Want your game progress on a different Switch? You can move a user’s save data for one or more compatible games with Transfer Your Save Data, a feature built into the consoles. You’ll need both consoles nearby, online, and plugged in. The users involved must be linked to the same Nintendo Account. You don’t need a Nintendo Switch Online membership for a direct transfer.
The part that deserves your full attention is the confirmation screen: moving a save removes it from the original console. This guide puts the user, game, and any existing progress checks right before that decision, then shows you how to make sure the right save arrived.
What Is Transfer Your Save Data?
Transfer Your Save Data moves a selected user’s save data for individual or multiple supported games from one Nintendo Switch-family console to another. It’s handy when you have both systems in front of you and want to move specific games’ progress.
- It’s built in: You use System Settings on the consoles. There’s nothing to install on a computer.
- It’s for selected saves: You choose a user and the games whose saves you want to send, instead of moving everything on the console.
- It’s a move: The transferred save is removed from the source console.
- It’s free to use: Nintendo Switch Online is for features such as Save Data Cloud; a direct transfer doesn’t require that membership.
Nintendo’s step-by-step transfer instructions and its save-data transfer guidance describe the console-to-console process. Some games handle saves differently (Nintendo has a separate process for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, for example), so use the game’s specific Nintendo guidance if its save isn’t available in the standard transfer menu.
Prerequisites
Before you start, check off these items:
- Both consoles are with you. This guide applies to supported Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite, Switch OLED Model, and Switch 2 consoles, subject to the game’s transfer support.
- Both consoles are near each other and connected to their AC adapters. You don’t want a low battery interrupting the move.
- Both consoles are connected to the internet.
- Both consoles have the latest available system update.
- The relevant user on each console is linked to the same Nintendo Account. If your family shares a console, take a moment to check whose profile holds the progress.
- You know which game and save you want to move. Open the game on the source console first if you need to check its current progress.
- You’ve checked whether the receiving console already has progress for that game and user. Don’t assume a destination warning means you’re happy to replace what’s there.
You’ll do everything on the consoles; there’s nothing to install or type on a computer. Nintendo’s Switch-to-Switch 2 guidance and data-move guidance are useful references if one of your consoles is a Switch 2.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Move Nintendo Switch Save Data to Another Console
Step 1: Decide whether a direct save move fits
Choose Transfer Your Save Data when you have both consoles nearby and want to move one or more supported game saves for a particular user. If you’re setting up an entire replacement console and want to move users, settings, and other data together, follow Nintendo’s system transfer instructions instead.
If you use Nintendo Switch Online, Save Data Cloud is another option for compatible games. It’s a different service with its own requirements; you don’t need it for the direct move below.
Expected result: You’ve identified the game saves to move and know which console currently holds them.
Step 2: Check the save on the source console
On the console that currently has your progress, open the game from the HOME Menu. If the console asks which user is playing, choose the profile that owns the save. Check an easy-to-recognize detail, such as your level, completed chapter, playtime, or last saved location. Then return to the HOME Menu.
A save belongs to a user profile as well as the game. If two people play the same game on one console, selecting the wrong profile later can mean selecting the wrong progress.
Expected result: You know the source user, game, and progress you intend to move.
Step 3: Check existing progress on the receiving console
On the console that will receive the save, open the same game under the corresponding user if the game is available there. Look for any progress you want to keep. If the game isn’t installed, you can still continue, but pay close attention to any message about existing save data during transfer.
Stop here if you’re unsure which progress matters more. A replacement prompt is a decision about saved progress, not a routine “OK” button. Read the actual message on your console before accepting it.
Expected result: You know whether the receiving user already has progress that needs protecting.
Step 4: Prepare the consoles
Place both consoles near each other and plug each one into its AC adapter. On each console, go to System Settings > Internet > Test Connection to confirm it’s online. Then go to System Settings > System > System Update and install any available update. Follow the on-screen restart instructions if either console needs one.
The consoles may take a little time to finish updating. Wait until both are back at the HOME Menu before moving on.
Expected result: Both consoles are updated, online, nearby, and running on AC power.
Step 5: Check the linked Nintendo Account on both consoles
On each console, select the relevant user’s icon at the upper-left of the HOME Menu and open User Settings. Check the Nintendo Account information shown for that user. The user whose save you’re sending and the user receiving it must be linked to the same Nintendo Account.
If you’re helping a child or managing several profiles, double-check this now. Similar-looking user names or icons don’t prove the accounts match.
Expected result: You’ve identified the matching user on each console. If they aren’t linked to the same Nintendo Account, resolve that before starting the transfer.
Step 6: Open Transfer Your Save Data on the source console
On the console holding the save, go to HOME Menu > System Settings > Data Management > Transfer Your Save Data.
Expected result: The Transfer Your Save Data screen offers an option to send save data.
