The latest Nintendo Switch update for consoles is here, and it has also updated some settings without asking players first. This includes a data sharing setting that many usually have turned off on their Switch.
The newest update for the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite is 11.0. This update made some quality-of-life updates, including making sharing screenshots from the Nintendo Switch a little easier. But some gamers on Reddit noticed that it updated a privacy setting for them also, all without asking if data sharing was okay first.
The update also made sending videos to smart devices possible on the Switch, better Cloud saves, and also added a Home Menu, but a keen-eyed Reddit user noticed something else as well. Reddit user coors_girth wrote that anyone who updated to the new 11.0 update, which came around about two days ago, is now sharing data with Google Analytics, even if the setting had previously been turned off.
This setting has been toggled on several times by Switch updates, forcing users to check their settings every time an update is downloaded for their console. u/coors_girth also mentioned that this is the second time in just 33 days that they have had to turn this privacy setting back on, making it yet another update that Switch users aren't thrilled about.
In order to change the settings back to normal, users will have to access the Nintendo eShop, sign in, and go to the top right in the menu where players' profiles are located. There will be settings at the very bottom of this menu, and there players can find the Google Analytics Preferences and toggle them to not share. Users should make sure to do this for every single profile; updating preferences is profile-specific and will have to be updated for everyone else that uses that Switch as well.
It seems incredibly short sighted of Nintendo to change players' settings without asking, especially privacy settings. Instead of giving players what they want, like Game Boy Advance titles on the Switch, players find themselves having to fight to keep data sharing off on their own consoles, with a few exceptions. According to many of the comments on Reddit, people in Europe and Australia may have been excluded due to privacy laws in those countries. So everyone knows it's possible for the Switch to update with changing privacy settings, but Nintendo isn't making it that way for everyone.