The Nintendo Switch Online App has been updated to version 2.0.0 this morning, bringing with it a whole slew of changes that are absolutely for the best.
This is the biggest overhaul of the app since its release back in 2017, and follows the recent Missions and Rewards updates to Nintendo Switch Online.
Here are the patch notes, courtesy of Nintendo via the App Store:
- The app's overall design has been updated.
- You can now see which of your friends are online.
- You can change your online-status settings.
- You can view your friend code.
- Other minor changes have also been implemented.
Additions like seeing your friend code (which you can now copy and paste instead of laboriously typing out all 12 digits), or even see if your friends are online without turning your Switch on, are really simple on the surface, but are nice little updates.
But the new look is classy, and much more user-friendly than the original design. Hopefully the app will receive more updates down the line, and more games will be implemented into the service. The app has some neat, quirky ideas, but having to run voice chat through it for select games ihas always been a grind.
Do you still use the app almost five years after it first launched? Let us know in the comments.
- Further reading
- Nintendo Switch Online Missions And Rewards: March 2022
Comments 60
I just wish one day I will be as happy as everyone pictured in their ads..
A very welcome upgrade - makes it feel a little more built-out. It's a shame this wasn't available until 5 years after launch!
Download management would be a welcome addition for the next update.
Take my mo-
Nah.
Do you still use the app almost five years after it first launched?
Wait.
There's an app?
😜
I tried the app when it launched. Deleted it 5 minutes later. Haven't looked back.
@Thoughts this is entirely possible on Switch, and has been since launch. You can set your Online Status to display to no one, and your friends will be unable to see that you're online. That's all that this setting in the app does.
Can you look at the eshop with this thing or are they still lagging behind there too?
Let’s update the switch itself and instead of stability, add folders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfLnWq5bZQ
Wow, another late feature. How do I know it's gonna be better late than never when we're apparently halfway through the Switch's lifecycle?
Being able to grab your friend code from it is nice but not much use when you can't also use the app to add other people's friend codes
@HollowSpectre
There is an official website to browse the eShop. Has been for a while. I think from near day one in the US, was only added a few months ago here
@UglyCasanova lol same, the app is still not worth downloading in the end.
I wish they took the development hours they spent on this and spent them on making folders for the Switch.
They will literally add anything other than folders.
Welcome to 2011 Nintendo
Five years to add the ability to see your friends. And it's still a paid app.
Took this long to implement this:
"- You can now see which of your friends are online."
I never used it, but this app looks bad, real bad.
Neat. This app is no longer quite as useless.
I originally downloaded it only for the animal crossing keyboard typing feature.
I reeeeally wish they would add a way to directly manage your Switch screen shots.
Even the people in the Switch adverts aren’t using the app when they’re showing them talking online 🙄
It’s a good idea as an alternative for those without headsets but you really should be able to jack a headset into a Pro controller at the very least for both audio and voice chat.
@HollowSpectre It’s annoying that only PlayStation allows to search and buy from the phone app. Neither Nintendo or Xbox allowing it is really poor in this day and age. Should have been there from day one.
Take a shot every time a comment whines we don’t have folders (haven’t read them yet so if there are none I earned a roasting)
@FragRed mobile software chasing implementation drives up the chance for costly refunds
Oh yeah, this was the Splatoon 2 app. Makes sense they'd resurrect it as we approach the release of Splat 3.
This App is okay. I wish they'd release it on the Switch though. Or better make it part of the OS.
I got all of the exclusive furniture for Animal Crossing and haven't used the app since.
NSO is honestly just a Mario Kart subscription for me at this point...
I would love the integration of the eshop into the app. Probably a lot easier to navigate.
I only use the app with ACNH to track turnips. Other than that, the app is not good. It's main feature, the voice chat, is abysmal and very low quality to the point where you're better off using Discord or literally just calling your friends. They should take notes from the PS app. Add a store feature, make it so you can see your captures and basically have it be a second screen
this app serves no functional purpose to me, unlike the PS and Xbox apps
The Dreamcast VMU had a better vision for mobile gaming apps, despite only being about as powerful as a standard Tamagachi
The only really useful thing on the app for me is the Animal Crossing keyboard.
@UglyCasanova keep buying new switches until it happens
I had installed the app back when it came out, but it was completely useless and deleted it. I only tried to use it once at work to share my friend code, only to realise it didn't even do that. Funny how they finally added this extremely basic functionality after so many years.
App getting updated = Splatoon 3 coming.
@Thoughts you can set yourself offline on the Switch, that has always been an option.
Profile's page > User Settings > Friend Settings > Display online status
That option has always been available, and you can even set it so that only the people you have marked as best friends can see you online and everyone else doesn't. This works for both docked and handheld mode. Changing the online status settings on the mobile app will change it on your Switch remotely.
(Now you know why it never gets talked about lol)
If this app would just let you chat and text with nso friends without being on the same game it would be 100 times better
I miss miiverse…
5 years and this is considered a big update? Goodness lol
For the five people that use this app, this must be exciting!
Still a pile of shirt 5 yrs later…..
I hope nintendo update it so we can buy switch games on the app, like playstation ios app where we can buy playstation games on the app.
@UglyCasanova
Disclaimer: These photos were taken BEFORE the Joy Con Drift kicked in! Now they just look like the rest of us
Was hoping this would be the update where it would allow my phone to float in front of my face as advertised in the original trailer with Mario since that would be the only way to use it for chat.
untill I can use a headset with party support directly connected to the switch itself I sleeeep
Discord is still just a way better option.
It still doesn't have the option like the japanese version, to buy games through the app...
Give us chat and party chat voice options! I hope this update is to telegraph those updates in the future.
Why use an app , why not just have proper accounts on the switch where you can send messages & voice chat it was a pain in the arse with the long codes but I could send messages on my Wii
@Mando44646 I use the ps app to add ps5 ps plus games to my library
For some reason I thought “Nintendo Switch Online App” meant their emulator apps on Switch and I got really excited.
Updates to the mobile app are still welcome I guess though.
… Wun can only hope.
I have never once used the app for anything. I can't access the eshop, I can't add friends or receive invites, I can't send/ receive messages. What's the point of the app Nintendo?
STILL no folders?!? come on Nintando!!!!
@UglyCasanova especially the couple on the right. I am sure she is thrilled that he brought his Switch out when they went for a coffee together.
The fact that they are updating this makes me think it is here to stay, at least for this generation, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered. It does look alot nicer now I will give them that.
Worst app ever. Not I've ever used it.
@RandomNerds.
In the words of a Frozen, "Let it go", just think they want a zippy interface, and after the Wii U's slow on it's awesome.
I just booted it up and you can still do almost nothing with the app. Wow!
I honestly preferred not having a bunch of friend icons clutter the screen.
@skywake I completely agree. It might actually be mildly useful if I could enter friend codes from the app.
No, 99% of the time the app is useless to me.
Nowadays the only use I have for the NSO app is to upload Smash clips which are an annoying process in itself already.
But nothing on Switch itself to allow for offline migration should one upgrade or change their Switch consoles. This is the part they should be working on doing and improving so users can migrate their saved data to another console without using wifi confirmation to move data to another Switch.
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