As with other entertainment consoles that are intended to be connected to your television set, the Nintendo Switch does not rely on batteries. You can play as much as you want on the console. When you remove the console from its dock, you have to worry about repairing bad Nintendo Switch battery life.
Nintendo Switch is not a game console like you’ve experienced before. Since their existence, portable game consoles and living room game consoles have been two separate things. They lived together but always kept their distance. The Nintendo Switch is both a living room game console and a way to play games away from your television set. Removable Joy-Cons are an innovation that makes this possible. The other is a custom 720p touchscreen and a built-in battery.
Everyone expected some casualties there, as Nintendo connected two different worlds. Battery life is an easily identifiable one. Nintendo Switch is more powerful than the company’s latest consoles. That, and the demanding games Nintendo expects to release, assure that some users will have to look for fixes for bad Nintendo Switch battery life.
There’s no magic way to double the amount of playtime you get from your Nintendo Switch between charges. There are ways to modestly increase the amount of time you can enjoy your favorite games.
How to Fix Bad Nintendo Switch Battery Life: Play Another Nintendo Switch Game
As with your laptop, Nintendo Switch battery life is not consistent. So you can’t expect the console to give you the same amount of playtime across its portfolio of games. Different games challenge the insides of the Nintendo Switch in different ways. The same goes for laptops and tablets.
Nintendo says it’s possible to get 6 hours of playtime on regular puzzle titles available through the Nintendo eShop. play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild it won’t get you that much. In fact, it’s a pretty safe bet that none of the high-profile Nintendo Switch games coming in 2017 will earn you that much. Breath of the Wild Players report approximately 3 hours of gameplay before the console is reminded that it needs to be recharged.
All this points to an important way to manage bad Nintendo Switch battery life. To get more playing time from the console, try playing a less demanding game until you reach the charger.
How to Fix Bad Nintendo Switch Battery Life: Reduce Screen Brightness Nintendo Switch
Aside from the processor, the biggest contention on the battery on the Nintendo Switch is the screen. Turning down the screen brightness on your device can help you get more gaming time.
Press and hold the Home button on the right Joy-Con to see a pop-up menu that lets you adjust some settings. Now use the slider to get the screen brightness as low as possible. You’ll want to make sure it’s still bright enough that you can see it, but low enough to conserve power.
While you’re here, turn Auto-Brightness off so your console doesn’t decide to override your settings when your lighting status changes.
How to Fix Bad Nintendo Switch Battery Life: Put Nintendo Switch in Airplane Mode
While you’re in this quick settings menu, there’s one more thing you can do to save Nintendo Switch battery life. You can switch to Airplane Mode.
Airplane Mode turns off all wireless communication. So you will need to keep your Joy-Con controllers connected to the console. This means no Joy-Con Grip or Nintendo Switch Controller use. You’ll also want to make sure the game you’re playing doesn’t require an internet connection. You should notice some minor gains in battery life.
How to Fix Bad Nintendo Switch Battery Life: Try Turning Your Nintendo Switch Completely Off Between Sessions
When you press the power button on the top edge of your Nintendo Switch, you don’t turn it off completely. The console goes to sleep. In its sleep, it consumes much less battery power than it normally does, but there is still some discharge. If prolonging the time you can go until your next charge is really a top priority, turn the console completely off.
You have to hold down the power button to turn it off. In this case, your Nintendo Switch should be consuming no power at all, meaning that the next time you play, it will be at or close to the battery level you turned it off.
Good luck trying to improve bad Nintendo Switch battery life. To be clear, you can take all these steps and still feel like your console isn’t lasting as long as it should. There’s some good news though. Most planes and trains now offer plugs to charge your devices, and your Nintendo Switch comes with a USB Type-C plug to act as a portable charger.