Nintendo Is Ending Google and Apple Sign-Ins on January 26. Set a Password or Passkey Before Then
If you tap “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Apple” to get into your Nintendo Account, that button stops working soon. Nintendo says in a support notice that as of January 26, 2027, you won’t be able to use a Google or Apple account to log in to a Nintendo Account.
Your account, games and purchases aren’t going anywhere. What changes is how you get in. If you’ve never set a Nintendo password, now is the time. 9to5Google spotted the notice on November 10, 2026.
What ends on January 26
Nintendo’s notice covers Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite and the Switch OLED Model. It lists three changes:
- You can’t use a Google or Apple account to log in to a Nintendo Account.
- You can’t create a new Nintendo Account with a Google or Apple account.
- The My Nintendo Platinum Points mission for linking a Google account is discontinued.
Nintendo adds that the exact end time “may be delayed depending on the progress of the system change work,” so treat January 26 as the date to beat, not a guarantee of extra time.
How you’ll sign in afterward
Nintendo says that if you’re already logged in on a device, you may not have to log in again. When a login page does appear, you’ll need one of two things: your email address or Sign-In ID with your Nintendo Account password, or a passkey.
A passkey lets you sign in with your phone’s fingerprint or face unlock instead of typing a password. Nintendo’s passkey guide says they work on iPhones and iPads with iOS or iPadOS 16 or newer, Macs with macOS 13 or newer, and Android devices with Android 9 or newer. You can register up to 10 passkeys on one account.
What to do now
- Check that you have a password. If you’ve only ever used the Google or Apple button, you may not have one. Go to accounts.nintendo.com, choose “Forgot your password?” and follow the reset email.
- Check the email on your account. The reset link goes to your registered address. If you can’t get into that inbox anymore, Nintendo says to contact its support team to update it. Do that well before January.
- Add a passkey. Sign in at accounts.nintendo.com, open “Sign-in and security settings,” then “Passkeys.” Nintendo says to keep your email and password current even with a passkey, because they’re how you prove it’s you if you lose the device.
- Do the kids’ accounts too, if anyone in the house signed up with a Google or Apple login.
Why is Nintendo doing this?
Nintendo doesn’t say. The notice apologizes “for any inconvenience” and points people to passkeys, which suggests a push toward its own sign-in, but that’s our read and not something Nintendo has stated.
PCGeek’s take
This one is easy to ignore and painful to fix late. Your Nintendo Account holds your digital games, saves and Switch Online membership. The people most at risk are the ones who made an account years ago with one tap and haven’t looked at it since, maybe with an old email attached. Five minutes this week beats a support ticket in January.
Photo: Nintendo Switch 2 by PantheraLeo1359531, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Do you sign in to Nintendo with Google or Apple, or did you set a password from the start? Tell us in the comments.
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