How to Turn Battle Challenges With Friends On or Off in Pokémon GO

To turn battle challenges from friends on or off in Pokémon GO, tap the Main Menu button (the Poké Ball), tap Settings, tap General, and check or uncheck Allow Battle Challenges with Friends. When the box is unchecked, friends who try to challenge you see a message saying you are not receiving challenges.

The setting only controls Trainer Battle invites from people on your Friend List. A Trainer Battle is a three-on-three match between two players, and a battle challenge is the invite one friend sends another to start one.

In this guide

• Before you start
• Turn battle challenges off
• Turn battle challenges back on
• What the setting changes
• Confirm that it worked
• Not getting battle invites?
• Other ways to limit friend interruptions
• Frequently asked questions

Before you start

• The steps are inside the game. Niantic’s Pokémon GO Help Center gives one set of steps for this setting and does not split them by iPhone or Android, so use the same path on either phone.
• Update the game if a label looks different. These steps follow the Help Center pages as they read in October 2026. Menu names can shift between game updates.
• Child accounts work differently. If you sign in with Niantic Kids or a child Pokémon Trainer Central account, a parent or guardian may need to allow Trainer Battles first. See the troubleshooting section below.
• Nothing is deleted. Turning challenges off does not remove friends, and you can turn them back on whenever you like.

Turn battle challenges off

1. Open Pokémon GO and wait for the Map View to load. The Map View is the main screen that shows your Trainer walking on the map.
2. Tap the Main Menu button. It is usually shown as a Poké Ball at the bottom of the map.
3. Tap Settings. The button is usually a gear near the top right of the menu.
4. Tap General to open the general options.
5. Find Allow Battle Challenges with Friends and tap it so the box is unchecked.
6. Close Settings to return to the map.

The path and the setting name come from Niantic’s Trainer Battle invites troubleshooting page, and the route to General matches its Manage Your Privacy page. Another Help Center page calls the same option Battle Challenges from Friends, so look for either wording.

Turn battle challenges back on

1. Tap the Main Menu button on the map.
2. Tap Settings, then tap General.
3. Tap Allow Battle Challenges with Friends so the box is checked.

Friends can then send you challenges again. You do not need to add them again or change anything else.

What the setting changes

Setting	What happens
Checked	Friends can open your profile in their Friend List, tap the Battle icon, and send you a challenge from anywhere.
Unchecked	You stop receiving challenges from friends. A friend who tries sees the message “Player is currently not receiving challenges.”

Niantic describes three ways to battle another player: scanning a nearby Trainer’s Battle Code, challenging a friend remotely, and matching with strangers in GO Battle League. The Help Center ties this setting to the second one only.

• GO Battle League is a separate matching system that you start yourself from Main Menu > Battle. Nobody sends you an invite for it.
• Nearby battles start when one Trainer scans the other’s Battle Code in person. A Battle Code is a QR code used only to start a battle, and it is different from the QR code used to add friends.
• Battle Training against the Team Leaders (Blanche, Candela, and Spark) is practice against the game and does not involve friends.

Niantic does not say whether you can still send challenges to friends while your own box is unchecked. If a challenge you send does not go through, check the box again and retry.

Confirm that it worked

• Check the box. Go back to Settings > General and look at Allow Battle Challenges with Friends. Checked means challenges are allowed. Unchecked means they are blocked.
• Ask a friend to try. If the setting is off, Niantic says the friend sees “Player is currently not receiving challenges” instead of sending an invite.

For the test, your friend follows Niantic’s steps for a remote challenge:

1. From the Map View, open the Trainer Profile.
2. Tap the Friends tab at the top of the screen to open the Friend List.
3. Tap your name in the list.
4. Tap the Battle icon.
5. Tap LET’S BATTLE! to send the challenge.

To undo the change, repeat the steps and tap the box again. There is no confirmation prompt described in the Help Center, and no waiting period.

Not getting battle invites?

If friends say they cannot challenge you, or you cannot see the Battle icon on a friend’s profile, Niantic lists three things to check.

