Topic: Can’t Change Switch User Profile Settings (Icon or Nickname)

Title. I have a fresh user profile with its own icon/picture and nickname. Then I try to link my Nintendo Account (I have deleted my old user to unlink my Nintendo Account from it, just trying to see what would happen if I link to a fresh user) and it goes through the process, then once it works, it gives me the screen and the list of benefits/things that the profile will now feature, and it shows my old icon and nickname on the side. It then forces the old icon and nickname onto the user, and if I try to change it, the user just reverts back either right away or a few seconds. My internet is perfectly stable. This is extremely frustrating and there's absolutely no info about it from Nintendo or anywhere I can find.

I'm pretty sure you can. but the hell is with the caps LOL.

@wptny I think it might take 24 hours or so for your nintendo account mii to update on Nintendo's website. Otherwise, I'm having a hard time following your story or what your goal is. I was kind of rushed here reading, so forgive me if it's my fault

You can ask Nintendo Support via phone or chat messenger (The phone line is good. I've used the chat messenger a few times, but the most recent time in December seemed like a bot, or their pre-canned responses killed any perceived human-ness)
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact

@WoomyNNYes I reread it and think it was pretty clear. I’m talking about a user profile on a Switch though, which is linked to a nintendo account. You can’t edit it at all through the website or through the nintendo account, so the Mii doesn’t relate to this. Thank you though

Edit: talked to their support through the chat, a dude told me to press L or R stick and plus or minus sign then hold down. It made a little noise and made it so I could edit it whenever I want now, so weird fix but it worked

@wptny Oh, gotaya. Yeah, it's kind of stealthy. To change Switch user icon/nickname: On Switch home screen, select the user icon in upper left corner. This will open your Profile page. You'll see a pencil icon on the large version of your user icon, and you'll see the pencil edit icon on the name. That's where you change them.

@wptny could you maybe go more in depth on how you fixed it cause I’m having the same issue and their support isn’t helping me out lol

@Tarna On your switch home screen, click your user icon in the upper left. It will open this page pasted below (your profile page). Then click that pencil icon by the user name to edit the name.

@WoomyNNYes I know. But similarly to wptny problem it won’t stay as what I changed it to it just keeps reverting back to the original nickname a pfp

@Tarna That is strange. Otherwise, on that profile page, you can select the User Settings tab on the left, and that also lets you change the Switch user nickname, which is "Mario" in the image. This likely won't change anything, but it's good to rule it out.

I tried holding the buttons down like wptny mentioned above(press & hold (+) and R buttons, etc., but it didn't seem to do anything, or trigger a sound. (Nintendo Switch console supposedly has some cheat-code-like button presses that can activate developer mode. I don't know anything else about it, though.)

Not sure what circumstance could block you from changing your switch user nickname. At this point, I would ask nintendo support in your region.(forgive me if you tried that route.)

If you're desperate, I can tell you what thing's I'd look into. You don't have to answer any of the following, I'm mainly thinking out loud:

Do you have parental controls turned on? (no idea if this could block changing the nickname, but it could restrict console changes)

Do you have two consoles? Because that means your consoles get assigned different status roles; One is your primary console (your main), and any other consoles are assigned non-primary status. Non-primary consoles play follow the leader.

If you do contact nintendo support, they will ask if your console is updated. Do that before hand to streamline things. (menu path: system settings/system/system update)

If you do figure it out, feel free to share the solution, in case someone else runs into the issue.

@WoomyNNYes so I contacted support and they told me to follow these steps and sure enough it worked.
1. From the HOME menu, select the user page you want to edit, then select user settings, followed by the edit icon. Select the icon of your choice.

After the first step his instructions got a bit confusing but basically once you’ve changed your icon and background colour stay on that screen that has the blue okay button down the bottom. The you press and hold down the L or R stick and the - or + button and it should make a little noise then you press the blue ok and it should change and not revert back like mine was doing. I did my best at explaining but I’m really bad 😅
Hope this helps anyone else with similar issues

@Tarna Now THAT'S interesting! And kinda funny. Did they say what it's actually doing?

I was able to reproduce the sound. On the Edit Icon screen, I pressed in the R-stick and (+) button at the same time, and held it, and then it made a little bubblegum bubble popping sound.

@Tarna I am having the exact same issue, but the holding L (or R) Stick while holding the Plus (or minus) button didn't seem to work. It would make the noise but my profile picture just keeps resorting back to the mario with a red background. And Nintendo customer support said they couldn't help me. This is my last resort. Do you or anyone else think they can help me out? I've had my switch since 2018 and Ive never seen this happen until now.

@Sethery I believe this thread, and maybe one other have been the only threads regarding this issue, as far as I've seen, since I joined here in 2017. And both threads were created in the past few months, I believe. So, it seems to be a recent glitch - that's my guess.

