Evergreen
Day and Night in Pokémon GO: Time-of-Day Evolutions and Spawns
How Pokémon GO handles day and night: time-of-day evolutions for Eevee, Rockruff and Cosmoem, what's really known about night spawns, and playing after dark.
Pokémon GO follows the real clock. The map darkens in the evening, and a small group of Pokémon evolve into different forms depending on the time you press the evolve button. If an Eevee or Rockruff just turned into the wrong thing, check the timing first: what counts is the moment you tap Evolve.
How the game tells day from night
The game goes by the local time where you are playing. The clearest sign is the map itself, which switches to a darker colour scheme at night. The weather icon changes too: clear skies show as Sunny by day and Clear at night, and both boost the same types, as our weather boosts page shows.
Before you tap, look at the evolve button: once any other conditions are met, branching evolutions usually preview which Pokémon you'll get, which is a good last check that the game agrees it's day or night. The exact screen has changed over time, so near the changeover between day and night, wait until the map has clearly switched before evolving anything valuable.
Time-of-day evolutions
These are the best-known examples rather than a complete list:
| Pokémon | Evolve by day | Evolve by night | Also needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eevee | Espeon | Umbreon | Walk 10 km with that Eevee as your buddy, and evolve it while it's still your buddy, plus Candy |
| Rockruff | Lycanroc (Midday Form) | Lycanroc (Midnight Form) | Candy |
| Cosmoem | Solgaleo | Lunala | Candy |
A few notes on the table:
- Evolution requirements are occasionally adjusted, and new time-based evolutions can arrive as species are added, so what the game shows you always has the final word over any list.
- In the main series games, Lycanroc also has a Dusk Form with its own separate requirements. If you're hunting it in Pokémon GO, check the in-game news and event announcements for how it can be obtained.
- Cosmog is usually hard to come by and Cosmoem's final evolution costs a lot of Candy, so decide between Solgaleo and Lunala before you press the button.
Eevee and Rockruff: timing tips
Eevee's pair adds a buddy condition on top of the clock: walk 10 km with that Eevee as your active buddy, then evolve it by day for Espeon or at night for Umbreon. Make sure it is still your active buddy when you tap Evolve. If you'd rather not wait for the right time, the one-time name trick in our Eevee guide skips both conditions.
Rockruff is simpler, because timing is the only condition. The catch is that the form is fixed at the moment of evolution and can't be changed afterwards, so if you want both Lycanroc forms, you'll need two Rockruff: evolve one during the day and the other at night. Save Candy for both before evolving the first.
A step-by-step plan for any time-based evolution
- Collect the Candy first, so you're not waiting on Candy once the right time comes around. Candy basics are explained in the guides linked from the Trainer Hub front page.
- Complete any extra condition, such as buddy distance, well ahead of time.
- Pick your moment with a margin: evolve in the middle of the day for a day form, and well into the evening for a night form, rather than right at dusk or dawn.
- Right before you tap Evolve, confirm the map is in the right mode and, for Eevee, that it is still your buddy. Check the evolve button's preview too, if one is shown. Evolution can't be undone.
Do different Pokémon spawn at night?
Nobody outside the game's developer knows for certain. Wild spawns are driven mainly by location and habitat, weather and events. Players have long swapped theories about certain types being easier to find after dark, but permanent time-of-day spawn rules have never been clearly documented, so treat night-spawn tips from other players as anecdotal rather than fact.
What does reliably change through the day is the schedule of features:
- Raids have generally not run overnight: new raid eggs stop appearing in the late evening and return in the morning, local time.
- Weekly hours: at the time of writing, Spotlight Hour and Raid Hour have usually taken an early-evening slot on weekdays, in local time. Check the in-game news for the current pattern.
- Community Day and similar events have usually run in a daytime window of a few hours; check the in-game news for each event's times.
- Daily bonuses, such as first-catch and first-spin bonuses, generally reset around midnight local time, so late-night play counts toward the next day once it passes. Our guide to daily rewards and streaks explains how they build up.
Playing after dark: a safety checklist
- Stick to well-lit, familiar routes; many parks and green spaces close or empty out at night.
- Keep the volume low enough to hear traffic, and wear something visible if you're walking near roads.
- Don't trespass or linger outside homes, and keep noise down near PokéStops in residential streets late in the evening.
- Watch your battery. The map and GPS drain it quickly, and a flat phone matters more after dark.
Day and night questions
Does night-time affect battles?
No. Time of day doesn't change battle mechanics. Weather can boost moves of matching types in some battle modes, such as raids and Gym battles, but not in Trainer Battles or GO Battle League. It follows the weather shown on your map.
I've just travelled to another time zone. Which time counts?
Go by what the map shows where you are, not your home clock. Keeping your phone's date and time on automatic settings avoids mismatches, and if you're unsure, wait until the map has clearly settled into day or night before evolving anything valuable. Our guide to playing Pokémon GO abroad covers the rest of travelling with the game.