Nintendo Switch Online Mobile App Update Addresses Some Of The Biggest Flaws It Had

Nintendo’s solution for voice chat has been so bizarre this generation, it’s sort of surreal- instead of having an integrated voice chat solution on the Switch itself, they have off loaded that to a smartphone app that players must use if they want to voice chat with Switch friends.

In and of itself, that’s egregious enough- but even their alternate solution is half-baked: there is no system level party chat, with voice chat binded to specific supported games, only one game is supported, and the app needs to be active and on screen at all times- meaning if you minimize the app, or even if your phone’s screen powers down, the app suspends operation.

Those last two problems are so egregious, and so against how modern smartphone apps work, that it’s unbelievable Nintendo has released an app with those restrictions in the first place. Happily, the newest update for the Nintendo Switch Online app seems to address these flaws. You can now voice chat even with the app minimized, and even with your phone in sleep mode. On Android phones, there is better support for devices over Bluetooth as well.

This… is a start. Now Nintendo needs to add universal party chat, add more game support to the app, and oh, before I forget, maybe add voice chat to the actual system to begin with instead of relying on an external app.