Medals (sometimes called badges) are virtual rewards for various in-game accomplishments, similar to achievements in other games. Medals are found on the agent profile; you can see yours by tapping your icon at the upper-left corner of the scanner screen. Anomaly medals are shown first, from the most recent anomaly to the oldest one, followed by the remaining non-mission medals, in the reverse order that they were received. Mission medals are displayed in a separate section underneath the others.
There are various categories of medals, listed below:
Core Medals
These medals recognize the achievement of certain thresholds in your lifetime stats. These medals come in five tiers: bronze, silver, gold, platinum and onyx (sometimes called “black”). Beyond agent level 8, a certain number of silver or higher tier core medals are required to level up. Non-core medals—even those that are tiered and regardless of their actual color—do not contribute to leveling.
It’s important to note that, although only the highest tier you’ve earned for each of the core medals is displayed in your profile, upgrading a medal to the next tier does not take away the previous tier. If you earn a platinum Recharger medal, for example, the gold one in your profile will be replaced with the platinum one, but tapping it shows you still have the gold one, too (as well as the silver and bronze ones).
Suppose you’re a level 12 agent gunning for level 13, which requires one platinum and seven gold medals. You currently have enough AP and seven gold medals, but don’t yet have the platinum one. If you then upgrade one of your gold medals to platinum, you will immediately level up, because the gold medal was not taken away.
A decoration will be shown to indicate when a medal has been earned multiple times via recursion.
Below is the list of core medals which are currently available, with their in-scanner descriptions; click on a medal name for more details about that medal:
- Builder: “Deploy Resonators.”
- Connector: “Link Portals.”
- Engineer: “Deploy Mods to upgrade Portals.”
- Epoch: “Complete streaks.”
- Explorer: “Visit and hack unique Portals.”
- First Saturday: “Successfully attended Ingress First Saturday events.”
- Hacker: “Hack Portals.”
- Illuminator: “Capture Mind Units via Control Fields over populated areas.”
- Liberator: “Capture Portals.”
- Maverick: “Drone Hack Portals.”
- Mind Controller: “Create Control Fields.”
- Mission Day: “Successfully attended Mission Days.”
- NL-1331 Meetups: “Successfully attended NL-1331 Meetups.”
- Pioneer: “Capture unique Portals.”
- Purifier: “Destroy enemy Resonators.”
- Recharger: “Recharge Portals with Exotic Matter.”
- Reclaimer: “Reclaimed Portals from Machina ingression.”
- Recon: “Made beneficial contributions to Operation Portal Recon* and the expansion of the Portal Network.”
- Scout: “Successfully submit portal scans and aid in portal research efforts.”
- Scout Controller: “Earn Scout Controller designation at unique Portals.”
- Second Sunday: “Successfully attending Ingress Second Sunday events.”
- Sojourner: “Hack a Portal in consecutive 24 hour periods.”
- SpecOps: “Complete Unique Missions.”
- Translator: “Master Glyph hacking.”
- Trekker: “Walk a long distance.”
* Operation Portal Recon is now known as Niantic Wayfarer.
Anniversary Medals
Anniversary medals are awarded each year on Ingress’s anniversary to all agents who have reached certain level thresholds. As core medals, they contribute toward leveling. Starting with year eight, an additional requirement was introduced: the agent must have earned at least 1 AP during the year. After an anniversary medal is given out, it can no longer be obtained.
Medal Level Thresholds
| Tier | Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 3 | |
| Silver | 9 | |
| Gold | 13 | Raised from 11 starting year 3 |
| Platinum | 15 | |
| Onyx | 16 | Includes all recursed agents |
Medals by Year
| Year | Medal |
|---|---|
| 1 | n/a |
| 2 | Innovator |
| 3 | Vanguard |
| 4 | Luminary |
| 5 | Sage |
| 6 | Ouroboros |
| 7 | Resurgence |
| 8 | Resonance |
| 9 | Persistence |
| 10 | Pathfinder |
| 11 | Paragon |
Retired Core Medals
Some core medals have been retired. They are no longer available, but still count toward leveling:
- Guardian: “Control a Portal for consecutive days (before April 2, 2018).”
