How to Reset Your Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons
When your Joy-Cons start giving you grief with connectivity issues, resetting is the best option.
The Nintendo Switch is a great console when it works properly. But like everything else, the Switch isn’t perfect, and hiccups can occur from time to time. A common mishap that could affect your gameplay is the Joy-Cons not registering as plugged into the console when it is.
This can happen at any time, whether you’re in the middle of a game or switching from tabletop to handheld mode. Whatever your scenario, here’s what you can do to fix it.
How do I reset my Joy-Cons?
If you have ever experienced this problem, you quickly become painfully aware of the situation. When this error occurs, you cannot use your console in handheld mode.
If your Joy-Con is unable to connect to your console, it will continuously display an icon on the side of your screen prompting you to connect your controller. This can get frustrating when you repeatedly turn your Joy-Con on and off on your Switch to no avail. This issue can occur with one or both of your Joy-Cons.
The Joy-Cons should still work wirelessly, but you won’t be able to play handheld. While this can occasionally be due to a mechanical failure in your Nintendo Switch’s railings, in most cases resetting your Joy-Cons will fix the problem.
- Your console may not function properly if it is not running the latest firmware. Make sure both your console and Joy-Cons are updated. If you haven’t already, follow our guide on how to update your Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons. Use touch controls when you can’t use your Joy-Cons wirelessly to update your console.
- If the problem persists, unplug your Joy-Cons from the console.
- Press the SYNC button. The SYNC button is a small round button located on the rail of your Joy-Con.
- Press any button to turn the Joy-Con back on.
- Reattach the Joy-Cons to the console.
Your Joy-Cons should now be able to connect to your console. If the problem persists, there may be a larger problem and you may need to send the Joy-Cons in for repair. You can test if the issue is with your Joy-Con or your Nintendo Switch console itself by trying to connect it to another Nintendo Switch console.
Reset all spirited Joy-Con controllers
In most cases, resetting your Joy-Cons is a deceptively easy fix when your controllers won’t connect to your console. If you’re experiencing this issue, be sure to try this before sending your controllers or console in for repair.