SwitchBuddy: 2023 Wrapped

A look back at the biggest year so far for the SwitchBuddy app. New features, changes, and plans for the future.

A bit of history

SwitchBuddy initially launched in April 2021 as a simple tool to transfer screenshots from Nintendo Switch to iPhone. And it stayed this way for quite a while. At the end of 2022, the app got its first major redesign, which introduced a “News” section so users could stay up-to-date on all Nintendo-related news. Optional Tip Jar was the only source of income.

2023: Big year for the app

Games database

In January, SwitchBuddy introduced the “Games” section, which initially showed just upcoming games for the console. This section quickly grew to show featured games and new releases, and eventually, the app database (powered by IGDB) grew to basically every Switch game. Users can browse games by genre or game mode, view the best games (based on OpenCritic), and much more.

Widgets

Widgets for counting down to upcoming game releases and similar were also a big part of the new feature set.

Nintendo eShop integration

Summer introduced eShop-related features, which have been the most complex features on the server side to date. Thanks to this update, game pages now contain current price or sale information, if applicable. There is also a dedicated “Deals” section listing all the deals available on the eShop.

Gamers can “wishlist” games in SwitchBuddy and receive notification when the game is on sale. To make it easier to find the best deals, the app offers filters. Discounted games can be filtered by genre, game mode, OpenCritic average score, demo availability, or rarity (showing only games that are not frequently discounted).

Changes towards sustainability

Version 3 of SwitchBuddy also introduced a “Plus” subscription to make the development sustainable for the long term. This made it easier to pay for recurring server costs and also to afford paid OpenCritic data. While the subscription has some limitations, most of the app can be accessed for free. For example, there are zero free user limits in the transfer feature or news.

Features summary

• Complete games database powered by IGDB
• Nintendo eShop deals
• Notifications: Discounts, releases
• OpenCritic data
• Variety of widgets

Some milestones

SwitchBuddy continues to grow both on iOS and Android. Most notable iOS milestones include over 2000 five-star ratings in the App Store; the app also saw just shy of 100,000 unique users in 2023. Meanwhile, the Android version reached over 500,000 lifetime downloads.

Future plans

Plans currently contain mostly refinements and improvements to current features. One exciting planned feature is the ability to view all existing additional content for favorited games with a single tap. Other plans include showing game developer's info or full support for game bundles.

SwitchBuddy is a Nintendo Switch companion app available from the App Store and Google Play.