The Nintendo Switch is one of the best gaming handhelds, whether you use it for retro gaming or playing the latest titles. It's been a roaring success in the (nearly) eight years since the handheld-console hybrid landed on the market. Nintendo has sold well over 140 million units in that time, making it the third most popular console of all time. And you only have to glance at the game selection to understand why, with Nintendo still bringing out new first-party blockbusters featuring its diverse crowd of characters.

In all of those years, one thing has shadowed the Switch's success. That's Joy-Con drift, which makes the joysticks on the controllers give off phantom touches, moving your character or the camera without your hands being anywhere near the controllers. Even with this potential issue, the Joy-Cons are my favorite Nintendo Switch controllers, because of the combination of physical and motion controls. The good news is that if your Joy-Cons suffer from drift, you can replace the joystick modules fairly easily, and you'll never have to worry about drift ever again.

What you'll need

Thankfully, no soldering is necessary

Nintendo made the Joy-Cons with replaceable joystick modules, so you won't have to break out a soldering iron to replace them like you would on most controllers. The modules screw into place, and a single ribbon cable is all you need to connect. The Joy-Cons are pretty small, however, so you'll want to go slowly in order to not cause damage to the PCB or other components.

While you could replace the joysticks with OEM parts, we recommend taking the chance to swap them for Hall effect joysticks. These use magnetic force to measure the joystick's position instead of physical parts, so they aren't affected by stick drift. That's right, you might never have to repair your Joy-Con joysticks ever again.

GuliKit holds the patents on this type of joystick, so you will likely see their name on the retail listing. You can buy the joystick modules as singles, pairs, or two pairs, and in kits with the necessary screwdrivers and other tools. We recommend picking up the kit, but you could pick up a more comprehensive toolkit like the iFixit one linked below if you prefer.

Other things that are good to have but not necessary include a workmat, so you can put the screws into a secure area while you work on the Joy-Cons. You can use a saucer or other small dish instead, so you don't strictly need this, but a mat also keeps your table safe from potential scratches. If you're worried about tiny screws rolling away, you can make a loop of masking tape and stick that to the dish, and put the screws on top of it to stop them from moving around.

How to replace the joysticks on your Nintendo Switch

These steps work for the Switch and Switch OLED

While some users have noticed drift on their Joy-Cons seemingly straight out of the box, the main reason for drift is time. That's because the joystick modules use electrical contacts under the stick to determine movement and position, and over time dirt, dust, and other contaminants work their way into the contacts. The contacts also wear over time, and keeping your Nintendo Switch in the vertical TV dock also makes things worse, as gravity is always pulling down on the joysticks.

I experienced this drift on my Joy-Cons, and wanted to share how I replaced the joysticks with better ones. Now, each swap takes about half an hour, so keep that in mind when you decide to do it. In terms of difficulty, it's similar to when I swapped my Steam Deck SSD for a larger one, but the space inside the Joy-Cons is even more cramped, so work slowly to avoid other damage.

Replacing the joystick on the left Joy-Con

Set up your work area and tools, and get the left Joy-Con in front of you. We'll do the other Joy-Con once we're done with this one and calibrate it fully.

1. Use a Tri-Point Y00 screwdriver to unfasten the four screws on the back of the Joy-Con.
2. Take an opening pick and insert it into the seam opposite the L and ZL buttons. Gently work around the controller to loosen the back panel, while taking care not to push the pick in too far, as there are delicate components just inside.
3. Hold the Joy-Con with the charging rail facing away from you, and open the Joy-Con like a book.

   Don't try to remove the back panel, it's connected to the motherboard by two delicate cables.

4. Gently pry the battery connector straight up from its socket with a non-conductive tool.
5. Use an opening pick to lever the battery out of the Joy-Con housing.
6. Remove the three marked golden Phillips #00 screws

   Again, don't try to remove the midframe yet, there is a fragile cable connecting the ZL button underneath.

