Transferring Pokémon from GO to Pokémon HOME: Transporter Energy, Rules and the Meltan Box

Sending Pokémon from Pokémon GO to Pokémon HOME is done with the GO Transporter, and it is a one-way trip: once a Pokémon leaves GO it can never come back, so the feature suits collectors building a living Pokédex in the main series games rather than anyone tidying storage. Transfers are metered by a slowly refilling resource called GO Transporter Energy, whole categories of Pokémon are refused outright, and a handful change form on the way through. On the brighter side, every send also recharges the Mystery Box, which is still the only renewable source of Meltan in the game.

What do you need before you start?

Both apps must be signed in to the same Nintendo Account. Link GO through Settings, under Connected Devices and Services, choose Pokémon HOME, and make sure you have opened the Pokémon HOME app on your phone at least once — a Premium Plan is not required. From the Pokémon HOME option in GO you tap Send Pokémon, review the energy cost, pick up to 25 Pokémon, and confirm. Nothing arrives in your HOME Boxes until you open Pokémon HOME and accept the incoming batch, and until you do, the Transporter will not let you send anything else. That receiving step catches out more people than any other part of the process.

How does Transporter Energy work?

The Transporter holds a maximum of 10,000 energy and refills itself at 60 energy per hour, so a completely empty meter takes just under a week — six days and about twenty-three hours — to recharge. If you are in a hurry, PokéCoins refill it instantly at a rate of one coin per ten energy. Every Pokémon has its own price built from three parts. The base cost is tiny for an ordinary Pokémon at 10 energy, but 1,000 for a Legendary or Ultra Beast and 2,000 for a Mythical. Shininess adds a heavy surcharge of 1,990, 9,000 or 8,000 on top of those same three bands. High CP adds a smaller amount: between 100 and 500 extra for a Pokémon over 1,000 CP, and between 300 and 700 over 2,000 CP depending on category. No single Pokémon can cost more than 10,000, but one shiny Legendary will empty the whole meter by itself, while a week's patience lets you move dozens of ordinary Pokémon for loose change. The sensible habit is to batch cheap transfers together and save the expensive one-offs for when the bar is full.

What cannot be transferred to Pokémon HOME?

The Transporter refuses several groups entirely. Shadow Pokémon are blocked, although Purified ones are fine. Costumed event Pokémon cannot be sent, and neither can Spinda, any Gigantamax Pokémon, or a small list of specific special forms: Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia, Resolute Form Keldeo, Zygarde, Crowned Sword Zacian, Crowned Shield Zamazenta and Eternatus. A Pokémon's current situation in GO can also block it temporarily — anything favourited, defending a Gym or Power Spot, set as your buddy, currently Mega-Evolved or fused cannot be selected, and you cannot send your last remaining Dynamax Pokémon. Caught-in-a-GO-Safari-Ball Pokémon have had their own restrictions too, handled as Strange Balls, so check the confirmation screen before assuming a prized event catch can travel.

What changes when a Pokémon arrives in HOME?

Quite a lot, and it is worth knowing before rather than after. Lucky Pokémon lose their Lucky status and Purified Pokémon become ordinary Pokémon. Forms that only exist through weather or battle conditions revert: Castform arrives in its Normal Form, Cherrim as Overcast, Giratina drops from Origin Forme to Altered Forme, and Genesect loses its Drive. Most other forms are preserved where HOME can hold them — Furfrou even keeps its trims, unlike the old Pokémon Bank. The Pokémon's moves are reset to its standard level-up moves for its level, its nickname is removed, its Nature is generated randomly, and its GO stats are converted behind the scenes. Finally, a Legendary or Mythical sent from GO (Meltan and Melmetal excepted) can only be moved onward into a main series game where that species has already been registered in that game's Pokédex.

How does the Meltan Mystery Box fit in?

Your first send unlocks the Mystery Box in GO, and every later send is how you recharge it. Opening the box works like a Meltan-only Incense, drawing Meltan to you for an hour; once used, it needs three days to cool down before another transfer to HOME recharges it. No Nintendo Switch is needed at any point — the free mobile HOME app completes the loop, which makes this the standard way to farm the hundreds of Meltan Candy needed to evolve a Melmetal.