Best Nintendo Switch Features You Didn’t Know Existed

Prevent Theft With Passcodes

Thieves can strike any time, anywhere. Say you are at an airport, open your backpack to play some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and suddenly, your Switch is missing. Where could it have gone? You only looked away for a second. Well, even if someone stole your Nintendo Switch, you can lock it down so they don’t get to use it.

Like most modern electronics, the Nintendo Switch includes parental settings. The Nintendo Switch Parental Control app lets parental gamers monitor how much time their children spend on the Switch, limit gaming sessions, and prevent them from playing age-inappropriate titles. The app can even lock children out of the Switch entirely, or, in this case, lock thieves out of the Switch.

In order to prevent would-be burglars from using their ill-gotten Switch, simply download the Parental Control app from your appropriate smart device store and link it to your console. To do this, visit the Parental Controls menu from the Switch’s System Settings (the cog button on the main menu), select “Use Your Smart Device,” pick “Yes” when the Switch asks you if you have the app, and then enter the registration code on your copy of the app. Once registration is complete, in the phone app set “Restricted Software” to the lowest age the app allows (i.e., 3+ under “Custom Settings”). Once that’s done, your Switch is officially protected. You, and, by extension, thieves can’t play any games (or do anything else) on the Switch unless you select the orange button at the top of the Switch screen and enter the correct passcode. But since the code is on your phone app, only you know it.

While this feature will keep your console safe from prying hands, be sure to turn it off after you are done traveling. Otherwise, you will have to enter the pin every time you want to play a game, which can get annoying.

Switch Up Dock Orientation

This isn’t so much an obscure part of the Nintendo Switch’s programming as it is a neat trick that takes advantage of its design, but hey, a feature is a feature.

If you are short of space for your Switch and can’t place it in a location that lets you slide the console down into its dock, you can turn the dock on its back. This lets you insert the Switch console so the screen lays horizontally, or at least at an angle. The dock doesn’t lock the Switch into place and using gravity to keep it inserted, so you might need to elevate one side a bit so the port that connects the Switch to the dock is lower than the top of the Switch, but otherwise, this method is a valid way to store your Switch. And, it’s officially endorsed by Masahiro Sakurai.