Pretty soon, players that enjoy venturing out into the real-world to capture Pokémon through the Pokémon GO mobile game by Niantic, will be able to try out brand new features coming to the title.

In a blog post detailing the update, The Pokémon GO team announced that players will be getting a new update sometime later this week. The first feature mentioned is a Friends system that will finally allow players to add other players as friends and keep tabs on their progress if they wish. Each player will be granted a Trainer Code, and by sending a friend this code the friend will be able to add the player as a friend. Once accepted friends will be viewable on the Friend's List.

Gifting is also going to be available with players being able to visit a PokéStop or a GYM and spinning the Photo Disk with a chance of receiving a special gift. These gifts cannot be opened by the player and instead can only be gifted to friends.

What's in it though? Well, the friend will get a stash of helpful items apparently, as well as a postcard of where the player got the gift. Some gifts might contain an egg with an Alolan form of a Pokémon originally discovered in the Kanto region. Alolan Pokémon were announced to be arriving in the game back in May.

Gifting, or taking part in raid battles, or GYM battles with a friend will increase the Friendship Level which will also allow both the player and their friend to unlock bonuses. Great friends can give Pokémon an attack bonus during GYM or raid battles. However, players will only be able to increase their Friendship Level once a day.

Players who have a trainer that is level 10 or higher will be able to trade Pokémon with their nearby friends. Doing this increases the Friendship Level and earns a bonus candy for the Pokémon traded. The bonus will increase though if a player caught the Pokémon they're trading from a location that's far apart from them both.

Stardust is what powers the trading process, with some trades requiring more than one stardust to trade. Good friendship levels will mean less stardust cost. Additionally, Great Friend's or Best Friends will be able to trade legendary Pokémon, Shiny Pokémon, or a Pokémon not currently in their Pokédex by using a Special Trade. This can only be done once a day and will require more stardust than usual.

The game set an App Store record for the most downloads in its debut week. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! were recently revealed to be heading to the Nintendo Switch this November and can be linked up with the Pokémon GO game. It will also and will be bringing a new creature, but will require an online subscription for the Switch to take part in various online features.

Pokémon GO is available on iOS and Android devices, this new update will begin rolling out to players later this week.