Nintendo Switch
Those ZL/ZR triggers are more useful than we thought! — Image: Nintendo

The Nintendo Switch has been sitting in peoples' homes for almost four whole years now, but it seems the hybrid console might still have the odd trick up its sleeve that plenty of owners haven't yet discovered.

Over on the Nintendo Switch subreddit, site user antglyforreal has shared a quick fact about the console's battery indicator viewable from the Home menu. It's hardly a revelation, and won't necessarily change the way you use your console, but with so many Switch owners seemingly unaware that the feature existed, the post has shot right up to the very top of the subreddit with more than 6,000 upvotes.

So, what exactly is this feature? Well, first of all, you need to understand that there are two options for your battery display, and this can be changed in your system settings. One option displays a battery percentage next to the battery icon, while the other turns that off for the sake of simplicity.

If you choose to have the display off, it would make sense to assume that you can never see the exact percentage without heading into the settings and turning it back on. But, as antglyforreal notes, mashing the ZL and ZR buttons makes the system display the percentage for a short time, meaning you can check it whenever you like without having to keep the number on your home screen permanently.

Nintendo Switch Home Screen Battery Indicator
Here's a screenshot we took just after hitting ZL/ZR a few times, with our settings set to 'Console Battery (%) Off'. — Image: screenshot: Nintendo Life

As you can see, the percentage appears in a different place to usual, sitting just on top of the battery indicator. It might not be the most exciting feature in the Switch's arsenal, but we dare say there are plenty of people out there who had no idea that it was even possible – nowhere in the console's settings is the feature mentioned, so why would anyone try?

Did you know about this nifty little feature already? Is it news to you, and do you think it might actually come in handy? Give it a go on your own Switch and share your amazement with us in the comments below.

[source reddit.com]