'Pokémon Go' Valentine's Day Event: Update brings more candy and "adorable" Pokémon

The Pokémon Go Valentine's Day event will be good for endgame players that want to conquer gyms, along with casual players that just want to make some new friends. The rumored update was officially announced on Wednesday.

Some Pokémon Go fans were hoping for the introduction of Pokémon breeding, by way of celebrating Valentine's Day. Data miners pointed at evidence of Pokémon gender being added to the game, including male and female versions of Pikachu and Raichu. We're not getting anything even close to as cool as Pokémon breeding for Valentine's Day this year, but Niantic has delivered some decent rewards.

Pokémon Go Valentine's Day event is all about your buddy

The best Valentine's Day bonus for all Pokémon Go players is earning double the normal buddy candy rate. This could be huge for gym battlers who've run out of rare candy but need to power up their endgame Pokémon like Snorlax and Lapras.

If you haven't collected all the pink or fairy-type Pokémon yet in Pokémon Go, spawn rates for these Pokémon species will increase during the Valentine's Day event. Egg hatch rates for Cleffa, Igglybuff, and Smoochum will also increase. 

Please remember that these increased hatch rates may only apply to eggs that you pick up while the event is taking place, so clear out your egg inventory now to take maximum advantage of these Valentine's Day hatch rates for Cleffa, Igglybuff, and Smoochum.

The final Valentine's Day bonus is a greatly increased operation time for Lure modules. They normally last for 30 minutes. During the Valentine's Day Pokémon Go holiday event, Lure modules will last for a full six hours. This is a great way to advertise your favorite PokéStops and play areas, and try to attract some new Pokémon Go friends!

Pokemon Go Valentine's Day event end date and time

The Pokémon Go Valentine's Day event begins at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Feb. 8. It ends at 2 p.m Eastern on Feb. 15.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips, tricks and updates

Check out Mic's guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10km eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.