How to move Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon Home

Happy Pokémon Home day! If there’s one complaint that Pokémon Sword and Shield players have had, it’s that it’s kind of hard to actually trade Pokémon with complete strangers when there’s no solid line of communication. Pokémon Home, Nintendo’s new hub for all things related to trading in the world of pocket monsters, aims to fix that problem. While it will cost you a few pokebucks to use it, the amount of functionality and features on offer more than make it a worthwhile subscription to add to your ever growing list of monthly digital tithes.

It also means that with access to the Global Trading Station on mobile devices and the option to shift all your 3DS captures on over to the Nintendo Switch, you’ll be able to easily complete your Pokedex before it expands and the new expansions arrive on the scene. So how do you transfer Pokémon over? I just migrated 931 of my own adorable fellas over, so here’s the gospel straight from Nintendo on preparing for the next big challenge in the world of Pokémon:

Moving Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME on Nintendo Switch when you have a Nintendo 3DS

In Pokémon Bank:

• Select Move Pokémon to Pokémon HOME from the main menu.
• Select the Boxes you want to move to Pokémon HOME.
• Once you’ve selected your Boxes, press the Y Button and then select Yes.

In Pokémon HOME:

• Select Move from the main menu.
• Select Begin Move and then Begin.
• Select Ready!
• Select Display to display a Moving Key.

In Pokémon Bank:

• Within the three minutes before the Moving Key expires, enter the Moving Key that was displayed in Pokémon HOME. (Note: Codes never include the letter O, I, or Z.)

And there you go! Your Pokémon will make a hop on over to their new pad.

Moving Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME on Nintendo Switch when you don’t have a Nintendo 3DS

In Pokémon HOME:

• Select Move from the main menu.
• Select No Nintendo 3DS.
• Select Check to make sure that the Nintendo Network ID used for Pokémon Bank has been linked to the Nintendo Account associated with your Pokémon HOME account.
• Once you’ve confirmed that you have the correct Nintendo Network ID and made sure that there’s no problem with beginning the move to Pokémon HOME, select Begin.
• If the Nintendo Network ID was confirmed as being linked to your Nintendo Account, all the Pokémon in Pokémon Bank will be moved to Pokémon HOME. You’ll be able to select how you’d like to deposit the Pokémon into your Pokémon HOME Boxes.

Easy peasy! I’m all set up, and filling up some gaps in my Pokedex right now. So far I’m really digging the app as it features a fantastic redesign of Pokémon Bank that adds some much-needed quality of life improvements to the massive poke-vault. The mobile app ain’t too bad either, and I think I’ll be throwing up a legendary or two on that side so that I can have a full Galar pokedex by the end of the week.

Last Updated: February 12, 2020