Somebody Found A Creative Use Of The Nintendo Switch Parental Control App

So a lot of people have been talking about what's not in the Nintendo Switch. One of the things missing -- among the plethora of other launch features such as a lack of a web browser or third-party apps -- is an activity log. Well, some people found a way to make use of the parental control app in a way most people wouldn't have thought possible.

According to Polygon, some users have decided that since the activity log isn't present in the Nintendo Switch, they can utilize a makeshift log by using the parental control app.

The app, available for iPhone and Android devices, enables users to see how much time users have been spending on the Nintendo Switch and how much time has been invested per app. This can be used to set parental controls on how much time users can play a game and how much of the system they have access to.

The thing is, being able to see how much time has been logged into the system -- which breaks down per game -- not only allows parents to see what activities their kids have been up to on the Switch, but also lets hardcore gamers see how much time they've logged into a game.

This feature was previously present for the Wii U and the 3DS as a native app on the system, but it was not present at launch for the Nintendo Switch. For the other systems, this enabled users to be able to easily and conveniently see what their playtime was like for their games.

Those of you who have been playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will likely want to know how much time you've logged into the game. According to Polygon, you can do so by using the parental app for the Switch. However, there is a caveat to this news: even if you install the app to track the progress of the games you're playing on the Nintendo Switch, it will only log in the amount of time from the start date of when the app is installed.

What this means is that if you've already logged in about 30 hours into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, your progress won't show up in the app. You'll only know how many hours you've logged since you've installed the parental app for the Nintendo Switch.

It's kind of a bummer and kind of a hassle, but it's a makeshift solution until Nintendo adds a native activity log for those of you who enjoy keeping track of various micromanaging account tasks.

Now some people are complaining about this feature not being present at launch, but keep in mind that many other digital services and online profile account management systems didn't launch with this feature either. Microsoft only added the activity log later into the lifespan of the Xbox One, along with DLNA support and other cross-platform quality of life features. Sony had a very bare bones dashboard for the PS4 at launch. And even Valve spent years iterating on Steam before it became the worldwide beast that it is today.

Nintendo hasn't put any concrete dates on when the QOL features will be installed or made available for the Nintendo Switch, but I imagine they'll want to get some of the other launch kinks worked out first... like the desynchronization issue with the left Joy-Con.