SO YOU DOWNLOADED INGRESS. NOW WHAT.

STEP 1 — PICK YOUR FACTION AND COMMIT

When you create your account you choose Resistance (blue) or Enlightened (green). This is permanent. Choose the faction that recruited you if someone brought you in — they can mentor you, share gear, and run operations with you.

If you found the game on your own, read the lore pages on this site and choose based on what resonates.

There is no wrong answer. There is only your answer.

STEP 2 — UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT

The scanner shows you the real world overlaid with XM data.

PORTALS — glowing hexagons on the map. Grey means unclaimed. Your faction's color means friendly. Enemy color means hostile.

XM — the small particles on the ground around you. Walk through them to collect energy. You need XM to do almost everything.

RESONATORS — the anchors deployed on portals that claim them for a faction. Each portal holds up to 8. Deploy them to claim portals for your side.

LINKS — lines connecting portals. Create them by using a portal key (earned by hacking) to connect two friendly portals.

FIELDS — triangles formed when three portals are linked to each other. Fields score points for your faction. This is the core of the game.

STEP 3 — YOUR FIRST ACTIONS

Find a grey (unclaimed) portal near you.

Walk to it. Tap it. Deploy resonators on it. You just claimed your first portal.

Now hack every portal you walk past — friendly, enemy, or grey. Hacking gives you gear and XM. Do it constantly.

When you have portal keys from hacking, start linking portals.

When you have three linked portals forming a triangle, you have a field.

That is the game. Everything else is refinement.

STEP 4 — LEVELING

You gain AP (Access Points) for almost every action. Deploy resonators. Hack portals. Create links. Build fields. Attack enemies.

Level 1-4: Focus entirely on hacking and deploying. Don't worry about attacking enemy portals yet — your weapons aren't strong enough to matter and you'll waste resources.

Level 5-8: You can now meaningfully attack. Start targeting isolated enemy portals. Join your local cell on Comm and ask for gear drops — experienced agents can load you up fast.

Level 8 is the first major milestone. It unlocks full equipment strength and is where most serious play begins.

STEP 5 — FIND YOUR LOCAL CELL

The game is dramatically better with a team.

Open the scanner and go to COMM. Say hello. Mention your faction and your rough location. Experienced agents will find you.

Your local cell coordinates on Telegram or Signal — ask in Comm for an invite once you've established yourself as a real agent (level 4 or above is a reasonable point to ask).