Pokémon Go guide: Eggs and Incubators explained

The key to completing your Pokédex in Pokémon Go is hatching eggs.

Eggs come in five difference distances that players have to walk in order to hatch them. They also grant a lot of candy for the Pokémon that hatches. For rare spawns like Snorlax or Blissey, hatching their baby Pokémon (Munchlax and Happiny, respectively), can the best way to collect their candy quickly. Higher kilometer eggs reward more candy.

In our Pokémon Go guide, we’ll teach you how to find different eggs, hatch eggs, get Incubators, and troubleshoot your issues when your steps are not tracking.

How to get eggs in Pokémon Go

Two, five, and 10 kilometer eggs are obtainable from spinning Poké Stops. You can also get eggs as a weekly Adventure Sync reward if you walk over 25 kilometers.

Seven kilometer eggs are only obtainable from gifts. If your friend sends you a gift and you have an open egg slot, you have a chance to get a yellow and pink egg.

The Strange 12 kilometer eggs are only obtainable from beating Team Go Rocket leaders. If you have nine eggs already, extra Strange Eggs will go into your Bonus Storage, which can hold up to three eggs.

Which Pokémon hatch from which eggs?

What’s in Pokémon Go eggs changes frequently. They typically shift when events happen, changing to pools of eggs that have Pokémon to match the event. The Pokémon you get out of an egg depends on when you obtained the egg, not when you hatch the egg.

Tapping on the egg and scrolling down in the app will list out the potential Pokémon you can get from that egg, by rarity. The more egg icons it has, the rarer it is to hatch.

You can see a complete list of Pokémon in all the different types of eggs on The Silph Road.

Regional Pokémon will only hatch from eggs obtained from their respective region.

How to hatch eggs in Pokémon Go

To hatch an egg, put the egg in an Incubator. All players will have one orange Incubator that they can use forever. Incubators can only hold one egg at a time. All other Incubators can be used three times before they disappear. Additional Incubators are purchased with coins (earned through holding gyms or paying real money).

Regular Incubators hatch eggs the same way the orange unlimited Incubator does, but Super Incubators cut the distance you need to hatch by one-third.

Having more than one Incubator means being able to incubate more than one egg at a time and thus more hatches for the same amount of walking. It’s by no means mandatory to use more than the free unlimited Incubator, but if you’d like to speed up your progress, it’s an option.

After your egg is in an Incubator, you just have to walk around. If you have Adventure Sync turned on, you can walk around with the app closed to hatch eggs.

How to get free Incubators or Super Incubators in Pokémon Go

You can also get free Super Incubators and regular Incubators from events and Timed Research from time to time. We recommend only hatching two kilometer eggs using the permanent orange Incubator, and using the other Incubators for higher distance eggs.

Why are my steps not tracking?

There are many reasons why your eggs might not be hatching, despite walking around. If your egg is in an Incubator, and it’s not tracking your walk distance, make sure you have your Adventure Sync turned on in your game’s settings. This will track your walking even when the app is closed.

Your device will need to both give Pokémon Go location and fitness permissions. For iOS users, you’ll need to go into your device settings, tap Privacy, Location Services, Pokémon Go, and then allow Location Permissions to be on “always.” Android users will need to go into device settings, tap Apps & Notifications, Pokémon Go, Permissions, and make sure Location is on.

For fitness permissions, iOS users will need to open the Health app, tap their Apple ID icon, Apps, and make sure Pokémon Go has access to health data. Android users will need to open the Google Fit app and make sure Pokémon Go is a connected application in your settings.

The game also doesn’t update your distance walked constantly. For example, if you put an egg into an Incubator and walk .5 kilometers, it may not update and reflect this immediately. It will eventually update, so you’ll need to give it some time.