If your Nintendo Switch ever completely freezes up, there’s a quick fix
- aug
- 05
What to do when nothing else works.
Like any other app-driven platform, every once in a while the Nintendo Switch gets a little lost when jumping from one app to another and freezes. None of the buttons work on any of the controllers, pressing the power button to turn the screen off doesn't work, and the touch screen doesn't respond to your taps. Not a fun time, especially if you're trying to get in a few minutes of game time on your work break.
It seems like you're stuck here until the Switch figures out how to unstick itself, but there are actually two different ways to deal with a frozen Switch. The good news is neither are particularly complicated, but only one of them works when you're at home.
Put your Switch back in its dock
The act of docking and undocking your Switch briefly interrupts just about everything happening on the console. You barely notice it because it happens so fast, but there's a brief stutter where the console makes that switch (I regret nothing) from one state to another.
If your Switch is frozen, dock it and undock it to see what happens. In many cases, you'll see the console return to the normal functioning position and everything is great. No additional steps required; you can return to your regularly scheduled gameplay.
Press the Home button
It's possible that, if your Nintendo Switch seems frozen, the issue lies with the game and not with the system. Pressing the Home button while in-game will confirm whether the issue is with the game or the console. If you are sent back to the Home menu, you can close out of the game and restart it. If you are sent nowhere at all, you'll need to try other steps.
Power button reboot
Pressing the power button in once may not do anything when your Switch is frozen, but there's a hardware reboot in that power button that will work no matter what. As long as the console has power, you'll be able to reboot it this way.
Just press and hold that power button for 15 seconds. At the 15 second mark, the screen will go dark for a moment and then light back up a moment later with the Nintendo logo. You'll see the Switch logo next, just like a normal boot sequence, and all of a sudden the Switch is back to working order. Hooray!
Blue screened?
If none of these solutions worked, or if any of them results in the infamous blue screen of death, you're probably out of luck for now. You'll need to contact Nintendo's support line for your region and ship your console to them to have them reset it for you. Be warned that this may cause you to lose saved data, so remove any game cards or microSD cards before sending the system in.
Any questions?
Do you have any questions about how to get your Switch unfrozen? Put them in the comments and we'll help you out.
Updated August 2018: Added steps for returning to the Home screen, blue screening.