TheNintendo Switch 2is here, and Nintendo promises"1.2 times the battery life of the original Switch.“The catch? You need to ensure that you’re taking good care of your battery over timewhile playing all those games, beyond the short-term stopgap solutions you may use to squeeze a bit of extra time out of your battery life. Thankfully, Nintendo has introduced a new feature that many other manufacturers have adopted to improve long-term battery life.
The Nintendo Switch 2has plenty of options like brightness toggles and airplane mode(to avoid pesky and unnecessary data pings when you don’t need them), but you can also stop your Switch from charging once it reaches 90%. It’s buried in a system menu and it isn’t widely advertised by Nintendo (including in the initial console setup), but it’s easy to find if you know where to look.
For Better Long-Term Battery Life, Use The New Feature
Stop Charging At 90% Automatically
Thankfully, the Nintendo Switch 2 is built with a long-term battery solution in mind. In recent years, hardware manufacturers have been making an effort to preserve battery life beyond the normal scope of wear and tear, and have limited charging, allowing people to charge items to a maximum percentage below 100%. This ensures that the battery keeps its charge over time, and doesn’t overextend itself. Although some manufacturers allow users to “slide toggle” their desired percentage,for the Switch 2, the only option is 90%.
To enable this feature, you need to go to the system settings (indicated by the gear/sunburst icon in the bottom right of the Switch UI. Then go to “system,” and scroll down below the “date and time” setting. There you’ll find the option to toggle the system battery percentage indicator on (which is useful if you need an exact reading of your current battery life), as well as"stop charging around 90%.“Toggle that on and you’re good to go!
Turn Your Screen Brightness Down
This Is A Classic Hardware Tip
When in doubt,lowering your brightness can help conserve valuable battery life in the moment. This is especially useful for cases where you’re just flipping through menus and downloading items for upkeep, and aren’t playing games that require vibrant visuals. The Switch 2 retains the “auto-brightness” feature of the Switch family of systems if you want to go that route, too.
You won’t need to look hard for the screen brightness option on your system settings UI.Just scroll to “screen brightness” near the top of system settings (below airplane mode)and you’re good to go. Thankfully, the Switch 2 has the same convenient slider for brightness settings as the original Switch.
Toggle Vibration/Rumble Off For Your Joy-Con
If You’re Desperate For More Battery Life
This isn’t a setting I think of often, but utilizing rumble/vibration features for your controllers (particularly your Joy-Con when attached to your Switch 2) can potentially impact battery life.This is because your Switch 2 is working overtime to simulate rumble,an age-old feature that Nintendo has associated with its hardware since the Nintendo 64.
To toggle rumble on and off,you’ll need to go into system settings and scroll down until you hit controllers and accessories. Scroll down a bit from there, beyond “change grip/order,” and turn controller vibration off. You’ll also have the option to separately toggle alarm settings in the notifications section of system settings.
Use Airplane Mode When You Don’t Need The Internet
It’s A No-Brainer When You Don’t Have Access
This might seem like a deep cut, but you may want every edge you can get if you’re trying to conserve battery life while traveling or testing the system’s limits.Although it’s not apparent, gaming hardware can constantly scan for updates, which in turn demands power from the system. Turning all of these options off (including Bluetooth) will help you game longer.
To find the option to toggle airplane mode on and off, go to system settings and select airplane mode. It’s at the very top of the system settings menu, right below “support/health & safety.” It’s a one-stop shop toggle for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can also hold the Home button on yourNintendo Switch 2and toggle them off that way on the fly without going into the system settings menu, just like a smartphone UI.
