How to Stop Sharing Recently Caught Pokémon with Friends in Pokémon GO

To stop sharing your recently caught Pokémon with friends in Pokémon GO, tap the Main Menu button (the Poké Ball), tap Settings, tap General, and turn off the option that shares recently caught Pokémon with friends. Your latest catch then stops appearing to friends who open your Trainer Profile from their Friend List.

The steps are the same on iPhone and Android in the current version of the game, and the setting applies to everyone on your Friend List. Pokémon GO is now run by Scopely Explore, the new name of the team formerly known as Niantic, so the official help pages carry that name. The Pokémon GO Help Center’s Friend List & Friendship Levels page lists what friends can see on your profile.

What this setting controls

Your Trainer Profile is the page with your avatar, level, and stats. When you become friends with another Trainer, each of you can open the other’s profile from the Friend List. The Help Center lists what appears there: your avatar, Buddy Pokémon, team, number of Pokémon caught, most recently caught Pokémon, Trainer level and XP, distance walked, and number of battles won.

The most recently caught Pokémon is the one item on that list you can switch off. The Help Center says you can disable showing friends which Pokémon you have caught in the Settings menu, and its Manage Your Privacy page gives Main Menu > Settings > General as the route to the game’s privacy options.

Pokémon GO asks you to confirm the change, and the confirmation message explains what it does. Read it before you tap Yes.

Turn off recently caught Pokémon sharing

1. Open Pokémon GO and wait for the Map View, which is the main screen with your avatar on the map.
2. Tap the Main Menu button. It is the Poké Ball at the bottom center of the screen.
3. Tap Settings at the top right of the menu that opens.
4. Tap General. The general game options appear in a list.
5. Scroll to the option about sharing recently caught Pokémon with friends. It has appeared as Share Recently Caught Pokémon with Friends.
6. Tap the option to turn it off, so the box is unchecked.
7. Read the confirmation message, then tap Yes to confirm.

There is no separate Save button. The change applies once you confirm. Close the Settings screen to return to the map.

Settings is also where you can turn off AR in Pokémon GO if you prefer catching without the camera.

How to confirm it worked

• Check the setting. Go back to Settings > General and look at the option again. It should still be unchecked.
• Ask a friend. Your own profile screen does not show you what friends see. Ask someone on your Friend List to open your profile and tell you whether a recent catch is shown.

If a friend still sees an old catch right after you change the setting, ask them to close and reopen the game before checking again. The Help Center does not say how quickly the change reaches other players.

Turn sharing back on

Nothing is deleted when you turn sharing off, so you can undo it at any time. Open Main Menu > Settings > General, find the same option, and tap it so the box is checked. Your friends, Friendship levels, and Pokémon are not affected either way.

What friends can still see

Turning off catch sharing hides only your latest catch. According to the Help Center, friends can still see the rest of your Trainer Profile:

• Your avatar, team, and Buddy Pokémon
• Your Trainer level and XP
• How many Pokémon you have caught (here is where to check how many Pokémon you have caught)
• How far you have walked
• Your number of battles won (see where to find your battles won)
• Your Scopely Explore Profile (formerly the Niantic Profile), which shows recent achievements, lifetime distance walked, and when you started playing the company’s games

Friends can also learn about places you have been. The Help Center says friends may find out about your location when you send them a Gift or trade Pokémon with them. Each Gift carries a postcard of the PokéStop where you picked it up, and the friend who receives it sees that location.

If you can’t find the setting

• You are in the wrong menu. Your phone’s Settings app does not have this option. It is inside the game, under Main Menu > Settings > General.
• The wording is different. Look for any option in General that mentions recently caught Pokémon and friends.
• The app is out of date. Update Pokémon GO from the App Store or Google Play, reopen it, and look again.
• You are using a child account. Child accounts sign in with Kids @ Scopely Explore (formerly Niantic Kids) or a Pokémon Trainer Central child account. A parent or guardian must give permission before friend features are turned on, which they manage through the Scopely Explore Parent Portal. If friends are not enabled, friend sharing options may not apply to the account.
• The setting keeps turning back on. Make sure you tapped Yes on the confirmation message, then reopen General to check that the box stayed unchecked. Settings can also return to defaults after you sign out or reinstall the game, so check again after either one.

More ways to keep your play private

Hiding your latest catch is one of several privacy controls. These are the others the Help Center documents.

• Go offline. Online Status tells friends when you are available for Trainer Battles or raids. Open your Friend List and tap the Online Status switch at the top to set yourself offline. To stop battle invites as well, turn off battle challenges with friends. For raid invites, turn off raid invitations in Pokémon GO.
• Hide your last played date. Tap the logo at the top right of your profile screen to open your Scopely Explore Profile, open its settings, and turn off the option that lets friends see info about the last time you played.
• Hide your usernames from other games. In the same profile settings, turn off the option that lets friends see your usernames from all of the company’s games.
• Keep Campfire catch posts private. Campfire is the companion social app. A Catch Card is a shareable picture of a Pokémon you just caught, and it always shows where you caught it. If you share one to Campfire, choose Only me. The Help Center warns that posts visible to friends or the public also show the catch location on the Campfire map. You can change the audience later or delete the post.
• Remove a friend. Open your Trainer Profile, tap the Friends tab, tap the friend, and tap Remove Friend at the bottom of their profile. The Help Center says the person is not notified, but any bonuses between you stop applying, and removing a friend in one game removes them from the company’s other games too.
• Stop friend requests from an old code. Change your friend code so a Trainer Code you posted online stops working. The reset cannot be reversed.

The Help Center covers the Campfire options in Catch & Share and the friend options in Controlling Your Experience in Pokémon GO.

Frequently asked questions

Next step

Turn the setting off, then ask one friend to confirm your recent catch is gone from your profile. If you want more privacy than that, set your Online Status to offline and review the two friend options in your Scopely Explore Profile settings.