A portal is an aperture in the fabric of space through which exotic matter is emitted into our world. Ingress strategy revolves around control of portals.

Appearance

Portals appear in the scanner as glowing fountains. Neutral (uncaptured) portals are small and grey. When a portal is captured, it changes to that faction‘s color: green for the Enlightened, blue for the Resistance, and red for Machina. As a portal is upgraded, it will become larger.

A portal will periodically generate XM on the ground around itself. The amount of XM generated is 10% of the portal’s current energy level. For example, a fully-charged L8 portal will have 48,000 energy, which means it will generate 4,800 XM on the ground. XM is regenerated every 10-15 minutes or so.

Resonators

Portals have eight slots where agents can deploy resonators. These devices store XM and strengthen the portal. They appear around the portal in the scanner, with a colored beam connecting each one to the portal. The color of the resonator and the color of the connecting beam indicates the resonator’s level. Each slot can accommodate one resonator.

When all eight slots are empty, the portal is said to be neutral or uncaptured. Deploying a resonator on a neutral portal captures it, claiming it for your faction. Once all eight slots are occupied by resonators, the portal is said to be fully powered. A portal that is fully powered can be additionally strengthened by replacing existing resonators with ones of higher level; this is called upgrading them.

Resonators are destroyed when their XM energy levels are depleted; this can be caused by enemy attacks or natural decay over time. When all resonators on the portal are destroyed, it reverts to neutral status.

Mods

Mods are items which you can install on a portal to alter its attributes (see below). Every portal has four mod slots, each of which can accommodate a mod. However, if you already own two mods on a portal, you won’t be allowed to install another. There are seven types of mods:

Attributes

Portals have attributes which can be improved by mods:

  • Burnout Insulation: Increases the number of hacks that can be performed on the portal by a single agent before it burns out. Each unit of burnout insulation increases the number of hacks by one. Burnout insulation is provided by multi-hacks.
  • Force Amplifier: Force amplification multiplies damage from a portal’s counterattack. It is increased by installing force amps.
  • Hack Speed: Indicates a percentage amount by which this portal’s cooldown time has been reduced, allowing you to hack it more quickly. Hack speed is increased by applying heat sinks. For example, a portal with a single very rare heat sink results in a hack speed of 70%, meaning that the portal will cool down in 90 seconds rather than 300.
  • Hit Bonus: The hit bonus results in a portal’s counterattack inflicting increased damage, although the exact mechanism that dictates how this is applied is still uncertain at this time. Hit bonus is increased by installing turrets.
  • Link Defense Boost: Links provide damage mitigation to resonators. A SoftBank ultra link boosts this mitigation by 50%.
  • Outgoing Link Bonus: Normally, a portal can support up to eight outgoing links. SoftBank ultra links add support for another eight outgoing links each.
  • Range: The maximum distance of remote portals to which this portal can be linked. The portal’s range can be increased by deploying or upgrading resonators or installing link amps.
  • Shielding: Shielding contributes to a portal’s mitigation, which reduces the amount of damage incurred by the portal’s resonators when attacked. Note that links also contribute to mitigation, and that the two combined are capped at 95. Adding shields to a portal whose mitigation is already at 95 will not increase it further. However, it may help the portal last longer if another shield is stripped off in an attack.
  • Strike Factor: The strike factor results in a portal’s counterattack inflicting increased damage, although the exact mechanism that dictates how this is applied is still uncertain at this time. Strike factor is increased by installing turrets.
  • XM-Spin: Alters the balance of offensive and defensive items hacked from a portal. Possible values are -1 (more offensive items), 0 (balanced), and 1 (more defensive items). A portal’s spin is altered by installing transmuters.

Boosts

Some boosts enhance portals (somewhat similar to mods), but do not occupy a mod slot, and only one of any type can be deployed at a time on a portal. Currently, there are three types of portal boosts, all of which are premium items:

The Portal Information Card

Tapping on a portal in your scanner or selecting its key brings up the portal information card. This screen gives you an at-a-glance summary about the portal and its current status:

  • At the top is the title bar, which displays the portal’s name, level, description, and photo. Tapping any of these bring up another screen where you can read its description if it has one, and view all photos of this portal.
    • When you select a photo, it is displayed at the top, with the name of the agent that submitted it and the number of likes. Tap the thumbs-up icon to “like” the photo that is currently shown; the main photo for the portal is the that is most liked.
    • Tap the menu button at the upper-right to bring up the contributions screen, where you can choose to edit the portal’s title or location, add a photo, add or edit the description, report the portal as invalid, or tap the X button to dismiss the contributions screen.
    • Tap the X button to return to the portal information card.
  • Below the title and description is the distance to the portal and its current owner (the agent who most recently captured the portal). Tap the arrow next to the distance to copy the portal’s address to your clipboard. Tap the owner’s name to view their profile or send them a message in comm.
  • Below the photo is a diagram showing the portal’s four mod slots. Tap a slot to bring up the mod status screen, allowing you to see details about the current mods and install more.
  • Occupying the center of the screen is an image of the portal itself. Flanking it are diagrams showing the level and XM charge of each deployed resonator along with the name of the agent that deployed it. The north resonator is at the upper-right, marked with a red arrow. If a resonator is fully charged, its meter will have a dot above it. Tapping a meter takes you to the resonator status screen with that resonator selected.
  • Below the resonator displays on the left side is an indicator showing the number of keys to this portal that you hold.
  • Below the portal are five buttons:
    • Deploy: Tap it or swipe up to view the resonator status screen. Swipe up and right from the deploy button to view the mod status screen.
    • Link: Tap to view the linking screen, which will display portals that can be linked to this one, and allow you to link to them. This button will be disabled if you’re not in range of the portal, if it is not controlled by your faction, or if it has any empty resonator slots.
    • Hack: Tap to hack the portal. Swipe diagonally up and left to glyph hack. Swipe up to request a key. Swipe diagonally up and right to request no key.
    • Charge: Tap to bring up the charge screen, or swipe up to boost charge all resonators.
    • Close: Dismiss the portal information card.

Statistics

Portal
Level
Action Cost Range Glyph Hacking Zap
Strength*
Hack Flip Link* Zap Glyphs Time Limit Time/Glyph
1 50 XM 1,000 XM 0.16 km 40 m 1 20 sec 20 sec 262 XM
2 100 XM 2,000 XM 2.56 km 45 m 2 20 sec 10 sec 437 XM
3 150 XM 3,000 XM 12.96 km 50 m 3 20 sec 6⅔ sec 612 XM
4 200 XM 4,000 XM 40.96 km 55 m 3 19 sec 6⅓ sec 833 XM
5 250 XM 5,000 XM 100.00 km 60 m 3 18 sec 6 sec 1,050 XM
6 300 XM 6,000 XM 207.36 km 65 m 4 17 sec 4¼ sec 1,400 XM
7 350 XM 7,000 XM 384.16 km 70 m 4 16 sec 4 sec 1,750 XM
8 400 XM 8,000 XM 655.36 km 75 m 5 15 sec 3 sec 2,187 XM

* Minimums; portal upgrades can increase these values