February 2019 Timeline: Love was in the Air!

Hello all! February was an interesting month for Pokémon GO filled with many events and surprises! From returning events and new ones, to new mechanics being introduced to the game, let’s take a look at the beautiful graphic OrangeHeart put together for the month of February and dive right in!

• February 4: Lunar New Year event – 12 Pokémon based on the members of the Chinese Zodiac spawned; Rattata – Rat, Miltank – Ox, Electabuzz – Tiger, Buneary – Rabbit, Dratini – Dragon, Ekans – Snake, Ponyta – Horse, Mareep – Goat, Mankey – Monkey, Torchic – Rooster, Poochyena – Dog, and the highlight Spoink, for Year of the Pig. Lucky Trainers also got a chance to encounter a brown and black shiny Spoink!
• February 5: Shiny Meltan – To tie-in with the Lunar New Year event, Trainers would get a chance to encounter shiny Meltan from the Mysterious Box, which for a limited time was available every three days! This marked the first time a Mythical Pokémon has ever appeared in its shiny form in Pokémon Go.
• February 8: Friendship Bonus Weekend – Friendship increased twice as fast during the weekend and stardust trade costs were halved.
• February 13: Valentine’s Event – Pink Pokémon spawns were featured and with that came the release of shiny Smoochum and Cleffa in to 7km eggs. Trainers also got to enjoy 6-hour lures and double catch candy. In recognition of Valentine’s Day a special Heart Spinda became available via research tasks for a limited time.
• February 14: Pokéstop Submission beta goes live in Vietnam.
• February 16: Swinub Community Day – Swinub appeared more frequently during the 3-hour window, and introduced its watermelon-colored shiny variant for the first time. Trainers were able to get 10 guaranteed Sinnoh Stones collectively from PvP and PvE battles. Mamoswine evolved during this event would know the special Rock type attack, Ancient Power.
• February 21: GO Snapshot– The brand new feature went live on all Android devices, followed shortly after with iOS devices, giving Trainers a new way to take AR photos with Pokémon they had previously caught or hatched.
• February 22: Latias Special Raid Week – Latias returned to raids and gave Trainers the chance to encounter the shiny variant.
• February 23:
  • Clamperl Limited Research – Clamperl arrived in Pokémon GO during a special 3 hour long event, much like Feebas previously. It seemed Niantic had taken feedback from the previous event and Clamperl went off mostly without a hitch. Other Water type Pokémon were also spawning during the event, giving many Trainers the chance to add shinies like Krabby, Shellder, Wailmer and Magikarp to their collections. If you were lucky a shiny purple and orange Clamperl could also be encountered!
  • Pokémon GO Special Weekend in Japan, sponsored by Softbank – Certain Pokémon like Charmander, Dratini, and Unown were seen all throughout Japan to those who had preregistered for the event.
• February 25:
  • Players could encounter Smeargle using GO Snapshot – This finally allowed Trainers to finish off their generation 2 Pokédex.
  • MWC19 event in Barcelona – Increased Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup spawns appeared, as well as 4-hour lures and double stardust for everything.
• February 26:
  • The Team Medallions – A new item was introduced to Pokémon Go which allowed Trainers to swap their team to one of the opposing two teams. This item cost 1000 Poké Coins and could only be purchased once every 365 days.
  • Pokémon Day Event – Spawns of Kanto Pokémon that you would have encountered around the beginning of the Gen 1 games were increased. Shiny Pidgey (finally!) and shiny Rattata also made their appearance in the game! Trainers could also encounter Pikachu and Eevee wearing Flower Crowns along with their shiny variants.
• February 27: Pokéstop Submission beta goes live in Peru.

We certainly feel that this month was a wild ride! What do you guys hope to see come to the game this year? Let us know in the comments below!