Dying to load Android onto your Nintendo Swtich? Now you can using an Android ROM called LineageOS. This is unofficial support for Android on the Nintendo Switch though, and that means Nintendo has nothing to do with it, so it goes without saying that unless you love to tinker with your gadgets and you know what you’re doing, running Android on your Switch console is probably something to be left alone outside of admiring the possibility.
Because if you make the attempt to run this ROM on the console and something goes wrong, Nintendo is highly unlikely to help you in the event that your console no longer works.
This ROM is based on LineageOS 15.1 which itself is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, so this isn’t the newest version of the software, and that means there are some features you won’t find available, particularly any of those which are only found in devices running Android 9 Pie or later.
The software is still experimental too, and though it is running and it does work, there are still issues with some features that have to be worked out and there’s no time frame on when the issues will be fixed. That list of features is also slightly large, in fact, as there are quite a few known bugs that will cause certain things to not function properly.
There’s issues with auto rotation and battery life, and the battery life problem in particular could one of the bigger negative points as the battery life on the Switch is already not that great to begin with if you play games for longer sessions. Some applications also don’t work that well with the input from the attached JoyCon controllers, which might translate to unplayable games or certain apps being mostly dysfunctional.
Touchscreen problems can intermittently pop up too. Specifically the screen can sometimes detect that your interacting with the touch response even when your finger is merely floating over the display and not touching it at all, which will no doubt be more of an annoyance than not.
Still, there are things to like about this accomplishment too. For example, if you’ve always wanted your Switch to have the capability to play certain games that just aren’t available on the system, this could be your ticket to those experiences. This ROM is based on the NVIDIA SHIELD TV trees, which means games that are only available for the NVIDIA SHIELD TV, like Tomb Raider and Metal Gear Rising, can be played on the Switch, and that’s surely a win for someone.
The console also works in handheld and dock mode when running this ROM, so if you want to hook it up to your TV for some gaming on a bigger screen, this should work for you. The whole affair is a quirky niche project that not many Switch owners are likely to mess around with, but it’s sure to capture the attention of anyone interested in modding consoles. Not to mention there’s room for more improvement if the software gets better with less bugs.