Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is the only game in the entire franchise that shows players a visible, real-time Friendship Level Meter. In all mainline games—including New Horizons, New Leaf, and the original GameCube title—friendship is tracked entirely behind the scenes using a complex, hidden point system.

With the release of Version 2.0 in 2021 and Version 3.0 in 2026 (including the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition), Animal Crossing: New Horizons has received massive quality-of-life updates. However, friendship points and levels remain completely hidden. There is no menu, NookPhone app, or progress bar in the game that explicitly shows your numerical score with your island residents.

We are asking Nintendo to introduce a visible Friendship Points and Friendship Levels UI menu in a future update.

How the Hidden System Works Now:

Friendship is measured on a hidden scale from 0 to 255 points, starting at a default value of 25. As friendship levels increase, players unlock new interactions. At 150 points, villagers gain a 6% chance to gift the player their rare Photo. This chance scales up by 0.04% per point, capping at a 10.2% chance at 255 points. Because this is invisible, players are forced to guess their progress, leading to unnecessary frustration.

A simple tracking app on the NookPhone would solve this, making villager interactions much more rewarding!

📋 Animal Crossing: Friendship Mechanics System

🔼 Actions That Increase Friendship

Daily Interactions

• Daily Greeting (+1): Speak to the villager for the first time each day.
• Pest Control (+5): Catch a flea jumping off the villager's head.

Daily Gift-Giving (Conversations)

• High-Value Items (+3): Gift any furniture item.
  
• Preferred Items (+2): Gift a flower, bug, fish, watering can, fishing rod, their favorite K.K. Slider song, or clothing that matches their favorite color/style.
  
• Standard Umbrella (+2): Gift an umbrella to a non-frog villager.
  
• Frog Umbrella (+1): Gift an umbrella to a frog villager.
  
• Basic Gifts (+1): Gift any other item that is not classified as trash.

🎁 Daily Gift Point Multipliers (Stackable)

• Gift Wrap (+1): Wrap the item in wrapping paper.
• Mid-Tier Value (+1): Item sells for between 250 and 749 Bells.
• High-Tier Value (+1 to +3): Item sells for 750 Bells or more (scales based on your current hidden level).

Birthday Party Gift-Giving

• Ultimate Gift (+8 total): Give an item worth 500+ Bells, high-value wildlife (2,000+), consumables, or clothing you are wearing, and ensure it is wrapped (+5 base + 3 wrap bonus).
• Great Gift (+6 total): Give an item worth 126–499 Bells, mid-value wildlife (501–1,999 Bells), consumables, or clothing you are wearing, and ensure it is wrapped (+4 base + 2 wrap bonus).
• Good Gift (+4 total): Give a sea creature, low-value wildlife (1–500 Bells), or low-value items (1–125 Bells), and ensure it is wrapped (+3 base + 1 wrap bonus).

Quests, Favors, & Services

• General Favors (+1 to +3): Successfully complete random requests.
  Emotional Support (+3): Cheer up a villager when they are actively crying, sad, or stomping around angry.
  Katrina's Blessing (+2): Pay Katrina 10,000 Bells for a friendship blessing (only works if current points are between 0 and 149).
• Delivery Quest Success:

  • The Giver (+3): Successfully deliver the package.

  • The Recipient (+3): Recipient opens a package that is wrapped.

  • The Recipient (+1): Recipient opens a package that is unwrapped.

🔽 Actions That Decrease Friendship

Social Neglect & Mistakes

• Fake Help (−1): Offer medicine to a sick villager when you don't actually have any in your pockets.

• Failed Hunt (−1): Let the timer expire on a treasure hunt, then talk to the villager without finding the item.

• Loud Noises (−1): Use the megaphone too close to a villager's face (Exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition).

Harassment & Bad Gifts

• Insulting Daily Gift (−2): Hand a villager trash (spoiled turnips, weeds, boots, cans, tires) during a normal conversation.

• Physical Bullying (−3): Continuously push a villager or strike them with a net until they get angry/sad and tell you to stop.

• Ruined Birthday (−5): Hand a villager trash as a gift during their birthday party.

Delivery Quest Failures

• Failed Delivery (−1): Fail to deliver the package to the recipient, but return it to the giver wrapped.

• Opened Package (−2): Fail to deliver the package, and return it to the giver unwrapped/opened.

• Lost Package (−3): Fail to deliver the package, and completely lose or discard the item so it isn't even in your pockets.

As you can see from the breakdown above, managing villager relationships requires tracking nearly 40 different point variables behind the scenes—including platform-exclusive quirks like the new Nintendo Switch 2 Edition megaphone penalty! Forcing players to calculate hidden math just to get a villager's photo ruins the relaxing vibe of the game. Sign our petition to demand Nintendo adds a visible, optional Friendship Level Meter to the next Animal Crossing update!