- Recruiter: “Recruit new agents into Ingress and help them.”
- Seer: “Discover and successfully submit new Portals.”
Medal History
- 12 September 2013: The scanner is updated to show agent profiles, and the first medals are introduced: Builder, Connector, Explorer, Guardian, Hacker, Mind Controller, Purifier, Seer.
- 10 January 2014: The Liberator and Pioneer medals become available.
- 6 February 2014: The Recharger medal becomes available.
- 6 May 2014: The level cap is raised from 8 to 16, and medal requirements for levels 9+ are introduced.
- 23 October 2014: The Innovator medal is announced to celebrate Ingress‘s second year, originally having only bronze and silver tiers.
- 6 November 2014: Agent participation in an Ingress Twitter campaign unlocks the gold, platinum and onyx Innovator tiers.
- 15 December 2014: The Engineer, SpecOps, and Trekker medals are introduced.
- 1 January 2015: The Seer medal is suspended.
- 15 January 2015: The Recruiter medal is introduced.
- 24 January 2015: The Translator medal is introduced.
- 26 February 2015: The Illuminator medal is introduced.
- 6 March 2015: The Sojourner medal is introduced.
- 3 December 2015: The Vanguard medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s third year.
- 2 December 2016: The Luminary medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s fourth year.
- 10 May 2017: Operation Portal Recon (now called Niantic Wayfarer) leaves private beta, and some agents begin receiving Seer medals.
- 12 June 2017: The Recon medal is announced.
- 20 November 2017: The Seer medal cutoff for accepted portals is moved to include portals submitted through 2 September 2015.
- 29 November 2017: The Sage medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s fifth year.
- 18 January 2018: The NL-1331 Meetup medal is announced.
- 2 April 2018: The Guardian medal is retired.
- 5 November 2018: Ingress Prime is released, which introduces the concept of recursion, allowing core medals to be earned multiple times.
- 26 November 2018: The Ouroboros medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s sixth year.
- 5 June 2019: Community manager Andrew Krug confirms that the Recruiter medal is “put on pause.”
- 22 November 2019: The Resurgence medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s seventh year.
- 20 February 2020: The portal scanning feature and Scout medal are announced.
- 10 July 2020: The Scout Controller medal is introduced.
- 16 September 2020: The onyx tier for the Scout Controller medal is reduced from 15,000 unique scans to 12,000.
- 17 November 2020: The Resonance medal is awarded to celebrate Ingress‘s eight year.
- 10 December 2020: Volatile Scout Controller portals are introduced. Scout Controller medal thresholds are now based on scout controller points, not scans.
- 19 April 2021: The Epoch medal is introduced.
Anomaly Medals
Anomaly medals are awarded for participating in Niantic-sponsored anomaly events. Anomaly medals started with the Recursion anomaly series and have been awarded for every anomaly since. Each is shown in the agent’s profile with the description, “In recognition of contributions during [anomaly].” They are obtained by registering for the event in advance through a page set up for the event at the Ingress site, and are “pushed” to your scanner when your participation in the event is confirmed. Previously, they were also obtained through passcode cards handed out at the event. Passcodes for the Initio medal were also given out with the purchase of the Ishinomaki Interitus shirt, the proceeds of which were donated to support relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Despite not being an actual anomaly, the Passage to Osiris event medal is displayed with other anomaly medals.
