Nintendo Switch update makes the activity log a little bit better

Nintendo Switch’s new system update makes a bunch of big and important changes. One smaller change that Nintendo didn’t highlight in its rundown of version 4.0.0 is just as nice, though: The console’s activity log, which notoriously does a poor job of precisely tracking play time, is now just a bit more accurate.

Redditors who share my curse of obsessing over how much time I spend playing a game picked up on the change shortly after the version update launched. In players’ profile pages, any game played for between one and five hours will now say as much — meaning, if you played Sonic Mania for around four hours, the activity log will now note that.

Nintendo via Reddit

Previously, the minimum number of hours mentioned was five. Only played 1-2-Switch once, and for a few minutes at that? It will likely say just that — “played for a few minutes,” or “played for a little while,” or a similarly approximate timeframe. If you played that game for six hours, however, the activity log will still only say that you “played for five hours or more.”

The system is still lacking for anyone who wants to just exactly how many hours they’ve sunk into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild this year. There’s the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app to fill in the gaps a bit, as it lists your overall daily playtime down to the minute; but considering how precise the Nintendo 3DS activity log is, I’ll always find the Switch version disappointing until it comes closer to catching up.