Pokémon Go hack: How to evolve Eevee into Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon and now Espeon or Umbreon

If you’re actually still playing Pokémon Go, you’ve probably caught quite a few Eevees. On the surface. it’s pretty easy to dismiss the little thing because if we’re honest, it looks like one of the most sedate, pathetic, useless Pokémon you’ll ever come across. However, each Eevee holds an interesting secret – it actually has the potential to become one of the fiercest creatures in your lineup.

If you’ve seen the cartoon, played the Nintendo games, or even played the card game, you’ll know that Eevee can actually evolve into one of three very powerful Pokémon. Whether it’s the super-rare Vaporeon, the electricity-powered Jolteon, or the fire-based Flareon your Eevee has a great fighting future ahead of it.

The Pokémon your Eevee evolves into is usually totally random in Pokémon Go, but the quick hack we’re about to show you lets you choose which of the three evolution paths your Eevee will take. So, if you want to know how to evolve Eevee into a Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon and pick which “Eevvolution” you want, keep reading.

How Do Evolutions Work?

If you’re new to Pokemon Go, you may not be entirely familiar with the evolutions of these animated creatures so we’ll give you a quick run-down. If you’ve been playing for a while you can skip this step and get straight to evolving Eevee.

When you catch a Pokemon you can use it in raid battles, send it away, or keep it and evolve it into something new. Usually, evolving your companion means that it will become stronger and more powerful than the original. Sometimes the Pokemon will keep similar physical attributes to the original, but some look entirely different.

You can evolve your Pokemon by feeding it candy. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and candy, other times not so much. Eevee for example, needs 25 candies to evolve.

Before evolving your Pokemon, check out the PokeDex to see what they can turn into. Each evolution has a different strength and weakness so check that out before doing anything.

Eevee’s Evolutions

If you’re preparing for battle but starting out with Eevee it’s important to know your options. Currently, the small creature has eight possible evolutions.

The first three in the list are your basic evolutions. Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon can all be obtained by feeding Eevee candy. The evolution that you receive is completely random though, so you really don’t get to choose without taking action that we’ll discuss below.

The others on the list can only be obtained using special tactics.

How to Evolve Eevee

In 2020, there are more evolutions available but unfortunately, we don’t have Sylveon just yet.

Fortunately, there is a workaround to evolving Eevee. All you need to do is change the nickname to get the evolution that you want.

As discovered by people on Reddit, renaming your Eevee “Rainer”, “Sparky” or “Pyro” before it’s evolved will give you the corresponding evolution. For example, if you’re after a Flareon, you should rename your Eevee “Pyro”, save and restart your game – and then evolve it.

This hack is also true of the Pokemon Go Gen 2 update for Espeon and Umbreon. If you have 25 Eevee candies saved up, you need to do the following to incorporate the two new evolutions to your collection: use the name “Sakura” on your Eevee to evolve it into Espeon, and use the name “Tamao” to evolve your Eevee into Umbreon.

It’s a similar story to Pyro, Sparky and Rainer; the names Sakura and Tamao are references to the original anime series Pokemon. Sakura and Tamao feature as two of the five Kimono sisters. 

It’s not the first time Pokémon Go has included a nod to the original series. If you want to get Pikachu as a starter Pokémon, you have to loosely follow the plot of the first episode of the cartoon “Pokémon, I Choose You!”.

One other thing to remember. This hack appears to work ONCE for each evolution in Pokémon Go, so you can use it on three different Eevees to get a Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon and Umbreon. What it won’t do is help you get two or three of the same evolution in a row.

The corresponding nicknames for the most currently available evolutions are as follows:

• Vaporeon – Rainer
• Jolteon – Sparky
• Flareon – Pyro
• Espeon – Sakura
• Umbreon – Tamao
• Leafeon – Linnea
• Glaceon – Rea

How to Change Your Pokemon’s Nickname

Now that we know which nickname we’re going to use to get the desired evolution, you’ll need to know how to change the nickname.

Start by opening the Pokemon Go app and tapping on the Poke ball at the bottom of your screen. Scroll through and select the Eevee you’re evolving (be sure it’s a high-level one if possible).

Tap on the pencil icon next to Eevee (we’ve already updated the nickname to Sparky but yours will say Eevee).

Now, type in the corresponding nickname and tap ‘Save.’

Now, you can start feeding Eevee candy and get the perfectly evolved creature that you desire.

If you don’t have an Eevee yet, keep looking and maybe start hatching eggs by following our guide here.