As far as I've seen here, pressing and holding the stick in & (+) or (-) has been the only solution, and that came from Nintendo support US, and AUS, I believe. And I think Nintendo of America's support was your best chance/resource. I think, either you've got a glitch nintendo hasn't fully solved, or, you're missing/skipping a step something basic that ends up overlooked, sometimes that's what it is. I've done it myself, and it's never on purpose. If I was in your shoes, I'd call nintendo, have a rep grab a switch and tell you exactly what screen they're on and what buttons they push to complete chaning the switch user icon.

If you're desperate, you could try talking to another nintendo rep. Sometimes talking to a different rep can yield something new. I'm not putting anyone there down, I just know inside reps are humans. If you want, you can ask for someone that's been there the longest, or ask who's their best problem solver.

@WoomyNNYes Yeah you might be right. Ill try going step by step again and try to call customer service again. Its not really a huge deal since my save data and games are all in tact. But it is just annoying to look at knowing i cant do anything about it, but ill keep doing my best.

And yes. I've experimented on my second account and made a completely different account to see if the same would happen. And surprisingly i didn't have an issue with them. I could change my profile picture and name and it would stay like that. For whatever reason It's only exclusive to my account on my switch. And its not a switch issue ive determined. My account is on 2 of my other friend's switch and together we all tried to change it and the same thing would happen on their switches. My profile picture and name simply won't change. I'm very curious as to know what causes this. Hopefully as time goes on we can learn more about what this is. But for now im gonna try again and see if I missed a step.

@Sethery I think that's it!!! I think having your account on friend's Switch consoles could be what's blocking you from changing your user icon. If you talk to Nintendo support, I don't think you can solve your issue without mentioning your account is also on friend's consoles. Nintendo allows families & friends do it, but the Nintendo ecosystem is designed to keep people from sharing digital games with the world. (not a judgement, but if it was easy to share your digital games with all our friends, lots of people could get games free)

When you have a Primary console and Non-Primary console, the Switch ecosystem tries to keep your account synced across the consoles, and that may be what's blocking you from changing your Switch user icon? Or, I think your problem may be caused by having your account on other Switch consoles that you don't own. This is my best guess.

And that's why if you make a new Switch user on your console, you can change the user icon no problem - that user is not linked to a nintendo account, and it's not linked to other consoles.

I think it's safe to say, most people don't have their account on friends consoles, like you mention. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but that means theres a much lower chance of people reporting your issue. (issue= not being able to change your Switch user icon) So, keep in mind, this scenario is more niche. And not having all consoles in front could potentially make solving this more difficult.

If you prefer to keep your account on friends consoles, it's possible that may come at a cost, which is losing your ability to change your Switch user icon. That may be an unavoidable caveat.

Anyway, very interesting!. Sorry if that's a wordy post. Let us know if you learn anything

@WoomyNNYes I apologize for the late response, but i do have an update. If only I had read your response sooner it probably would have saved me the trouble of jumping through a lot of hoops. Though unfortunately I cant say for certain if the account on other peoples switch's theory was the answer or not because I didn't delete my account on their switches, since I didn't read your response yet at the time. But im getting ahead of myself. let me start from the top.

Yesterday i called the Nintendo customer support for the second time, but this time I asked for a more experienced employee. He told me about the L stick and + button trick which from this thread, we are already aware of. And that didn't seem to do the trick. After trying about 4 or 5 more times he told me that was the only way he knew he could fix the problem and couldn't think of how else to help. So unfortunately I didn't get anywhere with fixing my profile picture through that exchange.

Today however, I went to hang out with a few of my friends And told them about this odd story. So I pulled out my switch to show them me attempting to change my profile back to what I originally had it as to show them that regardless of what I do, it will just change back to the default mario profile with the red background. And surprisingly (and very comedic timing lol) It worked. It didn't change its self back to the default mario. It stayed as my Mii with a grey background. And i didn't even use to L stick and + button method to do it. I wish I could tell you what the problem was or how I found out how to fix it, But unfortunately im just as clueless as I originally was when I joined this thread. For my personal experience, it was just giving it time, a few days for it to fix itself I suppose. Im sorry I couldn't give you all a definitive answer. But I hope this information will help others either with the same problem, or help others figure out what even the problem is.
Either way, thank you @WoomyNNYes with helping me out as much as you could. It was very appreciated!

@Sethery That's weird. Maybe it was quantum locked, and the act of a friend looking affected the outcome XD lol

Anyway, no problem. That's interesting. Thanks for the update!

so I was having this issue after selling our extra switch to my brother in law. we had wiped the account off of the other switch when we realized he had changed the nickname on that one and forgot to log into his own Nintendo account. but it still wouldn't let me change anything on mine, for some reason only showing my brother in laws name so what I did was factory reset the switch we currently use, and while it still pulled up his name when I initially connected the account, it let me change the name and keep it.

You can Fix it the icon element.

Step 01
Your profile->click your icon element, change your icon element, hold minus button and left stick or plus button and right stick, and if you hear a sound it good to go

Step 2 restart your switch console

Step 3 go to online button on HOME MENU, edit your icon element, and when your done design your icon go back the HOME MENU

Final, and that how you fix unchangeable icon,
It won't trigger back your old icon.