Special Event Medals
These medals are awarded for participation in special events (apart from anomalies):
| Medal | Date(s) | Required actions during the event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora Glyph Hack Challenge | 15 – 26 August 2019 | Earn a certain number of challenge points | Tiers for 100, 500, and 1000 points |
| Avenir | 17 – 30 September 2019 | Hack any portal | |
| Cassandra Neutralizer | 13 – 22 July 2018 | Neutralize event-unique portals | Tiers for 100, 300, and 1000 portals |
| Comic Sans Challenge | 31 March – 7 April 2022 | Create links | Tiers for 4, 41, and 401 links |
| Courier Meet You Out There Challenge | 20 – 30 August 2021 | Visit unique portals | Tiers for 88,888, 888,888, and 2,888,888 AP earned from event portal visits |
| Dark XM | 30 April 2019 | Participate in Dark XM event | |
| Didact Field Challenge | 14 – 24 February 2020 | Create control fields | Tiers for 100, 300, and 800 fields |
| Eve | July 2014 | Recruit three agents or submit T-shirt designs | |
| EXO5 Controller | 2 – 16 October 2017 | Create control fields | Tiers for 100, 500, and 2000 fields |
| GORUCK | Obsidian anomaly series | Participate in Ingress GORUCK events | |
| GORUCK Urban | Participate in Ingress GORUCK Urban events | ||
| GORUCK Stealth | Participate in Ingress GORUCK Stealth events | ||
| Knight/Paragon of Tessellation | Tessellation event | Participation in the Tesselation event | Gold Knight for RES agents for winning, silver for ENL; Paragon for top contributors |
| Kureze Effect Medal | 22 – 24 January 2022 18 – 21 February 2022 18 – 21 March 2022 |
Interact with at least 10 battle beacons across the three Kureze Effect phases | |
| MAGNUS Builder/Architect | 5 – 21 May 2017 | Deploy resonators to unique slots | Builder for 1331 slots, Architect for 3113 slots |
| Myriad Hack Challenge | 11 – 22 July 2019 | Hack unique portals | Tiers for 100, 350, and 750 hacks |
| Operation Clear Field | Participate in Ingress GORUCK Clear Field events | 2018 version was tiered; previous version was not | |
| Passage to Osiris | 2018 events | Participate in at least one of the qualifying events | Events were: XM Festival in Fukuoka, Epiphany Night at Camp Navarro, Epiphany Night at Schloss Kaltenberg, or the Agent Olympiad |
| Peace Link Challenge 2022 | 15 – 26 September 2022 | Create 200 links | |
| Perpetua (Elite) | 29 February 2020 | Complete all six Perpetua Hexathalon challenges | Elite version awarded for scoring in the top 10% for any one challenge |
| Stealth OPS/Intel OPS/Prime Challenge/OPR: Live | Prime anomaly super-series | Participate in corresponding events during Cassandra Prime, Recursion Prime, or Darsana Prime anomalies | |
| Umbra Deploy Challenge | 20 – 30 December 2020 | Deploy resonators | Tiers for 120, 600, and 1440 resonators |
| Via Lux Adventurer/Odyssey | September 2016 | Visit unique portals | Adventurer for visiting at least 300 unique portals; Odyssey for being among the top 25% qualifying agents |
Character Medals
Character medals pertain to someone or something of significance in the Ingress storyline. Originally, they were obtained by meeting a character in person at an Ingress event. The character would give you a special passcode card that would grant the medal. More recently, swag packs sold by Niantic have contained them, and the characters themselves did not hand them out (presumably in order to avoid competing with swag pack sales). Below is a list of the existing character medals, along with whatever information we have about how they were obtained and current availability. Medals are obtained via supporter kit sales unless otherwise noted:
- Acolyte 2016
- Copenhagen and Vienna Obsidian anomalies, 2 April 2016
- Chiangmai Aegis Nova anomaly, 28 May 2016
- Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney Aegis Nova anomalies, 25 June 2016
- New Orleans and Miami Via Noir anomalies, 12 November 2016
- Acolyte 2017
- Taiwan EXO5 anomaly, 2 December 2017
- ADA
- Okinawa Abaddon anomaly, 12 December 2015
- ADA 2016
- Dublin, Moscow and Nice Aegis Nova anomalies, 25 June 2016
- ADA 2017
- Tallinn EXO5 anomaly, 2 December 2017
- Akira Tsukasa 2016
- Tokyo Aegis Nova anomaly, 16 July 2016
- Akira Tsukasa 2017
- Received during trips on NL-Prime 2017
- Devra Bogdanovich 2016
- Tainan and Manila Aegis Nova anomalies, 28 May 2016
- Wroclaw Via Lux anomaly, 27 August 2016
- Seoul, Surabaya and Melbourne Via Noir anomalies, 12 November 2016
- Devra Bogdanovich 2017
- Europe EXO5 anomalies, 4 November 2017
- San Francisco EXO5 anomaly, 2 December 2017
- Edgar Allan Wright
- Also known as the Investigation Medal, this very exclusive medal is given out by Edgar Allan Wright, founder of Operation Essex; and Verity Seke, operator of the Niantic Project page on Google+.
