How to Clean Your Pokemon GO Storage
Step-by-Step Guide to Safe Mass Transfer
Running out of Pokemon storage? You're not alone. With over 900 species, events adding costumed variants, and Community Days flooding your box, storage management is one of the biggest challenges in Pokemon GO. This guide teaches you a systematic approach to clearing space without accidentally transferring something valuable.
The Philosophy: Tag First, Transfer Last
The biggest mistake players make is going straight to transferring. They search for low-IV Pokemon and start deleting — then realize too late that they just transferred a rank 1 PvP Pokemon or a Shadow Mewtwo.
The safe approach is the opposite: tag everything you want to KEEP first, then transfer what's left.
- Tag — Systematically tag every Pokemon worth keeping
- Review — Look at what's untagged to spot anything you missed
- Transfer — Only transfer untagged Pokemon, knowing your keepers are safe
#tagname, and you can search for untagged Pokemon with !#. Tags are the foundation of the systematic cleanup workflow.
Before You Start: Create Your Tags
Open Pokemon GO, go to your Pokemon list, tap the tag icon, and create these tags:
| Tag Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
KEEP_LUCKY | Hundos, shinies, luckies, legendaries, mythicals, Ultra Beasts |
KEEP_MECH | Pokemon with Mega, Dynamax, Gigantamax, or Fusion investment |
KEEP_PVP | PvP battlers for Great, Ultra, and Master League |
KEEP_RAID | Top raid attackers by type |
KEEP_DEX | Pokemon to evolve for new Pokedex entries |
KEEP_XP | Cheap evolves stockpiled for XP grinding |
These tag names are exactly 20 characters or less (the tag character limit) and match what POGO Cleanup generates search strings for.
The Cleanup Workflow
1 KEEP LUCKY — Protect Your Irreplaceables
Search for: 4*,lucky,shiny,legendary,mythical,ultrabeast
Tag all results as KEEP_LUCKY. These are your most valuable and irreplaceable Pokemon — hundos, shinies, luckies, legendaries, and mythicals. Protect them first so nothing else in the process can touch them.
2 KEEP MECH — Protect Your Investments
Search for: dynamax,gigantamax,mega1,mega2,mega3,fusion
Tag all results as KEEP_MECH. If you've spent Mega Energy, Max Particles, or Fusion materials on a Pokemon, you don't want to lose that investment.
3 KEEP PVP — Protect Your PvP Teams
This is the trickiest step because different leagues want different IVs:
- Great League & Ultra League: Search for top PvP families with
attack0-2&defense13-15&hp13-15 - Master League: Search for top ML families with
4*or3*,4*
Tag all results as KEEP_PVP. For more on why low Attack is good for PvP, see our PvP IV guide.
4 KEEP RAID — Protect Your Raid Teams
Search for the best raid attacker families by type with quality gates like 3*, 4*, shadow, or lucky.
Tag all results as KEEP_RAID. The top raid families include species like Machamp (Fighting), Metagross (Steel), Salamence (Dragon), Swampert (Water), and Mamoswine (Ice).
5 KEEP DEX — Find New Pokedex Entries
Search for: evolvenew
Tag results as KEEP_DEX. These Pokemon can be evolved into species you haven't registered in your Pokedex. Evolve them through the complete chain (e.g., Pidgey → Pidgeotto → Pidgeot) before doing anything else with that family's candy.
6 KEEP XP — Stockpile Mass Evolves
Optionally, tag cheap-to-evolve Pokemon (12-candy species like Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle, Wurmple) as KEEP_XP for mass evolving with a Lucky Egg. Only do this for families where your Pokedex is already complete.
Each evolution gives 1,000 XP (2,000 with Lucky Egg, 4,000 during 2× evolution events). You can fit ~70 evolves in one Lucky Egg window.
7 REVIEW — Last Safety Check
Search for: !# (all untagged Pokemon)
This shows everything that didn't get a KEEP tag. Scroll through and look for anything you want to save — a rare costume, a traded Pokemon with sentimental value, a species you might need later.
@special to find Pokemon with legacy or Community Day moves. These cannot be re-learned normally and may have significant value for PvP or trading.
8 TRANSFER — Clear the Rest
Search for: !# (untagged Pokemon)
Select and transfer. Because everything valuable is tagged, only expendable Pokemon remain. The game also has built-in protections — it won't let you mass-transfer shinies, luckies, or certain mythicals.
Quick Reference: What to Always Keep
| Category | Why | Search |
|---|---|---|
| Hundos (4*) | Perfect IVs — rare and best for raids/ML | 4* |
| Shinies | Rare, cannot be re-obtained on demand | shiny |
| Luckies | 50% power-up discount, guaranteed 12+ IVs | lucky |
| Legendaries | Limited availability, expensive to power up | legendary |
| Mythicals | Often unique (only one obtainable) | mythical |
| Shadows of meta species | +20% Attack makes them top DPS | shadow |
| Pokemon with legacy moves | Cannot be re-learned normally | @special |
| Mega-invested Pokemon | Mega Energy is hard to earn | mega1,mega2,mega3 |
| Costume Pokemon (one of each) | Event exclusives, often can't evolve | costume |
What's Safe to Transfer
- 0* and 1* of common species — Rattata, Pidgey, Sentret, etc. with bad IVs
- Duplicates of non-meta species — Keep one, transfer extras
- High-Attack IVs of GL/UL-only species — A 15/15/15 Azumarill is actually bad for Great League (learn why)
- Pokemon you've already evolved for dex — Evolve first, transfer after
- Non-Shadow versions when you have a Shadow — If you're using the Shadow for raids, you likely don't need the regular version too (unless for PvP)
Pro Tips for Storage Management
Ongoing Maintenance
- Catch-and-check daily — Appraise new catches immediately. Transfer bad IVs on the spot instead of letting them pile up.
- Do a full cleanup weekly — Especially after Community Days or events that flood your storage.
- Transfer during Spotlight Hours — Some Spotlight Hours give 2× transfer candy, making it the best time to clear storage.
Storage Capacity
- Default storage: 300 slots
- Upgrades: +50 slots per upgrade (200 PokeCoins each)
- Current maximum: 11,150 slots
- F2P players earn up to 50 PokeCoins/day from gym defense
The XP Evolve Trick
Before transferring cheap-to-evolve species (Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle, Wurmple), consider mass-evolving them with a Lucky Egg for XP. Each evolution gives 1,000 XP base (2,000 with Lucky Egg). The 12-candy species are most efficient — you get the most evolves per candy.
This workflow, automated
POGO Cleanup generates all the search strings for this entire workflow — customized to your playstyle with presets for Casual, PvP, Raid, Collector, and Hardcore players.
🧹 Try POGO Cleanup — It's Free