The 2025 Pokémon GO April Fools’ event is called “What’s That Poké Ball?” and it’s happening on April 1, 2025, from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time.
This year’s event is all about Poké Balls—but with a subtle twist. Mysterious Poké Balls will appear on the map, and tapping one will reveal a surprise – a cleverly disguised Pokémon hiding in plain sight!
📅 What's That Poké Ball? takes place on April 1, 2025, and runs from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time.
Poké Balls will appear on the map, and when you tap them, a ball-like Pokémon will appear.
The following Pokémon can hide under the Poké Ball disguise:
2018 – 8-bit Graphics
Pokémon GO’s April Fools 2018 event was called 8-bit April Fools! Players were surprised to open their games on the April 1, 2018 to be met with all the normal Pokémon sprites in the announcements, on the nearby, and even in their Pokémon Box to be replaced with old-fashioned 8-bit models!
2019 – Photobomb Invasion
Pokémon GO’s April Fools 2019 was rather lacklustre, as it only featured a shiny Ash Hat Pikachu as a special spawn, with additional Ash Photobombs! It wasn’t a terrible event, but our readers need to remember that Pokémon GO was a really different game in 2019. Ash Hat Pikachu made up to five appearances in separate Go Snapshot photo shoots, and if you had the APK file downloaded, even Ash (yes, the Pokémon Trainer) could photobomb you!
2020 – Tricky Pokémon Event
Pokémon GO’s April Fools 2020 event featured Tricky Pokémon, aka pranksters and masters of disguise everywhere. The featured Pokémon was Stunfisk, with a shiny Croagunk accompanying its release.
2021 – Team GO Rocket Takeover
Pokémon GO’s April Fool’s 2021 event was focused on Team GO Rocket grunts and Shadow Pokémon! Team GO Rocket “hacked” the game UI with glitchy effects and odd messages, mostly by speaking only with the word “…!” and their dialogue mimicked Ditto’s way of communication. Rocket Grunts only used Aipom, and a Shadow version of Aipom was released. Tricky Pokémon made a reprise in Wild encounters.
2022 – Ditto everywhere
Pokémon GO’s 2022 April Fools’ event featured Ditto, and it was called “Ditto. Ditto. Everywhere.” During the event, Professor Willow tasked Trainers with unveiling the mystery of Ditto’s sudden invasion! Trainers had a chance to catch a shiny Ditto and complete the April Fools 2-Oh?-22 Special Research.
2023 – Pidgey invasion
If you weren’t surprised by Ditto’s invasive behaviour during 2022, you were surely taken back by Pidgey in 2023! Pokémon GO’s April Fool’s 2023 event was called “Pidgey Pandemonium” and it was precisely that: a pandemonium for anyone trying to catch anything else!
2024 – An Excellent Opportunity
Pokémon GO April Fools Day 2024 took a different approach, focusing on the throw mechanics. Trainers were given an unusual buff – Nice and Great Throws counted as Excellent Throws – and were allowed to use this buff everywhere, from Wild encounters to Raid catches. It was a pretty good event, but there was little mystery to it.
