Pokémon Sun and Moon Island Scan: All 28 Pokémon, Points and the 1-Hour Catch

Island Scan in Pokémon Sun and Moon still works on a 3DS. It uses the camera and the cartridge, not the online servers that closed in 2024. Open the QR Scanner from the X menu and scan QR codes until you have 100 points. A normal code gives 10 points and a Special QR code gives 20. Then use Island Scan while you stand on Melemele, Akala, Ula'ula or Poni. The game picks one rare Pokémon from that island and the day of the week, and you get one real-time hour to find it. Catching it or knocking it out ends the scan. Running away does not.

This page covers retail Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, versions 1.0 to 1.2, on any 3DS or 2DS with a working outer camera. Sun and Moon share the same 28 Pokémon. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have a different list, so lists written for those games will mislead you here.

Why the QR Scanner says you have no scans left

This is the most common error message:

You can’t scan QR Code patterns because you currently don’t have any scans remaining.

The scanner stores scans, not just points. You get one scan every two hours and can store up to 10. If you used all ten, wait. If you have not played for months and the bar is still empty, the usual cause is a changed 3DS clock.

The 3DS clock penalty

Changing the 3DS date or time sets your stored scans to zero, and the recharge stops for a while. To recover:

1. Set the 3DS clock to the correct date and time, once.
2. Start the game and save.
3. Leave the clock alone and play normally.

There is no fixed wait. Scans usually start coming back within about a day, sometimes closer to two. If you change the date again to speed it up, the wait starts over. You can change the date on purpose to reach a different weekday's Pokémon. That works only if you already have 100 points saved, because the scans you would need for more points are gone afterward.

Scans versus points

A full bar of ten scans with ordinary codes gives exactly 100 points. That works out to about one Island Scan every 20 hours, not one per calendar day. If every code is a Special QR worth 20 points, five scans are enough. Using Island Scan also clears the list of codes you have already scanned. In 2016 the five Global Mission codes made it possible to fit two Island Scans into one full bar.

How Island Scan works in Sun and Moon

QR Scanner, Wonder codes and Special codes

Open the X menu and choose QR Scanner. Hold the R Button and line up a code inside the square on the top screen. The game reads three kinds of code:

• Alola Pokédex codes: Each Pokémon's Pokédex page has one. Scanning it marks that Pokémon as seen and shows where it lives. Seen is not owned, so the scan does not count toward completing the Pokédex.
• Wonder QR codes: Any QR code the game does not recognize, including ones that have nothing to do with Pokémon, such as a link on a poster. It adds a random Pokémon from outside Alola as seen and gives 10 points.
• Special QR codes: Official codes from events, the anime and the Pokémon Ga-Olé arcade game. The game shows A Special QR Code has been scanned. and gives 20 points. The five Global Mission codes (Bagon, Dhelmise, Lapras, Mimikyu and Stufful) used different patterns from those Pokémon's ordinary Pokédex codes.

Scanning a Pokémon's code does not make that Pokémon appear. The Island Scan Pokémon depends only on the island you are on and the day of the week. Any ten different codes will get you to 100.

Start the scan on the island you want

1. Get to 100 points. The game says You’ve collected 100 points! You can use Island Scan.
2. Use Charizard Glide to fly to the island you want before you scan. Island Scan searches the island you are standing on.
3. Check that the location is open in your story. The timer still runs if you cannot reach the place.
4. Open the QR Scanner, choose Island Scan and confirm.
5. Read the result. The game shows a silhouette and the place name, for example You picked up a trace of a rare Pokémon!

Aether Paradise and Ultra Space are places where Island Scan cannot be used. Fly back to one of the four islands first. On Aether Paradise the attempt fails without using your points.

The hour, running away and the catch

The QR Scanner screen shows the time remaining in minutes and seconds. The countdown uses real time. When it runs out, the game says The trace of Pokémon picked up by Island Scan has disappeared... Island Scan ended.

• Catch it and the scan ends.
• Knock it out and the scan ends. You do not get a second try.
• Run away and the scan continues. Keep walking in the same area and it appears again, with its nature, gender and other random values rolled again.

You do not get only one battle. Running is safe. You can see the gender in battle, so you can run until you get the gender you want. Nature only shows on the summary after the catch, and catching ends the scan. If you save before scanning and then reset without saving, your points come back. If you save after scanning, the hour keeps counting from the original start time.

Sun and Moon Island Scan Pokémon by day

Every Pokémon has a fixed set of moves, four for all of them except Klink, which has two. The first move is the special move, which in almost every case is an egg move it would not normally know.

Melemele Island

The Johto starters and Deino are the main reason to scan on Melemele. All of these are available early in the game. Seaward Cave and Ten Carat Hill are caves, so a Dusk Ball works well. Horsea is met on the water at Kala'e Bay, so search there if the grass and sand turn up nothing.

Akala Island

Spheal is also met on the water, on Route 7. Honedge knows Destiny Bond. If it uses that move and then faints from your next attack, your Pokémon faints too, and knocking it out also ends the scan. Weaken it before it uses Destiny Bond. Honedge is part Ghost type, so a normal False Swipe will not hit it. Use moves like Hypnosis or Thunder Wave to put it to sleep or paralyze it instead.

Ula'ula Island

Roselia knows Ingrain, which stops it from fleeing and slowly heals it. Duosion knows Endeavor, which can cut your Pokémon's HP down to match its own. Lower its HP slowly or put it to sleep.

Poni Island

Poni opens near the end of the story, but most of its Island Scan spots do not. Poni Grove (Sunday), Poni Plains (Monday), Poni Gauntlet (Tuesday) and Poni Meadow (Wednesday) open only after you become Champion. Serperior, Samurott and Emboar on Exeggutor Island, Poni Wilds and Ancient Poni Path can be reached earlier. The Unova starters come fully evolved at level 43, so breed them if you want Snivy, Oshawott or Tepig (see below). Togekiss and Eelektross have a catch rate of 30 and are at a high level, so bring plenty of Ultra Balls. Togekiss knows Extreme Speed and Aura Sphere.

If the Pokémon is not there

Wrong island, locked area or wrong spot

• Wrong island: The game uses the island you were on when you scanned, not the one you meant.
• Area not open yet: Poni Grove, Poni Plains, Poni Gauntlet and Poni Meadow open only after you become Champion. The hour still counts down.
• Wrong spot: Read the place name on the scanner. For Horsea and Spheal, try the water.
• Time ran out: One hour from the moment you scanned, even if you closed the game in between.
• Wrong list: If you followed an Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon list, the Pokémon may not exist in your game.

Magearna and other codes that are not Island Scan

The Magearna QR code is a separate event. The game refuses it with This QR Code cannot be scanned until you become a Champion. After you become Champion, it gives you Magearna, which you collect from the deliveryman at Antiquities of the Ages in Hau'oli City's Shopping District. That Magearna can never be shiny. Magearna never appears through Island Scan. There was a different code for each region (Japan, the Americas, Europe and Australia, Korea, and Taiwan), and it only works with that region's games.

Codes made for other games are rejected with This QR Code cannot be scanned with Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.

What you catch: natures, egg moves and breeding

Gender within the hour

Because running does not end the scan, you can check the gender symbol in battle, run, and meet the Pokémon again. Nature cannot be checked before the catch. Gender matters most for the six starters, which are female only one time in eight. If you want to breed them and have no Ditto, you need a female. Klink has no gender and can only be bred with Ditto. Eelektross can be male or female, half and half.

Shinies, Hidden Abilities and IVs

Island Scan Pokémon can be shiny, because they are not shiny-locked. The odds are 1 in 4,096. With the Shiny Charm, the odds are about 1 in 1,365. Because the Pokémon cannot call for help, you cannot get its Hidden Ability or the guaranteed perfect IVs that SOS chains give. Its IVs are fully random.

Getting Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig from the Poni Pokémon

Leave a female Serperior, Samurott or Emboar at the Pokémon Nursery on Route 5 with a male from the same Egg Group, or with Ditto. The egg hatches as the first stage. Most of the special moves are egg moves, so a male Island Scan Pokémon can also pass its move to babies from other compatible species. Totodile's Metal Claw and Deino's Assurance are good examples.

Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon and Pokémon Bank

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon kept Island Scan in the same places but changed most of the Pokémon. Even names that appear in both lists are different. In the Ultra games Horsea knows Water Pulse instead of Dragon Breath, and Litwick, Spheal, Honedge, Swinub, Axew, Rhyhorn and Leavanny have different levels or moves. The Johto and Unova starters are not in the Ultra list at all. If a list shows two columns, use the one marked Sun and Moon.

Pokémon Bank can still move these species into Sun and Moon from other games until 25 February 2027, 7:00 p.m. PST, but only on a 3DS that already has Bank installed. Bank cannot be downloaded anymore. After that date, the only ways to get them are to catch them with Island Scan or to trade locally with another 3DS.

Frequently asked questions

Does Island Scan still work without 3DS online services?

Yes. It uses only the camera and the game itself. The 1.1 and 1.2 update notes do not mention it, and it does not use the online services that ended in 2024.

Can I run away and keep the Island Scan?

Yes. Only catching or knocking out the Pokémon ends the scan early. If you run, keep searching the same area and it appears again.

What happens if I change the 3DS date?

The weekday changes, and your stored scans drop to zero. Save, set the clock back once, and wait. Scans usually start coming back after about a day.

Are Sun and Moon different?

No. Both versions have the same 28 Pokémon, levels, places and moves.

Why won't the same QR code scan twice?

Each pattern counts once until you use Island Scan. Scan ten different codes instead. Any QR code counts, even one that has nothing to do with Pokémon.