How To Back Up Your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Saved Data

For a lot of people, Animal Crossing: New Horizons island is their happy place. After spending hundreds or even thousands of hours decorating every nook and cranny of your island, losing your saved data could be a waking nightmare.

Thankfully, there is now a way to back up your saved data to the cloud. All you need is a valid Nintendo Switch Online membership, a new Nintendo Switch console, and to have previously enabled your Island Save Data Backup. If you haven’t activated this setting yet, follow this guide to do so before it’s too late.

Why Should I Back Up My Animal Crossing: New Horizons Save Data?

If you have recently purchased a new Nintendo Switch console, you can transfer your Animal Crossing: New Horizons save data to a new Switch via the Island Transfer Tool. But this requires two happy and healthy Nintendo Switch consoles. So, what happens if your Nintendo Switch is lost, stolen, or broken?

In the case that you can’t access your Nintendo Switch console for whatever reason, Nintendo has offered a saving grace for Animal Crossing fans. In case of these emergencies, you can retrieve your Animal Crossing: New Horizons save data from the cloud.

You do have to have previously set it up, however. There is no way to remotely retrieve any saved data from a broken Nintendo Switch console that has not had this setting activated. By activating this setting, your Nintendo Switch console will periodically upload your Animal Crossing: New Horizons saved data to the cloud as long as your console is connected to the internet and the game isn’t currently in use.

How Do I Back Up My Animal Crossing: New Horizons Saved Data?

In order to back up your saved data, you must have Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 1.4.0 or higher installed on your console. To check what version you currently have, press the + button while the game icon is highlighted on the Switch home screen.

The current version of the game can be found underneath the game's title. If your game needs to be updated, you can do so by selecting Software Update in the menu on the left-hand side.

You will also require an active membership for the Nintendo Switch Online service. This is because the saved data will be stored on the cloud, which is only available online. If your service lapses, your save data will only be able to be retrieved up until the last upload.

If you meet the above criteria, you are ready to back up your island save data. Here’s how:

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1. Open Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
2. In the bottom-left corner of the title screen, you will see a message that reads Backups - Not Set.
3. Press the - button to open your settings.
4. A slightly ominous Tom Nook will appear in a dimly lit room. Follow the text prompts until he provides you with a list of options.
5. Select Island backup.
6. He will explain a bit more about the island backup service. Press A until you reach another list of options.
7. Select Enable island backup.
8. Select Yep! Enable, please!

Your island save data will now be backed up to the cloud. To make sure your island backup was successful, open Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In the bottom left-hand corner of the title screen, the message should now give the date and time that your island data was last uploaded.

Now that your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island is safe and sound, you are free to keep improving your island! Check out our guide for Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips and tricks if you’re feeling like you're in a rut.

Continue Your Island Life With Peace of Mind

Some people's nightmare is forgetting to put on pants before going to school. But for others, it's losing their Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. It only takes a couple of minutes to back up your island save data, and it could save you hundreds of hours of playtime. So unless you like to live life on the edge, it is always a good idea to back up your island save data.