How to Restart Nintendo Switch

We have to restart the Nintendo Switch while it is crashing or lagging in performance. Nintendo Switch is a gaming console, which gained a lot of attention for its portability and detachable joy-con controllers. It has helped users to play the games at home as well as on the go, which is a great advantage for gamers. Additionally, it also performs well, similar to that of PlayStation and Xbox. However, like other gaming consoles, Nintendo Switch also slows down in performance at times.

The main reason behind the freezing/slowing down of the Nintendo Switch or any other console is the games and apps on it. Sometimes, most of us forget when multiple activities are happening on the screen, there are also loads of activities happening behind the screen. When there are too many activities happening on a console, it may end up crashing. In Nintendo Switch, one can restart in two methods. One method is to restart using the Power option and the other one is to force restart. However, one can try force restart only when the Nintendo Switch is totally unresponsive.

How to Restart your Nintendo Switch

[1] Press and hold the Power button on your Nintendo Switch for 5 seconds.

[2] As a result, the Power menu opens up the screen.

[3] Choose Power Options from the menu.

[4] Next, select the Restart option and the restart will begin.

Force Restart on Nintendo Switch

If your Nintendo Switch is totally unresponsive for a normal restart or frozen, then you may go with the Force Restart option.

[1] Press and hold the Power button on Nintendo Switch for 15 seconds.

[2] You should hold the power button till your device Turns off completely.

[3] Wait for 10 to 20 seconds.

[4] Again Turn on your Nintendo Switch.

[5] Now it should function properly.

Related: How to Update Nintendo Switch

Is Force Restart Safe?

There are times when you have no other choice but to force restart. However, if your Nintendo Switch crashes often and you are performing the force restart usually, it may affect your device.

[1] One great disadvantage of the Nintendo Switch is that it does not offer a data backup facility. Frequent force restart can corrupt your data. As there is no backup on Nintendo, you may lose them forever.

[2] Another major drawback of force restart is that it will corrupt the operating system of your Nintendo Switch. If your OS is corrupted, then there is nothing you can do. You can contact support for any help regarding the OS issues.

[3] In general, if your Nintendo Switch is often crashing, get official Nintendo Switch Customer Support to check the problems behind, instead of force restart.

Related: How to Set up Nintendo Switch Parental Control

Things to Try Before Force Restart

[1] You can simply press the Home button if your Nintendo Switch crashes while you are in-game. The problem may be with your app and not on the Switch. If that is the case, then on pressing the home button. You can go to your Home screen and from there you can close the problem-causing application.

[2] Put your Nintendo Switch back in the dock and then undock it to check if this can resolve your problem. The process of re-docking and undocking will refresh your device.

Before a force restart, you can try these two simple solutions to check if this can make your Nintendo Switch responsive.

Related: How to Stream YouTube on Nintendo Switch

Frequently Asked Questions