7. Flip the midframe over and away from the motherboard.
8. Use tweezers to unlock the ZIF connector for the ZL button's cable by flipping it up, and gently remove the cable.
9. Disconnect the ribbon cable going to the minus button of the Joy-Con.
10. Unlock the ZIF connector for the joystick cable by first flipping up the black lever, then removing the cable.
11. Unscrew the two Phillips #00 screws holding the joystick in place.
12. Gently remove the joystick module, being careful not to disturb the thin black gasket around the hole.

Pick up the new Joy-Con joystick and put it in place, then do the 12 steps in reverse order to get your Joy-Con back into one piece. Once you've fastened the last screws, reconnect the Joy-Con to your Nintendo Switch and calibrate the new joystick.

Calibrating the left Joy-Con

Nintendo has a handy calibration routine built into the Switch's settings, so the switched sticks only take a couple of minutes to dial in.

1. From the home screen, select System Settings from the shortcuts across the bottom.
2. Scroll down to the Controllers and Sensors section and select it.
3. On the right menu, scroll down to Calibrate Control Sticks and select it by tapping on the screen or pressing A.
4. Tilt the joystick you want to calibrate. In this case, we're going to hold the left joystick at a tilt until the next screen appears.
5. Press X to calibrate the joystick.
6. Confirm the start of calibration by selecting Calibrate and pressing A.
7. Move the circle towards the hollow triangle by tilting the joystick in the correct direction, and release it when prompted.
8. Repeat for all four cardinal points.
9. Rotate the joystick in a full circle several times until the screen tells you calibration is complete.

While we didn't experience this, some Redditors mentioned that they didn't have full calibration the first time they ran the routine. If you experience the same thing, running the calibration a few times in a row should do the trick.

Replacing the joystick in the right Joy-Con

Now it's time to finish with the other Joy-Con, so stick drift will be a thing of the past.

1. Remove the four Tri-Point Y00 screws from the back of the Joy-Con.
2. As before, use an opening pick to gently loosen the back panel.
3. Hold the Joy-Con with the charging rail facing away from you, and open the casing like a book.

   Don't try to fully remove the back panel yet, as it has two ribbon cables holding it on.

4. Gently pry the battery connector up from its socket with a non-conductive tool.
5. Use a pick to lever out the battery from the housing.
6. Remove the antenna and de-thread the cable from the battery cavity.
7. Gently pry up the antenna cable's coaxial connector.
8. Remove the three marked Phillips #00 screws on the midframe.

   Don't remove the midframe yet, or you risk damaging the cable that connects the ZR button to the motherboard.

9. Flip the midframe away from the motherboard.
10. Use tweezers to unlock the ZIF connector for the ZR button cable, then disconnect the cable.

    The cable here is short and difficult to reconnect. Alternatively, you can skip this step and leave it in place, instead just being careful of it while you replace the joystick.

11. Unlock the joystick cable with a pair of tweezers, then disconnect it.
12. Unscrew the two Phillips #00 screws from the joystick.
13. Gently lift the joystick module out of the Joy-Con, being careful not to disturb the thin black gasket around the hole it came from.

As before, put the replacement joystick in place, then work backwards through the 13 steps to reassemble your Joy-Con. Once assembled, slide it onto your Nintendo Switch and go through the calibration process for the new joystick.

Calibrating the right Joy-Con

Follow the nine steps that we calibrated the left Joy-Con joystick with earlier. The only difference is that in Step 4, you're going to tilt the joystick of the right Joy-Con, so the console knows which joystick it is calibrating.

Enjoy the feeling of banishing stick drift from your Nintendo Switch

The GuliKit Hall effect joysticks immediately felt better to me, right from the initial calibration routine. They feel responsive, and the click is nice and meaty. The joystick caps are also replaceable without opening up the Joy-Con again, so if the rubber starts to wear, or you prefer another color, you can do that easily from the outside. And as if removing stick drift wasn't enough, the Hall effect joysticks also lack a noticeable dead zone, so they're instantly responsive when you start moving in a direction. Now that your joysticks are fixed, it's time to pick up a case for your Nintendo Switch to keep it protected.