Spotlight Hours in Pokémon GO: A Guide
Spotlight Hours in Pokémon GO are weekly events that give Trainers a chance to focus on a single featured Pokémon for one hour. With increased spawns and special bonuses like extra Stardust, XP, or Candy, Spotlight Hours are a great opportunity to level up, hunt Shinies, and strengthen your team.
Fun fact: Spotlight hours used to feature ONLY Pokémon. It did not include featured bonuses. However, in April 2020, the Pokémon GO team decided to combine both the featured Pokémon and the featured bonus into one weekly event. It has since followed this model.
Before April 2020, featured bonuses were available during the Mystery Bonus Hour. The Mystery Bonus hour was held every Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. The featured Pokémon were available during what was called Pokémon Spotlight Hour.
Spotlight Hours in Pokémon GO: Weekly Schedule
The Spotlight Hours do occur every Tuesday, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. Each Spotlight hour features different Spotlight Pokémon and different bonuses. The hours are rotated monthly.
Here, you will find the past and upcoming Spotlight hours, the featured Pokémon, the featured bonuses for each hour, and what to do to maximize the featured bonuses. These are presented for each month.
January 2026 Spotlight Hours
The table below shows the details you need to know for January 2026. Remember that each hour is on Tuesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time.
| Date | Featured Pokémon | Featured Bonus | Must use Item | Pokémon to Mega Evolve or Primal | Adventure Effect to Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 6 | Barboach | 2x XP for catching Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Mega Swampert | White Kyurem’s Ice Burn |
| January 13 | Mareep | 2x XP for evolving Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Mega Manectric | Dialga’s Roar of Time |
| January 20 | Hatenna | 2x Candy for transferring Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Mega Latios | Palkia’s Spacial Rend |
| January 27 | Foongus | 2x Stardust for catching Pokémon | 2x Star Piece | Mega Venusaur | Palkia’s Spacial Rend |
December 2025 Spotlight Hours
The table below shows the details you need to know for December 2025. Remember that each hour is on Tuesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time.
| Date | Featured Pokémon | Featured Bonus | Must use Item | Pokémon to Mega Evolve or Primal | Adventure Effect to Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2 | Cranidos | 2x Candy for transferring Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Mega Aerodactyl | Palkia’s Spacial Rend |
| December 9 | Shieldon | 2x XP for catching Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Mega Lucario | White Kyurem’s Ice Burn |
| December 16 | Mienfoo | 2x Candy for catching Pokémon | Pinap Berry per catch | Mega Blaziken | Black Kyurem’s Freeze Shock |
| December 23 | Spheal | 2x XP for evolving Pokémon | 2x Lucky Egg | Primal Kyogre | Dialga’s Roar of Time |
| December 30 | Delibird | 2x Stardust for catching Pokémon | 2x Star Piece | Mega Rayquaza | Palkia’s Spacial Rend |
Why use Item, Pokémon to Mega Evolve or Primal, and Adventure Effect during Spotlight hour in Pokémon GO?
Using any of these during a Spotlight hour increases your gains. These are briefly explained as follows.
- Lucky Egg: an item that doubles the amount of XP you can earn. Each Lucky Egg, when used, typically lasts for 30 minutes. A Lucky Egg may last longer than 30 minutes during special events. Using Lucky Egg during 2x Catch (and 2x Evolution) XP Spotlight hours means you earn 4x XP per catch (and per evolution).
- Pinap Berry: an item that doubles the amount of Candy you will receive if your next catch attempt succeeds. Using Pinap Berry or Silver Pinap Berry during 2x Catch Candy Spotlight hours means you earn 4x Catch Candy per catch.
- Star Piece: an item that increases the amount of Stardust you can earn by 50%. Each Star Piece, when used, typically lasts for 30 minutes. A Star Piece may last longer than 30 minutes during special events. Using Star Piece during 2x Catch Stardust Spotlight hours means you earn 3x Catch Stardust per Pokémon caught.
- Primal or Mega Pokémon: Although Trainers can only use one Mega-Evolved Pokémon at a time. When Trainers use a Mega-evolved Pokémon that shares a similar type to a Pokémon appearing in the wild, Trainers get more XP and Candy for catching that Pokémon. As an example, Delibird is partly a Flying-type Pokémon. If you mega-evolve Rayquaza during the Delibird Spotlight hour, you earn more XP and Candy per catch. The amount of extra XP and Candy you earn depends on the level of the Mega Pokémon (e.g., base level, high level, and max level).
- Adventure Effect: a temporary bonus that is activated by a Pokémon’s attack, outside of battle. When used, it impacts your gameplay in Pokémon in a unique way. However, Trainers can only use one Adventure Effect at a time.
READ ALSO: Adventure Effects in Pokémon GO
To do before each Spotlight hour
- Candy for transferring bonus: Create a “transfer” tag. Look through your Pokémon storage for all the Pokémon (and duplicates) you do not need. Add them to the tag. Let these be the first you transfer when the hour starts. Select all Pokémon in that ‘transfer’ tag and mass transfer the ones you can. You can then spend a few more minutes transferring shinies individually.
READ ALSO: Pokémon GO Search Strings to Mass Transfer everything but PVP IVs Pokémon
- XP for evolving bonus: Create an “evolution” tag. Look through your Pokémon storage for all the Pokémon that require a small amount of candy for evolution. Add them to the tag. Let these be the first you evolve as soon as the hour starts. Likewise, you should keep newly debuted Pokémon and evolve them during this hour. You can find these new Pokémon using the search string evolvenew
- Stardust for catching bonus: Stack up to 100 Pokémon that will give you more Stardust when caught. You can stack these Pokémon from Field research encounters if you do NOT catch them immediately after completing the Field Research. You can open the stacks one after the other and catch the Pokémon as soon as the hour starts.
READ ALSO: Pokémon Stardust Catch Value in Pokémon GO
These are the details, including the tips you need to make the most of every spotlight hour in Pokémon GO. I hope you will consider these when playing the next Spotlight hour.
All my best wishes.