Step 7: Select the source user and game
Choose Send Save Data to Another Console. On a Switch 2, you’ll also choose the type of console that will receive the save. Select the user you checked in Step 2, select the save data for each game you want to send, then select Next. Follow the prompts until the console shows the details you’re about to confirm.
If the game or save isn’t listed, don’t pick a different one just to keep going. Recheck the user. If the expected save still isn’t available, stop and look up Nintendo’s instructions for that title. Some games use a special save process.
Expected result: The source console shows the correct user and game, ready for your review.
Step 8: Open Receive Save Data on the receiving console
On the receiving console, go to HOME Menu > System Settings > Data Management > Transfer Your Save Data > Receive Save Data. Follow the on-screen instructions and select the matching user if asked.
Keep both consoles awake and nearby while they connect.
Expected result: The receiving console is waiting for the save or displays the save it’s ready to receive.
Step 9: Read both consoles’ warnings before confirming
Pause at the confirmation screens. On the source console, check the user and game one more time and read its warning: completing the move removes the transferred save from that console.
On the receiving console, read any message about save data already there. Nintendo says that if the receiving console already has save data for the same game, you can cancel the transfer or select Overwrite Save Data to continue, and overwritten save data can’t be recovered. Check which user and game the message names, and compare it with the progress you checked in Step 3. Only choose to overwrite if you’re sure you want the incoming save instead. Games with special save handling may not follow this standard flow at all, so use the message actually shown on your screen.
Expected result: You know what will happen to the source save and have made a deliberate decision about any destination progress. If anything looks wrong, back out before confirming.
Step 10: Send the save and wait for completion
Once both screens show the intended transfer, confirm Send Save Data or the equivalent on-screen control on the source console. Accept the receiving console’s prompt if needed. Leave both consoles on, plugged in, and close together until they report that the transfer is complete.
Don’t treat a progress bar on just one console as the finish line. Wait for the completion message on the receiving console, then acknowledge any final OK prompt.
Expected result: The receiving console reports a completed transfer. The selected save is no longer on the source console.
Step 11: Verify the right progress arrived
On the receiving console, return to the HOME Menu and open the transferred game. Choose the user linked to the Nintendo Account you checked in Step 5. Load the game and compare the progress with the detail you noted in Step 2: level, chapter, location, or another clear marker.
Expected result: The game opens under the intended user and shows the expected progress. Keep the source console available until you’ve checked this. If you plan to reset or give it away later, wait until you’re satisfied that the receiving game and user are correct.
Configuration: Settings Worth Checking
There’s no separate Transfer Your Save Data app to configure. These console settings are the ones that matter:
- Nintendo Account: From the relevant user’s User Settings, check which Nintendo Account is linked. The sending and receiving users need to match. For a shared family console, this is probably the easiest detail to overlook.
- System Update: Use System Settings > System > System Update on both consoles before retrying a failed transfer.
- Internet connection: Use System Settings > Internet > Test Connection on both consoles. Both need to be online even though they’re sitting near each other.
- Power: Keep both AC adapters connected throughout the transfer.
Tips and Troubleshooting
Problem: The consoles can’t find each other or the transfer won’t start.
- Move the consoles closer together and keep both awake.
- Check that both AC adapters are connected.
- Run System Settings > Internet > Test Connection on each console.
- Check System Settings > System > System Update on each console, then try again.
Problem: The user you expect isn’t available.
- Return to the HOME Menu on each console.
- Open the intended user’s User Settings and check the linked Nintendo Account.
- Use the users linked to the same Nintendo Account, then reopen Transfer Your Save Data.
Problem: The game save doesn’t appear on the source console’s transfer list.
- Confirm that you selected the user who actually has the progress.
- Open the game under that user on the source console to check the save again.
- If it still isn’t available, stop the standard transfer process and follow Nintendo’s guidance for that specific game. Don’t assume every title uses the same user-save procedure.
Problem: The receiving console shows a message about existing progress.
- Read the entire message before choosing a confirmation button.
- Check the named user and game against the progress you inspected earlier.
- Continue only if you’re comfortable with the result described on screen. If you’re unsure, cancel and check the receiving game again.
Problem: The game opens without the progress you expected.
- Close the game and reopen it under the user linked to the matching Nintendo Account.
- Check that you opened the correct game on the receiving console.
- Review the transfer result shown on both consoles. Keep the source console available while you work out what happened, and don’t reset it yet.
Tip: Note one progress detail first: A chapter name or saved location gives you a quick, reliable check afterward. “The game opened” alone doesn’t tell you whether the right save arrived.
Wrapping Up
A direct save transfer is a handy way to move game progress when both consoles are beside you. My advice: spend an extra minute on the user, game, and warning screens. That’s much less annoying than discovering you moved the wrong save.
| Step | Action | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare | Update, connect, and plug in | Both consoles |
| Check | Confirm the account, game, and existing progress | Both consoles |
| Transfer | Send and receive the selected save | Both consoles |
| Verify | Open the game under the correct user | Receiving console |