9 Ways to Fix Joy-Con Drift on Your Nintendo Switch

If Joy-Con drift is driving you up the wall, you need to try out these troubleshooting tips to fix it.

Joy-Con drift has been plaguing Switch owners since the console’s release, creating the illusion of a phantom thumb tugging on the control stick even when you aren’t touching it.

Several years on, there’s no permanent solution. But there are a handful of troubleshooting tips you can use to fix Joy-Con drift yourself.

1. Reset Any Button Remapping

Button mapping on your Switch allows you to change the functions of the various buttons, to make the controllers more accessible. You can also use button mapping to change your control stick orientation.

To check if button mapping is active on your Switch, return to the Home screen and look in the bottom-left corner for a Switch or Joy-Con icon with a wrench on it.

If you see it, go to System Settings > Controllers and Sensors > Change Button Mapping and tap Reset for each of the Joy-Cons to return them to the default button mapping.

2. Check Your Controllers Are Connected Correctly

Nintendo suggests you check to ensure your Joy-Con controllers are speaking to the Switch system properly. To do this, go to the Home screen and hit the Controllers button.

The picture on the left side of the screen shows all the controllers currently paired to the Switch, and whether they’re registering as attached or detached from the Switch. Make sure this matches reality, and slide your Joy-Cons in and out of place on the console to see if the picture updates accordingly.

If your Joy-Cons aren’t registering properly, go to Change Grip/Order and press the minus (–) or plus (+) button. Then follow the onscreen instructions to pair your Joy-Cons again.

3. Update Your Switch System

Although most Joy-Con drift problems are hardware related, there’s a chance your is software based, which means you can usually fix it with an update. Updating the operating system is a great way to fix all kinds of Nintendo Switch problems that are caused by software bugs.

You’ll need to make sure your Switch is connected to Wi-Fi first. Then all you need to do is go to the Home screen, then hit System Settings > System and tap System Update. Your Switch will check for new updates, downloading and installing any that are available.

4. Update Your Joy-Con Firmware

Alongside your Switch’s operating system, you also need to update the Joy-Con firmware. It’s important to update the Switch system first because you might need the latest operating system to be able to use the latest firmware for your Joy-Cons.

After updating your Switch system, go to Home > System Settings > Controllers and Sensors and hit Update Controllers. Your Switch will update each controller, one at a time. Wait for all updates to complete before testing your Joy-Cons again.

5. Recalibrate Your Control Sticks

It’s possible your Joy-Con control sticks are pulling to one side because the calibration has gone off. That means the control stick sensors have lost perspective of what a centered control stick looks like. This is easy to fix by recalibrating your control sticks in the Switch settings.

Go to the Home page and select System Settings > Controllers and Sensors then scroll down to Calibrate Control Sticks. Follow the onscreen instructions to recalibrate your control stick. You want to make sure the cross icon appears in the center of the circle.

You can also press Y to automatically return your control stick to the default settings, but this will only work if there’s nothing physically wrong with the control stick.

6. Check for Game Software Update

If your Joy-Cons always drift while you’re playing the same few games, there might be a problem with those particular games. Highlight the relevant game on your Nintendo Switch Home screen, then press the plus (+) button and select Software Update > Via the Internet to check for updates.

Also, take a look at the game details online to find out if it uses tilt controls. It’s possible that your Joy-Cons are working normally, but they keep pulling to the side because you’re tilting them without realizing that it makes a difference. This is particularly common with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Breath of the Wild.

7. Remove Any Skins or Covers

Lots of people like to customize the Nintendo Switch with skins, covers, cases, and other accessories. While these are great ways to add extra personality to your Switch, the adornments can sometimes interfere with your Joy-Cons working perfectly.

To test if this has any effect, remove any skins, stickers, or covers from your Joy-Con controllers, especially if they wrap around the front of the controller close to the control sticks.

8. Clean the Joy-Con Control Sticks

A lot of the time, Joy-Con drift is caused by dust and grime building up inside the control stick mechanism. If you don’t want to totally disassemble your Joy-Con—voiding the warranty in the process—you can still clean this dirt away to fix your Joy-Con.

To do this properly, you’ll need:

• Fine-tipped tweezers
• Compressed air
• Contact cleaner, sometimes coincidentally called switch cleaner

To clean your Joy-Con, pull the control stick to one side, then use the tweezers to lift the thin cover, revealing the mechanism. Blast it with some compressed air to blow out any dirt or grit. Repeat this from various angles around the control stick.

If that hasn’t worked, apply a tiny amount of contact cleaner into the mechanism, then push the control stick around to work it in. Don’t apply much liquid at all, and don’t use anything other than contact cleaner, commonly found in hardware stores.

9. Send Your Joy-Con to Nintendo

If nothing else has worked and your Joy-Con is still drifting, it’s time to look at sending it off to Nintendo for a physical repair. This does mean you’ll need to go a few weeks without your controller, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

If your Switch is still under warranty, Nintendo should complete the repair for free. Even if you’re outside the warranty period, Nintendo has been known to repair the issue for free since Joy-Con drift is so widespread.

Visit Nintendo’s Joy-Con repair page and follow the steps to send your Joy-Con away. You shouldn’t need to send your Switch console or any other accessories, only the affected Joy-Con.

Failing All Else, Try a DIY Fix

Sometimes you can’t send your Joy-Con away for Nintendo to repair, possibly because Nintendo’s repair service isn’t available in your country or because you’ve already disassembled the Joy-Con and voided your warranty. But even if this is the case, you’re still not out of options.

Lots of DIY fixes for Joy-Con drift exist online. These range from completely taking apart your controller and replacing components to slipping a sheet of paper under the control stick.

If Nintendo won’t accept your Joy-Con and none of our other solutions have worked, you may as well have a go at fixing it yourself because there’s little else to lose.

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