Switch hacking status

Can you hack the Switch?

By Yu, Better Gaming · Updated 15 November 2026

Yes, every Switch 1 can be hacked. How depends on your model. Only early original Switches with an unpatched chip can do it without opening the console, with a cheap jig in the right Joy-Con rail. Patched originals, the V2 with the longer battery, the Lite and the OLED all need a modchip soldered inside.

The newest firmware is 23.5.0 from 10 November 2026. Atmosphère 1.12.2 and hekate 6.5.5 came out the next day and both support it. I make an update guide every time a new firmware comes out, and the one for 23.5.0 is below.

By model

Model	Without opening it	With a modchip	Software only
Original, unpatchedHAC-001, early units from 2017 and 2018	Yes, with a jigThe bug is in the boot ROM, so Nintendo can't patch it with an update. Works on any firmware.	Yes	No
Original, patchedHAC-001, later 2018 and 2019 units	No	Yes	Only on 4.1.0 or lower
V2HAC-001(-01), longer battery, from 2019	No	Yes	No
LiteHDH-001	No	Yes, harder install	No
OLEDHEG-001	No	Yes	No

What works today

YesHomebrew menuComes with Atmosphère.
YesEmulatorsRetroArch and other emulators of older consoles run as homebrew.
YesGame modsAtmosphère loads them without touching the game files.
YesOverclockingsys-clk does it. The Switch runs hotter and drains the battery faster.
YesLinux and AndroidSwitchroot runs Ubuntu, Fedora, Lakka and Android 15.
YesFull system backuphekate makes a NAND backup and a system copy on the SD card (emuMMC).

The catch

BansNintendo has banned consoles that went online on CFW. Most people run CFW on an emuMMC that never goes online and keep the real system stock.

BricksMost bricks happen when people write to the internal storage with no backup, and a bad solder job can kill the board. Make the hekate NAND backup first.

Update orderEach update fixes bugs and burns fuses (23.5.0 expects 25), so update Atmosphère and hekate before the firmware, never the other way round.

Modchip firmware takedownOn 6 November 2026 Nintendo got GitHub to take down 144 repositories with modchip firmware through a DMCA notice. Chips that are already installed aren't affected by that.

Questions

Can I go back to an older firmware?

Not the normal way. Every update burns fuses, and an older firmware won't boot normally once more fuses are burned than it expects. A downgraded console has to boot through CFW.

Is it safe to update to 23.5.0 with Atmosphère?

Yes, once Atmosphère and hekate are updated. One thing: if you downloaded fusee.bin before 13 November, get it again: it was re-uploaded that day to fix a game card problem on 23.5.0.

How do I know if my original Switch is unpatched?

Find the serial number on the bottom of the console or in Settings, System, Serial Information, then check it against the community serial table in the NH Switch Guide (linked below). If it says "potentially patched", only trying RCM tells you. V2, Lite and OLED serials are never unpatched.

How we got here

11 Nov 2026Atmosphère 1.12.2 and hekate 6.5.5 add support for 23.5.0, one day after the update.
10 Nov 2026Firmware 23.5.0 fixes security bugs and raises the fuse count to 25.
6 Nov 2026A Nintendo DMCA notice gets GitHub to take down 144 modchip firmware repositories.
2023Picofly, a cheap open-source modchip, makes modchips the normal route for patched units, Lite and OLED.
2020The first modchips for the newer chip (V2, Lite) appear.
2019Nintendo releases the V2 with a new chip, then the Lite. Neither has the boot ROM bug.
23 Apr 2018Kate Temkin makes the fusée gelée boot ROM bug public. It can't be patched on consoles already sold.