- Verity Seke described the award criteria as follows: “This medal will be awarded to those who have gone above and beyond in helping the Niantic Investigation reach its maximum potential: By digging tirelessly for the truth… By working to mentor and educate others seeking to join the Investigation… By being a bastion of creativity and commitment…. And by working to maintain the positive momentum and sentiment within the Investigative community. This medal will be deployed by me slowly, a few each week, to those who myself and Dr. Wright agree are truly deserving.”
- Hank Johnson
- Hanover Shōnin anomaly, 28 March 2015 (given out by character)
- Hank Johnson 2016
- European Via Noir anomalies, 12 November 2016
- Hank Johnson 2017
- Magnus Reawakens event, 20 May 2017
- Hank Johnson 2018
- Part of the Hank Johnson Bundle, available for a limited time during December 2019 for 30,800 CMU
- Hank Johnson 2018 (Prime)
- Jahan 2016
- Mexico City, Orlando, San Antonio and Tucson Obsidian anomalies, 2 April 2016
- Cape Town, Padova and Rotterdam Aegis Nova anomalies, 28 May 2016
- Tokyo Aegis Nova anomaly, 16 July 2016
- Denver Via Lux anomaly, 27 August 2016
- New Orleans and Chicago Via Noir anomalies, 12 November 2016
- Klue
- Abaddon anomaly, 14 November 2015
- Kythera anomaly, 15 April – 26 June 2022
- Klue 2016
- Originally appeared only on the profiles of __ADA__ and __JARVIS__.
- Numerous “FindTheKlue” dead drops around the world
- KodamaSmiles 2016
- Cologne Via Lux anomaly, 24 September 2016
- KodamaSmiles 2017
- Magnus Reawakens event, 20 May 2017
- Misty Hannah 2017
- San Francisco EXO5 anomaly, 2 December 2017
- NL-1331 (classic and 2016)
- Given out by Ethan Lepouttre at NL-1331 meetup events.
- See the NL-1331 section of the Ingress Live Events page for information about future NL-1331 events.
- NL-1331a
- Given out by Ethan Lepouttre at NL-1331a meetup events.
- NL-1331e (2016 and 2017)
- Given out by Ethan Lepouttre at NL-1331e meetup events.
- NL-1331 Fleet (2020/21)
- Included in swag packs purchased at NL-1331X meetup events in 2021
- NL-Prime 2016
- Received at the end of a ride on NL-Prime.
- Included in swag packs purchased at NL-1331X meetup events in 2021
- NL-Prime 2017
- Received at the end of a ride on NL-Prime.
