switch2mac 0.3.0

What's New, update tags in the Library and a longer history in the switch2mac app. If you have 0.2.x or older, the app offers this update itself.

New

• What's New tab. switch2mac's news first (the newest five; Show all for the rest), then new games you can build, every build update day by day, and nxnative's latest changes with the games each one names. A dot on the tab means something arrived since you last looked.
• Update available, in the Library. When a newer build of one of your games is out with changes you would notice, its banner says so. Click it to see what changed since your build, and Rebuild. Your saves are kept.
• Performance keeps your last 20 runs as a history: the newest in full, the others one line each, coloured by frame rate. Click one for its numbers and Share.
• + Build game replaces the Builds tab. It opens the build page, and while a game builds it says so; click it for the progress and log.

Opening it the first time

The app is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID. The first time, macOS says it cannot verify it: click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.

You need a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later, Xcode with its Metal Toolchain (Xcode 27 for games built with nxnative's newest code), and the .NET 10 SDK; the app tells you what is missing.

Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2 and the game names are trademarks of their owners. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.

switch2mac 0.2.0

A new Performance tab for the switch2mac app. If you have 0.1.x, the app offers this update itself.

New

• Performance tab, between Builds and Settings. It shows your last three game runs, each with its banner, when you played and for how long, and the build: average, lowest and highest frame rate, 1% low, peak memory, and GPU and CPU use. They are read from the game's own log when it closes, so there is nothing to switch on, and nothing leaves your Mac.
• Share on a run fills in the How it ran form for you: the game, the build, your Mac's model, chip and memory, macOS, the frame rate and memory, plus an optional comment. It opens on GitHub for you to check and press Create. Your report helps switch2mac pick the best build of each game for Macs like yours.

Opening it the first time

The app is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID. The first time, macOS says it cannot verify it: click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.

You need a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later, Xcode with its Metal Toolchain, and the .NET 10 SDK; the app tells you what is missing.

Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2 and the game names are trademarks of their owners. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.

switch2mac 0.1.1

Bug fixes and new options for the switch2mac app. If you have 0.1.0, the app offers this update itself.

New

• Try any Switch 2 game on any engine. The Build menu now lists untested builds: each engine switch2mac knows (switch2mac's, nxnative's, pokopia-native's) can try every game, and Switch 2 games switch2mac has no page for yet can be tried too. Untested builds are marked with a red dot and ask before you pick one. They will often fail; Stop ends a build at any time.
• The Build menu always starts on the build recommended for your Mac.

Fixed

• A game you build from the Builds page now shows in the Library straight away.
• Closing the window quits the app (while a game is building, the app stays open in the Dock until the build finishes).
• The app keeps all of its files in its own folders, and Uninstall only removes switch2mac's own.
• Diagnostics are labelled switch2mac, and a damaged dump is reported as one.

Opening it the first time

The app is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID. The first time, macOS says it cannot verify it: click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.

You need a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later, Xcode with its Metal Toolchain, and the .NET 10 SDK; the app tells you what is missing.

Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2 and the game names are trademarks of their owners. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.

switch2mac 0.1.0

The first preview of the switch2mac app: build native Mac versions of your Switch 2 games from your own dumps, with buttons instead of Terminal.

What it does

• Choose your dump folder, press Build, and the game lands in Applications.
• A library of your built games, with their eShop banners (downloaded onto your Mac when the app runs; none are in this download).
• Your Mac card: your chip, memory and macOS. The app uses them to pick the build of each game that suits your Mac. Mario Kart World has two: nxnative's for Macs with less than 24 GB or an M3 and newer, switch2mac's for M1 and M2 with 24 GB or more. You can pick the other one, with a warning.
• Games: Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Pokopia (status of each).

What you need

• A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later.
• Xcode (free, App Store) with its Metal toolchain, and the .NET 10 SDK. The app checks for them and tells you what is missing.
• Your own game dump. switch2mac needs no keys and decrypts nothing.

Python and the other build tools are inside the app.

Opening it the first time

The app is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS warns the first time:

1. Unzip switch2mac-macOS-arm64.zip and move switch2mac to Applications.
2. Open it. macOS says it cannot verify it: click Done.
3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to switch2mac. Confirm.

From then on it opens normally.

Thanks

The app's design comes from NX2Apple by LNPANDY and its contributors (MIT). The games run on nxnative by seedds, and Pokopia on pokopia-native by xFractals.

Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong and Pokémon are trademarks of their owners. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.