clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Pokémon Go not connecting to Pokémon: Let’s Go? It’s not just you.

Switch isn’t playing nice with smartphones right now

A shiny Meltan in Pokémon Go Niantic/The Pokémon Company via Twitter

Pokémon Go’s new shiny Meltan event has made players return to Pokémon: Let’s Go! in the hopes of grabbing a Mystery Box, the exclusive item that unleashes Meltan into the wild once opened. So it’s perfect timing that, just as this event began, players are having widespread issues getting the smartphone game and Switch game to connect — a big problem, as transferring between the two is the only way to grab the Mystery Box.

Finding shiny Meltan, the mythical Pokémon with a little nut for a head, requires players to connect Pokémon Go to Pokémon: Let’s Go!; trading a Pokémon from the former game into the latter’s special Go Park area will send a Mystery Box back to Pokémon Go. Opening one gives players a small window to hunt down as many Meltan as they can find in-game.

Understandably, players are revisiting the Switch game in the hopes of finding a shiny Meltan in Pokémon Go, as the color variation is only available for a limited time. (That finding one requires players to own a separate game and console entirely is a whole ’nother story.) But many of them are running into trouble, as the Switch isn’t recognizing their smartphones. Getting the console to communicate with Pokémon Go is already a trial, as we’ve talked about before. Even the workarounds we discovered haven’t quite helped, however.

It sounds like this is the Switch’s fault, according to Niantic Support. The system’s latest version update, 7.0.0, seems to have borked the fickle connection between the two games.

But it’s not all bad news, as Niantic suggests there may be an easy fix.

“Trainers, we have confirmed that the latest update to the Nintendo Switch is affecting the ability to connect to Pokémon GO,” reads a tweet from Niantic Support. “Disconnecting Pokémon GO and restarting your Switch by holding the power button for 3 seconds should allow you to reconnect.”

Members of Pokémon Go hub The Silph Road have found success with this fix, so if you’re one of the people beating your head against your Joy-Cons, it’s worth a test. Shiny Meltan is only available until March 4.

Update: Nintendo says it has fixed the connection problem as of the latest Switch version update, 7.0.1.

The changelog reads, “Resolved an issue where the Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! games cannot reconnect to the Pokémon GO app if the game software was closed after pairing with the app.”

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for Patch Notes

A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon