Nintendo Switch Parental Controls™ is a free app for smart devices to keep you engaged with your family's gaming activities on Nintendo Switch. ◆ A Nintendo Switch console with the latest available system version is required to use this app. This is recommended for people worried about things such as: 1. Is my child spending too much time playing games? 2. What kind of games is my child playing? 3. Are the games my child is playing age-appropriate? Below are three special features of the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app: 1. Monitor play time on your console. Set a play-time limit and the console will notify users that the time limit has been reached. Parents and guardians can check the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app to see if the time limit has been followed. It is also possible to suspend gameplay automatically when the play-time limit is reached. 2. Check up on your console's gameplay. The summary function allows you to easily see what games have been played on the console recently and how much time was spent playing each day. View daily reports and monthly summaries of play activity. If you choose to receive push notifications, you'll be notified when a new monthly summary is available. It's an easy way to see what kind of games your family is interested in. 3. Restrict console features. Nintendo Switch functions can be restricted to prevent the console from playing games above a certain age rating. Attention: ◆ An Internet connection is required to use this app. Cellular data may be used. A Nintendo Account (for ages 18 and up) is also required. ◆ Restrictions to Nintendo eShop purchases can be set from Nintendo Account settings. ◆ Your use of this app is subject to the Nintendo Account User Agreement available at support.nintendo.com. ◆ In order to make use of all of the features and settings available in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app, all registered Nintendo Switch consoles need to be using the latest system version.
Limitations
I have 5 kids and their grandparents have bought them switches over the years, so I have 5 Nintendo switches that need parental controls but you can only add three to an app. Nintendo allows up to 8 people on the family group for online play but you can’t add a child to the family group if you have them on the parental controls of separate parent email. My wife and I both have the accounts for this instead of managing one app in one place we have to log out and log back in under the other email. #NotUserFriendly
Only 3 switches
I have 5 kids who saved their money to buy switches but I can only have parent controls on 3 of them. Please add the ability to access more switches!
It’s awful!!!
It’s awful nothing but a pain in the neck!
Zero Stars - Years of Ignored Feature Requests
Read through the low star reviews and it’s easy to see lifelong fans of Nintendo, who are now parents, making basic feature requests that continue to go unanswered for years! Summary of reviews from: 2018 - Please add a start time, the bedtime control only allows preventing play in the evening, what about when kids need to get breakfast and dressed for school? 2019 - Please let us set individual level controls at the user level. If you are a family with a 5 year old, 8 year old, and 13 year old Nintendo suggests setting controls according to the youngest child in the house. If the 5 year old starts playing and walks away, screen time keeps running and uses up the rest of the family time. Controls are limited to 15 minute blocks, why can’t I just give my kids 2 or 3 extra minutes instead of 15? 2020 - Multiple time blocks/start and stop times, 15 minutes in the morning before school, 30 minutes after school for the bus ride home, 30 minutes after dinner. The trend keeps going. There are comments saying it’s not Nintendo’s job to parent for you, which is valid. I also believe offering the features requested allow parents to focus on more important things than managing locking, unlocking, adding minutes, removing minutes etc everyday, they can instead set their controls once and focus on playing with their kids. There is a lot of benefit to a device consistently shutting off at a pre-set predictable time, kids can benefit from this structure and routine. Not all kids require reminders and timers, reading these reviews show that these basic features can go a long ways for a lot of families though. If you’ve read this far, I hope you will go a little farther and contact Nintendo to make your voice heard. Nintendo’s website has trouble tickets, text, chat, and phone support. Here are Nintendo’s X (twitter) accounts too, let them hear you! General Nintendo accounts @Nintendo - Official Japanese Nintendo account @NintendoAmerica - Official Nintendo of America account @NintendoEurope - Official Nintendo of Europe account @NintendoAUNZ - Official Nintendo of Australia and New Zealand account @NintendoUK - Official Nintendo UK account @NintendoFrance - Official Nintendo France account @NintendoDE - Official Nintendo Germany account @NintendoES - Official Nintendo Spain account @NintendoItalia -Official Nintendo Italy account @NintendoRU - Official Nintendo Russia account Specific accounts @NintendoNYC - Official for the Nintendo NY store @NintendoVS - Nintendo Versus account, for competitive Nintendo gaming (i.e. Splatoon, ARMS, Super Smash Bros.) @Pokemon - Official international Pokémon twitter @Pokemon_cojp - Official Japanese Pokémon twitter @apppokemon - Official Pokémon twitter for mobile games @pokemoncomaster - Pokémon Duels official Japanese twitter @pokelandapp - Pokéland official Japanese twitter @pokemon_movie - Official Pokémon Movie twitter account. It also tweets about the TV show @ZeldaOfficialJP @zelda_musou - Official Hyrule Warriors twitter @zeldasymphony - Official twitter for The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses @SmashBrosJP - Official Super Smash Bros. Japanese twitter @FireEmblemJP - Official Japanese twitter @FE_Heroes_JP - Official Fire Emblem Heroes Japanese twitter @FireEmblemMusou - Official Fire Emblem Warriors Japanese twitter @fecipher - Official Fire Emblem Cipher twitter @XenobladeJP - Official Xenoblade twitter @Kirby25thJP - Twitter for Kirby's 25th anniversary @SuperMario_UK - Offical Super Mario twitter @mario_odysseyJP - Super Mario Odyssey's Japanese twitter @3DS_Culdcept - Official Culdcept twitter @Hakoboy_HAL - Official Boxboy twitter
It works, but where are the options?
It’s great if all you want to do is set a time limit. What about control of individual profiles? Time ranges instead of just 6 hours. What if I want my kids playing only certain times while I am at work? It’s a great start but lacking a lot of basic options for the user to control.
Constant crashing and limited family size
This is a frustrating and clunky app. It rarely works without having to uninstall and reinstall regularly. Also, if you have more than 3 kids you’re out of luck. Nintendo decided you’re only allowed to have 3 kids. Thanks Nintendo. I have 4. Weird.
Garbage app
No restrictions are enforced, kids keep playing without any alerts or stopping.
Support for iOS versions has changed. This app now requires iOS 14.0 or later. Bug fixes have been implemented.
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