- Oliver Lynton-Wolfe
- Barcelona Darsana anomaly, 13 December 2014 (given out by character)
- Abaddon anomaly, 24 November 2015
- Oliver Lynton-Wolfe 2016
- United States Aegis Nova anomalies, 25 June 2016
- Oliver Lynton-Wolfe 2017
- San Francisco EXO5 anomaly, 2 December 2017
- Oliver Lynton-Wolfe 2018
- Oliver Lynton-Wolfe 2018 (Prime)
- P. A. Chapeau
- Milan Abaddon anomaly, 12 December 2015
- Seoul Via Noir anomaly, 12 November 2016
- P. A. Chapeau 2016
- United States Aegis Nova anomalies, 28 May 2016
- P. A. Chapeau 2017
- Magnus Reawakens event, 20 May 2017
- P. A. Chapeau 2018
- P. A. Chapeau 2018 (Prime)
- Roland Jarvis 2018
- Stella Vyctory (“crossover” medal from Endgame, a Niantic Labs game that was never released)
- The medal was previously obtainable by being among the top students on Stella’s leaderboard on the Ancient Societies web site. The site no longer exists.
- Pasadena Shōnin anomaly, 28 March 2015 (received by agents who chose an Endgame line)
- Hanover Shōnin anomaly, 28 March 2015 (received by agents who solved Stella’s challenge)
- Endgame meetup before the Washington, DC Persepolis anomaly, 29 May 2015 (in free supporter kits)
- Utrecht Persepolis anomaly, 20 June 2015 (received by agents who solved Stella’s challenge)
- Susanna Moyer
- Pasadena Shōnin anomaly, 28 March 2015 (given out by character)
- Washington, DC Persepolis anomaly, 30 May 2015
- Persepolis anomalies, 20 June 2015 (awarded for SITREPs reported on Twitter and Google+ that were reshared by the official @Ingress account)
- Hong Kong Obsidian anomaly, 2 April 2016
- Susanna Moyer 2016
- Obsidian anomalies, 27 February 2016
- Hong Kong Obsidian anomaly, 2 April 2016
- Brooklyn Aegis Nova anomaly, 28 May 2016
- San Diego Aegis Nova anomaly, 25 June 2016
- Victoria Kureze 2019
- ???
- Kureze Effect special event, 22 January – 21 March 2022
Classic
2016
2017
2018
2018 (Prime)
2019 (Prime)
Limited Edition Medals
Limited Edition medals can only be obtained by purchasing them from the store for 2,500 CMU each and are available for a limited time.
| Medal(s) | Available dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All Hallows’ Eve | 30 October – 2 November 2020 26 October – ? November 2022 |
|
| New Year | 23 December 2020 – 4 January 2021 | |
| Winterblue and Wintergreen | 29 January – 8 February 2021 | |
| Sakura Collection | 12 – 19 March 2021 21 March – 2 May 2022 |
three different medals |
| Level 8 Patch | 6 – 9 August 2021 | ENL and RES variants, must have at least 1.2M AP |
| Hyperion | 13 – 30 August 2021 | |
| Halloween 2021 | 21 October – 1 November 2021 26 October – ? November 2022 |
|
| New Year 2022 | 20 December 2021 – 3 January 2022 | |
| Ingress Valentine’s 2022 | 11 – 15 February 2022 | |
| Toast Day 2022 | 24 – 28 February 2022 | |
| Comic Sans | 31 March – 7 April 2022 | |
| Earth Day 2022 | 21 – 25 April 2022 | |
| Vesak Day | 12 – 16 May 2022 |
Mission Medals
Mission medals are awarded for completing agent-created missions, which can be found in the “Missions” tab of the ops screen. They are round instead of hexagonal, and are displayed in a separate section of the agent profile.
Other Medals
The following medals are not covered by one of the other medal categories:
- The Founder medal was awarded to those who achieved at least level 5 by 14 December 2013. It is meant to recognize agents who actively participated during the early days of Ingress. It is no longer available.
- The Simulacrum medal recognizes an agent who has reached level 16 and undergone recursion. This medal became available with the release of Ingress Prime on 5 November 2018.
- The Verified medal was awarded starting on 11 February 2014 to those who completed the agent verification process. Verification has been removed from the scanner, so this medal is no longer available.
