How to heal pokémon in Pokémon Go

Pikachu outside in Pokemon Go
(Image credit: Niantic)

Quick steps

  • Pick up a Potion or Revive
  • Select them from your items menu
  • Tap which pokémon you want to heal

If you want to survive the wilds of Pokémon Go, you’ll need to make sure your pocket creatures are in tip-top shape. Healing them between battles is vital.

To do that, you’ve got to know how to heal your pokémon. You can’t boost their health whenever you fancy it, but will need to use specific items.

What do you need?

  • Potions
  • Revives
  • An injured pokémon

 How to heal pokémon in Pokémon Go 

Several Pokemon running through a field

(Image credit: Niantic)

Pokémon aren’t indestructible. They can be injured by fighting in raids and battles. 

To restore your pocket monsters' HP, you'll need to give them a Potion. But if they’ve fainted, you’ll need a Revive to get them up again. 

Potions and Revives can be picked up by spinning PokéStops and Gyms, completing research tasks, defeating Raid bosses, increasing your Pokémon Go level, or opening gifts.

Potions come in four varieties – regular, super, hyper, and max – each of which heals an incrementally larger portion of health. You can acquire them by spinning PokéStops and Gyms once you reach level five.

Revives, meanwhile, come in two forms – regular, which restores a pokémon to half HP, and Max, which fully heals them. They can only be used on pokémon that have fainted. You can get regular Revives from PokéStops and Gyms once you reach level 5, but will need to hit level 30 to get the Max versions.

Steps 

Pikachu and other Pokemon in a field

(Image credit: Niantic)
  • Collect Potions and Revives using one or all of the methods above
  • Navigate to the Pokémon Go map view – that’s the main screen, which displays the location of pokémon and PokéStops across the world
  • Open up the main menu by tapping the poké ball at the bottom center of the screen
  • Open your Bag by tapping on the ‘items’ icon
  • Select a Potion or Revive from your inventory
  • Tap the injured or fainted pokémon you want to heal, which will appear in a list of all your hurt ‘mons.

Final thoughts

If you do a lot of battling in Pokémon Go, you’ll find your precious pocket monsters get injured pretty often. It’s a good idea to stock up on Potions and Revives when you can. Spin PokéStops and Gyms whenever you walk past, so you’re not left in the lurch when your favorite pokémon takes a beating.

Remember that Revives can only be used on pokémon that have fainted. They’re powerful consumables, but you’ll want a bevy of Potions, too, to keep your conscious ‘mons in good shape.

Callum Bains
Gaming News Writer

Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.