Take a stroll to get an extra encounter.
In December 2023, Mateo was unveiled as a character and feature during Pokémon Go’s Timeless Travel season.
When playing Routes, players can find the researcher, who provides an additional means of exchanging presents with people in far-off places. This could be helpful in finishing out your Vivillion collection.
Otherwise, it serves as an additional motivator for finishing Routes and locating Zygarde Cells.
Here are some tips on how to trade gifts with Mateo in Pokémon Go and the reasons why he might not be showing up for you.
POKÉMON GO: WAYS TO SWAP A GIFT WITH MATEO
Using the Route function, Mateo may be located. Routes are located on a tab in the “Nearby” window in the lower right corner of the map screen. Routes were added to the game in the summer of 2023.
You have to trek to the end of a Route in order to find Mateo and exchange gifts. After that, Mateo will show up at the last PokéStop alongside Leaders and Rocket Grunts.
Mateo will interact with you when you interact with the PokéStop. From there, you can select a Gift to open from a variety of Gifts that another trainer has found along the way, mail it, and have a chance to pin a postcard from a different nation.
Although the precise workings of the gift exchange are unknown, it probably functions similarly to Wonder Trade in the main games in that trainers who give Mateo presents also randomly trade gifts with other trainers.
MATEO: WHY IS HE NOT IN POKÉMON GO?
Mateo made his debut on Tuesday, December 5, at the time this was written. It’s likely that he only spawns around 10 a.m. local time. This contradicts the Special Research “A Route to New Friendships” that goes along with the feature, which requires you to trade a gift with Mateo and went live at midnight the previous day. It’s possible that Niantic is intentionally confusing things by not synchronizing the two.
It’s also conceivable that Mateo does not spawn on every route, however this has not been proven. As a result, in order for Mateo to emerge, you may need to finish many paths. This is comparable to gathering Zygarde Cells, which can only be found via strolling Routes.
But like Zygarde Cells, it could be possible to “force” Mateo to spawn by shutting and reopening the Pokémon Go app when he’s inside the PokéStop’s radius. Try this out, and if it doesn’t work, check if Mateo shows up by doing an other special route.