Nintendo drops a new Switch update, bringing pseudo-folder support

Out of all the features that gamers request a lot on their systems, folder support seems to almost always take a ranking in the top spot. Considering how so many consumers are embracing digital gaming more-and-more, this should be no surprise.

It seems that the engineering team over at Nintendo has finally gotten the memo, as after an entire half-decade of asking, the request has been honored.

Nintendo stealth-dropped a new system update for the Switch, boosting its OS version to 14.0.0. With this, the Switch HOME screen is now outfitted with a new feature called “Groups.”

As the name suggests, the new Groups feature allows you to add games to specific groups. With this, for all intents and purposes, the Switch pretty much now has folder support.

Not only can specific games be added to their own groups, but the apps can also be arranged however the user sees fit.

To make the app-adding process easier, you can also search all of your software by keywords to narrow down the selections. For example, searching a specific franchise and then making a new group dedicated to that franchise’s games.

The one little oversight that seems to be present is that while there’s a lot of sorting options for all of the apps on the main HOME menu, there doesn’t seem to be any way to auto-sort apps once they’re placed into a group. So, if you want to say, sort your software alphabetically, you’ll have to manually arrange the order.

Even with that little annoyance, this is still a great step forward for better organization on Switch. The UI is already very reminiscent of a tablet interface, so this update brings it even closer to that.

Additionally, this update also enhances Bluetooth audio support which was added to the Switch OS back in late 2021.

Now, you can adjust the volume level not only via the console, but also via the Bluetooth device itself.

However, Nintendo points out that the device must support AVCRP profiles in order for this functionality to work properly. Speaking of volume, you may notice that your Bluetooth audio is now boosted a bit on Switch, as “the maximum volume output for some Bluetooth audio devices has been increased.”

Overall, this is a neat system update for Switch owners. Though it took a while for both folder support and Bluetooth audio support to be added in, the fact that they’ve now both come at all is a sign that Nintendo is paying attention to user feedback.

Perhaps at some point a much more varied selection of system themes will also be added in, as that’s yet another highly-requested feature.