Incense

Incense is an item that makes Pokémon spawn nearby a Trainer temporarily.

Incense, when activated, shows a pinkish cloud aura around the Trainer. The effect will follow a trainer if the trainer continues to travel, though part of the appeal is being able to keep catching while remaining in one place. Pokémon lured by the Incense will also have a pink cloud aura. Spawns are either based on the local biome the player is in or on the ongoing event.

Normally, activated Incense lasts 30 minutes and it spawns 1 Pokémon every 5 minutes if the Trainer is standing still, and 1 Pokémon every 1 minute or 200 meters (whichever happens first) while moving. Other trainers are not affected by this item. The duration of the active Incense and the effectiveness can be changed by ongoing events.

The Pokémon spawned by the Incense do not show up in the Nearby tab.

This item cannot be obtained from a PokéStop itself. However, it can be received by reaching certain levels, or by purchasing it from the Shop for. A bundle containing eight Incenses can be purchased for as well. It can be also rewarded for completing set of Special Research tasks.


 * Due to coronavirus outbreak, Incense now is sold for, lasts for an hour and the spawn rate is 1 Pokémon per minute.

Following is the in-game description of an incense:
 * Incense with a mysterious fragrance that lures wild Pokémon to your location for 30 minutes.

When the ongoing event sets a specific pool of Pokémon to be spawned with an Incense the item changes color from green to orange everywhere in the game for the time of that event.

Mystery Box
Mystery Box is a special kind of Incense available exclusively for players who linked their Pokémon GO game account with the Pokémon Let's Go game.

Trivia

 * Trainer receives Incense as the reward for achieving specific levels:
 * at levels 5, 7, 10, 15, 25 and 35 they receive one Incense,
 * at level 20 two of them,
 * at level 30 three
 * and at level 40 four Incenses.
 * In game files and code there are some data about other types of Incenses, although none of these was implemented to the gameplay yet:
 * there is data with picture of Ordinary Incense, that looks like jar of honey.
 * there is also some data about three types of Incense that supposed to lure specific types of Pokémon, like:
 * Spicy Incense that might attract Fire and possibly  Electric Pokémon,
 * Cool Incense that might attract Water and possibly  Ice Pokémon
 * and Floral Incense that might attract Grass and possibly  Bug Pokémon.
 * Before its release, Mystery Box was referred in game code as "BELUGA_BOX".
 * Trainer cannot use Incense and Mystery Box simultaneously.
 * Before worldwide adjustments, Incense in Japan, South Korea and Italy is 50% off, lasts for 60 minutes and attracts more Pokémon from March to, 2020.
 * Mystery Box is considered by the game to be an Incense due to attracting Meltan like how Incense attracts Pokémon as well as the changes to Incense introduced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic affects it too.