The Mystery Box has been available for a few years in Pokémon GO, but it has only become more useful and important since its debut. Offering players a chance to catch Meltan, the box has stuck around far longer than most expected. But with new events and other changes it has grown in importance and is easier to use than ever. To help explain everything, here’s how to use the Mystery Box in Pokémon GO.
Pokémon GO Mystery Box Guide
There’s two main aspects to the Mystery Box: charging it and opening it. We break those down below, but before that we wanted to explain just what the Mystery Box is, in case this is your first time using it. In short, opening the Mystery Box acts like a Meltan-only Incense. Once open you will have 60 minutes where Meltan will appear near you about every minute and a half. So by focusing on catching them quickly you can end up with over 15 Meltan and a bunch of Candy. But how do you use it? First, it needs to be charged, or recharged.
How to Charge or Recharge the Mystery Box
The Mystery Box can be charged or recharged in one of two ways. Both involve transferring Pokémon from GO to other games. However, be sure to keep in mind that once used you will need to wait three days before you can open the Mystery Box again. So use the methods below to charge it and be sure to use it at the right time. You’ll have to wait another three days to open it again afterward.
The first method, which debuted with the Mystery Box was to transfer a character from Pokémon GO to Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu or Eevee. The process is a bit complicated, and involves reaching the halfway point in the campaign. We break the steps down in the linked guide above, so check that out if you haven’t done this before. But there is a better way that was introduced recently that doesn’t involve owning a Switch and another game.
With the release of Pokémon Home players got another way to recharge their Mystery Box in Pokémon GO. Now all you need to do is transfer a character to the mobile app, which is free. See how to transfer from Pokémon GO to Pokémon Home here. Doing that will work just like the above. Once it’s charged you can open it using the method outlined below.
How to Open the Mystery Box
To open the Mystery Box in Pokémon GO just do the following.
- Open Pokémon GO
- Open the Item menu
- Scroll to the Mystery Box
- Select it
- Tap Open
This will activate the item giving you 60 minutes to catch Meltan as they spawn near you just like you were using an Incense. And that’s how to use the Mystery Box in Pokémon GO, including how to open and recharge it.
