How to Add Friends in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is designed to be a social experience, and adding friends opens up a whole layer of gameplay — from visiting each other's islands to trading items and sharing design codes. But the process isn't as straightforward as tapping a button in a social app. It works through Nintendo's friend system, and how smoothly it goes depends on a few different factors worth understanding before you start.

How the Nintendo Friend System Works

Animal Crossing doesn't have its own standalone friend list. Instead, it plugs directly into your Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) friend system. This means friendships are managed at the console level — not inside the game itself.

Every Nintendo Switch account has a Friend Code, a 12-digit identifier formatted like SW-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. To add someone as a friend, you exchange these codes and send a friend request through your Nintendo Account profile. Once both players accept, they appear on each other's friend lists across all Switch games, including Animal Crossing.

To find your Friend Code on Switch:

1. Go to your profile icon in the top-left of the Home screen
2. Select Profile
3. Your Friend Code appears under your username

From there, you can select Add Friend and choose to search by Friend Code.

The Two Levels of "Friends" in Animal Crossing 🎮

Here's where things get a little nuanced. Animal Crossing: New Horizons recognizes two tiers of visitors, and what players can do on your island depends on which tier they fall into.

Best Friend status is set inside Animal Crossing itself — not on the Switch system. You can promote a Nintendo Switch friend to Best Friend by opening the NookPhone, going to the Best Friends List app, and sending a Best Friend request to someone currently visiting or on your friend list. Both players must agree.

This distinction matters a lot for gameplay. If you want a friend to help terraform your island or make landscape changes, they need Best Friend status. If you just want them to visit, browse your shop, or trade items, regular Nintendo friend status is enough.

Visiting and Hosting: How It Actually Connects

Once you're Nintendo Switch friends with someone, multiplayer in Animal Crossing works through two methods:

Local Play — Both players must be on the same Wi-Fi network. One opens their island (as the host), and the other can fly in directly from the airport without needing a Dodo Code.

Online Play — Requires an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription for at least one of the players (the host). The visitor flies to the Dodo Airlines airport and speaks to Orville, who can either give them a Dodo Code to share or connect them directly to a friend's open island.

When visiting a friend's island online, you can choose to let in only friends or open it to anyone with the code. This privacy setting is controlled by the host at the airport when opening the island.

What Can Go Wrong (And Why)

Several variables affect whether the friend system works smoothly:

• NAT type — Your router's network settings influence whether Switch consoles can connect directly. NAT Type A or B is ideal; Type D often causes connection failures. This is a router-level setting, not something Animal Crossing controls.
• Nintendo Switch Online status — If your subscription lapses, online island visits stop working. Local play still functions.
• Same island, different accounts — Multiple Switch user profiles on the same console share one island. Each profile has its own Friend Code, so two people in the same household playing on one Switch have separate friend lists.
• Time zones and session windows — Animal Crossing runs on real-time. If a friend's island is closed or their game isn't running, you can't visit even if they're on your friend list.

When You Don't Know Someone's Friend Code

If you want to visit a stranger's island — someone you met in a forum, subreddit, or Discord — you don't necessarily need to be Nintendo friends first. The host can open their island with a Dodo Code, a 5-character code that works as a temporary access pass. Anyone with the code can fly in during that session.

However, Dodo Code access gives visitors less in-game trust by default, and it expires when the host closes their island. It's a common method for trading or attending events, but it doesn't build a persistent friendship on either system.

The Variables That Shape Your Experience

How seamless the whole process feels depends on a mix of factors: whether both players have NSO subscriptions, your router's NAT configuration, whether you're on the same local network, and what kind of multiplayer interaction you're actually aiming for — casual trading, collaborative building, or long-term island development together.

The Best Friend system in particular adds a layer of decision-making that's specific to how much access you want to give someone to your island's landscape. A player who's only visiting to swap turnip prices needs different permissions than someone helping you reshape terrain.

Understanding where the Nintendo-level friend system ends and Animal Crossing's own trust system begins is the key piece most players miss — and figuring out which combination of settings fits your situation is where your own setup comes in. 🌿