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Typing on the Nintendo Switch is a bit fiddly. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your character will scrunch its face into something akin to the thinking face emoji while the keyboard is open. It’s a physical cue to your pals that you’re trying to talk to them — similar to when your phone is out, which is a cue that you’re probably distracted. Typing, whether you’re using a finger or your Joy-Cons, still takes a while. Most of the time, I would rather just not chat. But then, I remembered NookLink.
NookLink is an application within the Nintendo Switch Online app for iOS and Android smartphones. It’s got a number of different features, but the most useful one — for me, at least — is the chat functionality. You can use NookLink to chat through voice or text, and it’s a lot more capable than the in-game keyboard.
Here’s how to set it up.
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First, you’ll need to download the Nintendo Switch Online app from your phone’s app store. Once it’s opened and you’re signed in, select Animal Crossing: New Horizons from the “Game-Specific Services” list. If it’s the first time you’ve opened the app, you’ll need to complete a few steps to get it connected to your game.
- Open up Animal Crossing: New Horizons to its title screen
- Hit the minus button (-) on the Nintendo Switch (top left corner)
- Select “NookLink Settings” and follow Tom Nook’s instructions
- Restart the Nintendo Switch Online app and NookLink
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have access to the NookLink app. Open Animal Crossing: New Horizons on your Nintendo Switch. Once you want to chat, select “Keyboards” in NookLink and get texting. Anything you type on there will appear on screen in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. One important thing to note is that you’ll only be able to send messages to pals when you’re connected to the internet.
Please, take this gift and chat happily with your friends.
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Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
- $70
Prices taken at time of publishing.
“If you’re positive that you’ll be spending a majority of your time playing the Switch at home, connected to a television, then you should seriously consider investing in the Switch’s Pro Controller.” —Polygon’s Nintendo Switch review
- $70 at Amazon
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0
21
- How to prepare for Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0
- New things to do in November
- Gyroids and gyroid fragments
- Happy Home Paradise unlock guide
- 8 quality-of-life additions added in Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 2.0 update
- Food, cooking, and DIY Recipes+
- Animal Crossing farming guide
- How to get wheat
- Kapp’n’s Boat Tours
- Ordinances
- Harv’s Island Plaza
- Permanent ladders
- Storage shed
- How to unlock Brewster
- Donation box
- How to get Shino and 15 more new 2.0 villagers
- How to invite villagers to Happy Home Paradise islands
- Glowing moss and vine DIY recipe list
- Pro Camera App
- How to get Froggy Chair
- Animal Crossing 2.01 update
- Getting started 6
- Learn the basics 10
-
Buildings and structures
9
- Upgrading your house
- How to unlock the Shop, the Museum, and more
- How to unlock the Able Sisters tailor shop
- Guide to the Museum
- How to move items and manage your pocket and house inventory
- How to move and rotate furniture
- How to move buildings
- How to build bridges and inclines
- How to upgrade Nook’s Cranny
- Catching critters 9
- Farming for items 9
- Upgrades 7
- Making money (Bells) 6
- Nook Miles 3
-
Character and island customization
11
- Full hairstyles list
- Face guide and gallery
- How to customize furniture
- How to move trees
- How to unlock reactions (or emotes or gestures)
- How to create and share custom patterns
- Guide to Terraforming
- How to delete a character
- How to make custom eyebrows, freckles, and birthmarks
- How to customize your phone
- Dream Addresses and Dream Suite
- Villager visitors and NPCs 9
-
Seasonal event guides
21
- How to catch maple leaves
- Cherry-blossom Petals recipe list guide
- Young Spring Bamboo DIY recipe list
- Summer Shell DIY recipe list
- Maple Leaf DIY recipes
- Acorn and Pinecone DIY recipes
- Mushroom DIY recipe list
- Snowflake DIY recipes
- Festive Ornament DIY recipes
- Perfect Snowboy and DIY list
- How to make custom fireworks
- Raffle guide and rewards list
- Festivale event guide
- Bunny Day event guide
- May Day event guide
- Nature Day event guide
- Wedding season event guide
- Halloween event guide
- Turkey Day guide
- Toy Day event guide
- New Year’s Eve countdown event
-
The game’s community
10
- The year we spent in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Animal Crossing kept up with all the twists and turns of 2020
- Joe Biden sets up his own Animal Crossing island for the presidential campaign
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a much-needed escape from everything
- Animal Crossing outsells Breath of the Wild in mere months
- Animal Crossing’s escapist fantasy is getting a reality check
- Animal Crossing reportedly removed from Chinese retailers following Hong Kong demonstrations
- Animal Crossing hacker group starts free villager service
- Animal Crossing’s fashion is unrivaled
- Animal Crossing players are starting over after dozens (or hundreds) of hours
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