Contact Nintendo Switch Parental Cont Support

I was super excited to learn that the Switch had parental controls. Unfortunately the options are severely lacking, rendering useless the parental control feature. As others have mentioned, the inability to set parental controls (time limits, content ratings) for individual users is a complete non-starter. My next thought was to set a combined time limit for the whole family, and then use the app to monitor whether family members were self-managing and splitting the time equitably. This too is not possible, as the app’s accounting of time per user is wildly inaccurate. Lastly, it would be nice if two instances of the app could be linked to the same Switch console (e.g. both mine and my wife’s iPhones) for co-parent monitoring. Assuming Nintendo fixes all of the above, this app could actually fulfill its assumed promise. From there it would be amazing to also be able to set parental controls for my kids’ Nintendo 3DS consoles using this same app. Even cooler would be if screen time limits per kid were enforced cross-device, which would allow parents to mange total daily screen time regardless of which Nintendo device their kids are using. After all, what’s the purpose of making parents establish Nintendo accounts and IDs for each kid if not to ultimately provide features like this? Or is it just so Nintendo can track, profile, and sell stuff to my kids? Disappointing.

I allowed my kids to browse the Nintendo Switch eShop and found that ALL Switch games were being displayed, including numerous M (Mature) games. Those “M” games have provocative graphics in the eShop even if you don’t click on them - eg the depictions of women for Grand Theft Auto (GTA). So I downloaded this app, in hopes that I could allow my kids to browse a version of the eShop in which only games appropriate to their age level are displayed. I set everything up and selected the option to restrict viewing in the eShop. To my dismay, the M games (and their provocative imagery) are still displayed when my kids browse the eShop, on their account! All that the “restriction” does is block a kid from seeing any MORE information about one of those games. For example, if I browse the eShop using my daughter’s account, GTA is still displayed right at the top of the eShop (with the image of the 3 scantily clad women); if I click on it, the eShop displays a screen saying sorry, you can’t go any further, this content is restricted. That’s all that the “restriction” accomplishes. If I enable restrictions, the eShop should not even display the restricted titles. At all. !!!!! Come on Nintendo, I expected so much better from you.

Two issues. 1. The purpose of setting parental controls is so that you can tailor them to the individual person. This app only allows for the control of the device. This is our family device and I won’t be buying multiple so I can control my kids’ access individually. I don’t want to put controls on four people when I just want to restrict the usage individually for each family member dependent on earning time to play on it (school grades, helping out at home, general free playtime). Issue 2. The use of the PIN. If my kid goes on my phone and into the app, the PIN is displayed, so not only can they change the parental settings that I have set, but also go on the Switch, enter the PIN I’ve chosen and then they can use the switch for as long as they want and gives them an override for everything that I’ve set up. Nintendo, it seems like you could come up with something far better. Everyone complains that kids are addicted to video games and don’t do anything else, just like the cigarette manufacturers you should have some kind of obligation to lessen and assist with the regulation of this addiction