If you sign in to your Nintendo Account with a Google or Apple account, you will need another way in by Jan. 26, 2027. Nintendo will stop letting Google and Apple accounts link to Nintendo Accounts on that date, so neither can be used to sign in or to create a new account.

The notice on Nintendo's U.S. support site covers the Switch 2, Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED. Nintendo's Japanese notice, posted Nov. 10, puts the cutoff at 4 p.m. Japan time on Tuesday, Jan. 26, which is 11 p.m. Pacific on Monday, Jan. 25. The U.S. page lists only the date and says the exact end time could slip, depending on how the system work goes.

What stops working

A Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode with its screen off, gray Joy-Con controllers attached on each side
A Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode.Kyu3a / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

After the cutoff, Nintendo says:

  • You cannot sign in to a Nintendo Account with a Google or Apple account.
  • You cannot create a new Nintendo Account with one.
  • The My Nintendo Platinum Points mission for linking a Google account goes away too.

Nintendo does not say why it is making the change.

If a device is already signed in to your Nintendo Account, the notice says, you may not have to sign in again. When the sign-in page does come up, you will need one of the methods below.

How to keep access

A man with a gray beard sits on porch steps and presses his thumb on a smartphone screen showing a fingerprint symbol
Image: Edit USA

Nintendo gives two options. You can sign in with the email address or Sign-In ID on the account and its password, or with a passkey, which uses your phone's fingerprint or face unlock in place of a password.

If you have always used Google or Apple, you may never have set a Nintendo password. On the Nintendo Account sign-in page, choose "Forgot your password?" and Nintendo will send a reset email to the address on the account. The email can take a while. If it does not show up, Nintendo suggests adding [email protected] to your address book and safe-sender list, then contacting support if it still does not arrive. If you no longer have access to that email address, you will need to contact Nintendo support to change it.

Nintendo has done this before

A Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con grip next to the Switch 2 dock on a light gray background
The Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con grip and dock.PantheraLeo1359531 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

In October 2022 Nintendo ended Facebook and Twitter sign-ins the same way, according to its support page from that change. At the time it pointed users to Google and Apple as the remaining sign-in options. After January, the only ways in will be Nintendo's own password or a passkey.