Nintendo has pushed out system version 23.0.0 for Switch 2 and Switch, and it is the most substantial firmware drop since launch. The headline feature is one people have been asking about since June 2025: variable refresh rate in TV mode. Switch 2 has supported VRR in handheld from day one. Docked, it has not — despite the hardware being capable and the marketing having implied otherwise early on.
That gap is now closed, with one asterisk that matters: the dock needs its own firmware update before docked VRR will do anything.
Docked VRR, and the dock update you have to run
Nintendo's wording is precise. "When both the software and TV support it, video will be output at a refresh rate that matches the game's processing." And then, separately: "A Nintendo Switch 2 dock update is required to enable this feature."
So there are three conditions stacked on top of each other. Your TV has to support VRR. The game has to support it. And the dock itself has to be updated — a separate step from the console update, applied through the console while docked. If any of the three is missing, output falls back to a fixed refresh rate and nothing appears broken; it simply does not engage.
Handheld VRR, for context, has worked on the built-in screen since day one. It is only the HDMI path through the dock that has been missing it, which is why the fix arrives as a dock firmware update rather than purely a console one.
Why it took fifteen months is not something Nintendo has explained. The practical effect is that games with unstable frame pacing in TV mode — and Switch 2 has several, particularly among third-party ports running dynamic resolution — can now hand the panel a matching refresh rate instead of tearing or judder. It is not a performance uplift. It is a smoothness fix, and it only helps on displays that can act on it.
Switch 2 to Switch 2 transfers, right before the Zelda console
The second big addition is a full system transfer from one Switch 2 to another, found under System Settings > System. Until now, Switch 2 owners could move everything across from a Switch 1, but not from another Switch 2 — an odd hole that made owning a second unit or replacing a faulty one more painful than it needed to be. The transfer covers save data and screenshots along with the rest of the user profile.
The timing is not accidental. Nintendo has a hardware revision and a Zelda-themed Switch 2 model on the way, and "I bought a second Switch 2 and cannot move my stuff to it" is a support-line problem the company clearly wanted solved before those land.
Virtual Game Cards get a settings menu — and an escape hatch
Virtual Game Cards, the system that lets a digital game be "loaned" between consoles and family members, has been quietly awkward since it launched. 23.0.0 adds a proper Settings option to Virtual Game Cards on the HOME Menu, where you can review and edit which of your consoles are allowed to use them.
More usefully, it fixes the dead end. If a virtual game card cannot be ejected from another console because that console is powered off or offline, you now get a prompt to start the software using an online license instead. Only the account that bought the game can use that route, but it means a game is no longer effectively hostage to a console sitting unplugged in another room.
GameChat, Mii QR codes and the rest
GameChat picked up three changes. The list of joinable chats now shows chats you have previously joined. You can start a new chat without inviting any friends first. And pressing the C Button during a chat now offers an option to change the screen size.
The rest of the patch notes, in brief:
- Handheld Mode Boost can now be enabled or disabled straight from Quick Settings, and other controllers work with it while Joy-Con 2 units are attached
- Mii QR codes are back — you can generate a code for a Mii and share it with other users
- Background music now plays on the Edit a Mii screen, with settings to change or stop it
- Audio settings can be saved separately for each connected TV
- "Dock Output Information" is renamed Video Output Information and now reports what signals the connected TV can actually display — handy for diagnosing why VRR is not kicking in
- Portuguese (Brazil) added to Text to Speech and to GameChat's voice-to-text languages
- Sleep Mode's TV-mode wake-up sound now plays immediately when you pick a volume, so you can hear the level
- Play activity on My Page now combines play time for the same game across multiple systems, from this update onward
- General system stability improvements
Nintendo also notes that 23.0.0 patches a security vulnerability, with details on its separate security notice page.
Worth updating tonight
The update is rolling out now to both Switch 2 and Switch, though the VRR and system-transfer features are Switch 2-only. If you play docked on a VRR-capable TV, run the console update, then let it update the dock — and check Video Output Information afterwards to confirm the panel is reporting what you expect. The combined play-activity tracking, notably, only starts counting from the update forward, so anyone splitting time across a Switch and a Switch 2 will not see retroactive totals.