• Turn the setting on. Use the steps above and make sure Allow Battle Challenges with Friends is checked. Ask your friend to check theirs too, because the same message appears when their box is unchecked and you challenge them.
• Set your phone’s clock to update automatically. Open the date and time settings on your phone and turn on the option that sets the time automatically. Niantic lists a clock that is not synced as a cause of missing invites.
• Check child account permissions. For Niantic Kids and child Pokémon Trainer Central accounts, a parent or guardian may need to allow multiplayer features in the Niantic Kids Parent Portal or on the Pokémon Trainer Central website. Niantic explains the permission screens in how a child can access social features.

Cannot find the setting? Make sure you tapped General inside Settings, and look for the alternate name Battle Challenges from Friends. If it is still missing, update Pokémon GO from your phone’s app store and look again. On a child account the option may depend on the permissions a parent has set.

Still stuck? Niantic’s page says to contact Pokémon GO support if Trainer Battles still do not work after these checks.

Other ways to limit friend interruptions

Turning off battle challenges stops one kind of invite. These options cover the rest.

• Set yourself offline. Niantic’s Online Status page says your status tells friends when you are available for Trainer Battles or raids. Open your Friend List and tap the image of your Trainer to switch between online and offline. Going offline hides the green dot, but Niantic does not say that it blocks challenges, so use the battle setting for that.
• Remove a friend. Only people on your Friend List can send these challenges. To remove someone, open your Friend List, tap the friend, and tap Remove Friend at the bottom of their profile. Niantic says the person is not notified, but any bonuses between you stop applying.
• Turn off raid invitations if raid invites are the real problem.
• Turn off gift notifications to stop alerts when friends send Gifts.
• Change your friend code if strangers keep adding you.

How friend battles work if you leave challenges on

Niantic’s Battling Other Trainers guide explains that you pick a League and a Battle Party of three Pokémon before each battle. A League limits each Pokémon’s Combat Power (CP), the number that shows how strong a Pokémon is.

• Great League: each Pokémon can be at most 1,500 CP.
• Ultra League: at most 2,500 CP. It unlocks when you own at least three Pokémon above 1,500 CP.
• Master League: no CP limit. It unlocks when you own at least three Pokémon above 2,500 CP.

Both players earn rewards for a friend battle, but Niantic says you can only receive rewards for up to three battles per day. You can battle more often than that without rewards. Winning also levels up the Great, Ultra, or Master League Veteran medal for the League you played.

Battling a friend is also one of the activities Niantic lists for earning friendship points, which raise your Friendship level with that person. The Friend List & Friendship Levels page says up to one friendship point can normally be earned per day with each friend.

If you would rather practice before accepting a challenge, Niantic suggests Battle Training. Your Pokémon do not take damage in training, so you can repeat it as often as you like. At Level 10 or above:

1. From the Map View, tap the Main Menu button.
2. Tap Battle.
3. Scroll to Training and tap a Team Leader to start.

Below Level 10, open the Nearby menu at the bottom right of the map, tap the Battle tab, and tap a Team Leader.

• To get ready, create a battle party.
• For Great League picks, see how to build a Great League team.

Frequently asked questions

Does turning off battle challenges block GO Battle League?

Niantic describes the setting only for challenges from friends. GO Battle League is a separate matching system that you open from Main Menu > Battle, and it is available to Trainers who are Level 10 or above.

Will my friends know I turned battle challenges off?

Niantic does not describe any notice being sent to friends. Based on the Help Center, a friend finds out when they try to challenge you and see the message “Player is currently not receiving challenges.”

Does turning off battle challenges remove friends or lower my Friendship level?

Niantic does not list either as an effect. The setting is a checkbox in Settings and is separate from your Friend List. Removing a friend is a different action that you take from that friend’s profile.

Do friend battles change my GO Battle League rank?

No. Niantic’s GO Battle League page says only battles started by the GO Battle League matching system affect your rank. Battles with friends, nearby Trainers, and Team Leaders do not.

Is the battle challenge setting the same on iPhone and Android?

Niantic’s instructions do not separate the two. The setting is inside the game’s own Settings menu under General, not in your phone’s settings.

Where can I see my Pokémon GO battle record?

Your wins are tracked on your Trainer Profile, and friends can see the number of battles you have won. Friends can also see your latest catch unless you stop sharing recently caught Pokémon with friends. See where to see how many battles you’ve won.

Next step

If you turned challenges off to cut down on interruptions, turn off raid invitations next. If you turned them on, build a battle party so you are ready when the first challenge arrives.