How to get Pokemon Home (and claim your free Pokemon)

Pokemon Home delivers a free Pikachu
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company/Serebii.net via Twitter)

It's rare that anyone gets excited about a new cloud-based service, but today's a big day: Pokémon Home is finally here. Officially live in the Nintendo Switch eShop, the iOS app store and the Google Play store (download links below), Pokémon Home gives trainers a new and easier means for transferring their Pokémon across devices and titles. 

Pokémon Home supports imports from Pokémon Sword and Shield, as well as Pokémon Bank, Pokémon Let’s Go, Eevee and Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokémon Go. For now, those Pokémon can only be transferred into Pokémon Sword and Shield. 

Hopefully this service — which opens up the maximum count of Pokémon in the game — calms the crowd of "Dexit-ers," the critics of Pokémon Sword and Shield that were vocal online about the size of the Pokémon roster in the new Nintendo Switch game.

Oh, and Pokémon Home downloaders get a free Pokémon, as a treat. Grabbing the app on a console gets you a Pikachu, and downloading it on a mobile device gives you one of the following Kanto starters: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle (which come with a hidden ability).

Pokémon Home price

While Home starts as a free service, that tier only lets you store up to 30 monsters. Premium Pokémon Home subscriptions increase that capacity to up to 6,000 Pokémon, and throws in other perks, including a service that measures Pokémon strength. 30 days of Premium costs $2.99, 90 days costs $4.99 and a year costs $16.99.

Henry T. Casey
Managing Editor (Entertainment, Streaming)

Henry is a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

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