'Pokémon GO' Ultra Unlock Events Arrive in September — What We Know So Far

This year’s Pokémon GO Fest has come and gone, but the fun isn’t over quite yet. Starting on Sept. 5, players can dive into Ultra Unlock events, granting access to unique perks based on the community’s performance during GO Fest Global.

So what exactly is Pokémon GO Ultra Unlock? And how do you get access to it? Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming festivities.

Pokémon GO Ultra Unlock bonuses were activated if trainers completed 20 challenges during Pokémon GO Fest. These challenges popped up during each habitat hour on Saturday, and all ticket-holding trainers were able to contribute to its completion.

Completing a challenge not only offered additional perks for the remainder of the habitat hour, but also unlocked a bunch of perks for September.

Niantic hasn’t pulled back the curtain on all the Ultra Unlock perks, but here’s what we know so far:

A special Ultra Unlock event will take place on Sept. 5 at 10:00 a.m and run until Sept. 6 at 10:00 a.m. local time. There are little to no details about the event — so be sure to tune in on Tuesday to see what Niantic has planned for the community, as this special event was planned to run regardless of whether the community managed to complete all 20 Ultra Unlock tasks.

However, there are a few bonuses for this event because trainers finished all 20 tasks during GO Fest. This includes an unknown surprise for one-star raids, free Timed Research, the possibility to encounter a new Shiny Pokémon, and 4x Catch XP and 4x Catch Stardust.

That’s a lot of great content, and it should be the perfect follow-up to GO Fest 2023.

Since trainers managed to finish all 20 tasks, another Ultra Unlock “special event” will take place on Sept 10. at 10:00 a.m. local time. It’ll run until Sept 15. at 10:00 a.m. local time and will introduce a handful of new Pokémon to the game. As you'd expect, specifics are still a mystery, but Niantic did tease that the new Pokémon fall into the following categories:

• Bug-Type
• Electric-Type
• Flying-Type
• Ice-Type

While you needed a Ticket to help contribute towards the Ultra Unlock goal during Pokémon GO Fest, the two events listed above will be available to all players.

Ticket Holders earned a bunch of cool bonuses over the weekend — including Special Research and a chance to encounter Diancie — but with Go Fest all wrapped up, everyone can now enjoy the Ultra Unlock perks.

Niantic has been posting a bunch of mysterious messages on Twitter over the past few days, and there’s a good chance this will continue until the Ultra Unlock bonuses are officially revealed. If you want to be among the first to learn about Pokémon GO’s September events, be sure to stay tuned to its official Twitter account.