your Transfers
Don't just start clicking. Be surgical.
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First, check your "Favorite" tags. Pokemon GO won't let you select a favorited Pokemon for transfer. This is a safety feature so you don't accidentally ship off your prized 4* Charizard. Go through and un-star the ones you actually want to move.
Second, prioritize the "clutter" Legendaries. We all have 20 Heatrans or Regigigas from raid hours that we don't need but feel too guilty to delete. Moving these to HOME earns you a Mystery Box and clears out your GO storage without costing the massive energy a Shiny would.
Third, remember the Level 20/25 rule. If you caught a Legendary from a raid, it's Level 20 (or 25 with a weather boost). When it hits HOME, it stays that level. This makes them incredibly valuable for "low level" playthroughs of the main series games.
Finally, verify your Nintendo Account email. If you use a different email for GO and HOME, you are going to give yourself a headache. Use the same one. It makes the handshake instantaneous.
Once the transfer is complete, check your Mystery Box in your items list in Pokemon GO. It’ll have a countdown timer. Use it during a 2x Catch Candy event to get the most out of those Meltan spawns. If you’re looking to fill your National Dex, this is the most efficient way to bridge the gap between mobile and console play.
Check your HOME gift box afterward too. Usually, the first time you link Pokemon GO to Pokemon HOME, you get a special Gigantamax-capable Melmetal as a mystery gift in the mobile app. It’s a beast in the Switch games.