How to View Hours Played on the Nintendo Switch

There was a time earlier in the decade when Nintendo, one of the frontrunners in the gaming business, was struggling with the lukewarm response to its Wii U console. While Sony and Microsoft were delighting gamers with their new platforms, Nintendo was facing obsolescence.

But thanks to Nintendo’s then-president, Satoru Iwata, the gaming giant pushed the development of their next console into a brand-new direction. What if their latest console could be both mobile and stationary at once?

And lo and behold, in 2017, the Japanese behemoth launched the Nintendo Switch, and there has been no looking back since.

Games Galore

While Nintendo expected to release around 100 titles in the first year of its launch, the Switch boasted nearly 320 titles by the end of 2017. Gamers were awestruck with the console’s versatility, which allowed them to carry their games outside of their homes.

What that meant was that the traditional gamer could spend a lot more time playing the Switch than a stationary console like the Play Station 4 or Xbox One.

With so many hours of gameplay, you’d likely want to know exactly how much time you’ve spent on the Switch. Parents might want to know if their kids are spending too much time jumping on taxi cabs in Super Mario Odyssey or fighting against the evil warlord Ganon in The Legend of Zelda.

How to See Your Hours

Luckily, Nintendo has made it super easy to know how many hours you or your kids have spent playing the Switch. Just follow the steps mentioned below.

Step One

Go to your Profile screen on the Nintendo Switch. You can do so by selecting the Profile icon located on the top left of the Switch Home screen.

Step Two

Now, scroll through the profile tab to find the number of hours played. For example, if you want to know how many hours you’ve spent playing The Legend of Zelda, scroll to the game’s title located on the bottom right of the screen.

You must remember that the hours mentioned here are approximate figures. For example, if you’ve only played the game for less than an hour, Nintendo will give you a summary on the lines of “played for a little while.” Similarly, if you’ve played the game for more than 100 hours on the Switch, Nintendo will tell you something like this: “played for 100 hours or more.”

Also, it’s worth knowing that the activity log is not updated every time you play. Nintendo updates it if there’s a significant increase in the time you’ve played a game. Therefore, don’t go expecting changes every time you pick up the console. It is widely believed that Nintendo updates the hours every week.

You Can Also Check on Your Friends’ Hours

Thanks to Nintendo, you can also check how many hours the friends on your list have spent playing a particular game. To do this, tap on Friend List located on the left side of your Profile screen. Now, tap on the friend’s name whose playtime details you want to find out. You’ll get a similar-looking activity log as you did for your profile, with the number of hours played mentioned below each game.

There’s Another Way for Parents!

The above steps might not prove particularly useful for parents who don’t have access to their child’s profile page on the Nintendo Switch. But there’s no reason to fret just yet because Nintendo’s very own Parental Controls app is here to help you.

You can download the app on your phone and sync it with your kid’s profile. Here are download links for Android and iOS users. If you don’t know how to link the app to a particular profile, this simple guide provided by Nintendo will help you.

Here, unlike on the Profile page of the Switch, the gameplay hours are mentioned down to the minute. There’s a breakdown of hours played every month, as well as detailed playtime statistics for the current day.

So if you’re a parent and want to know how much time your children are spending playing their favorite games, Nintendo has you covered!

Happy Switching!

Knowing how many hours you’ve spent playing games on the Nintendo Switch is super easy. You have to go to your Profile page to get the playtime details. However, these numbers are not exact. If you want to know the exact figures, you’ll have to link the gaming profile to the Parental Controls app on your phone. There, you’ll find details down to the last minute.

Switch gamers, if there are any other ways to track the playtime data, please share them with us in the comments section below. Parents, let us know if the Parental Controls app has been useful or not.