How to Add Friends on Animal Crossing

This article explains how to invite and add friends to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, plus how to add friends on Switch.

How to Invite Friends to Your Village

Adding friends on Animal Crossing is a fairly straightforward process once the game allows you to do so (on the second day or later of your village). First, you need to invite people to your village before you can add them as Animal Crossing friends within the game itself.

1. On your Nintendo Switch, open Animal Crossing.

2. Travel down to the bottom half of your island and enter Dodo's Airlines.

3. Talk to Orville at the Dodo's Airlines desk.

4. Choose I want visitors.

   Note:

   Choosing I wanna fly allows you to visit other people's islands.

5. Choose to invite friends via local play or via online play.

   Tip:

   Local play is when you're physically near the player you wish to invite to your island, while online play is for finding players online.

6. Choose Roger.

   Note:

   The first time you do this, you'll need to agree to a legal agreement that states you will be respectful to other players.

7. Choose to invite All my friends or Invite via Dodo Code.

   Note:

   A Dodo code is a form of Animal Crossing friend code and allows you to share the code with others when they're not already on your Nintendo Switch friends list. Invite All my friends opens your village to anyone on your friends' list.

8. The friends you've invited can now wander around your island, allowing you to interact with them.

How to Add Friends on Animal Crossing Once They've Visited You

Once users have visited your town at least once, you can add them as a Nintendo Switch friend as described below. That also means you can add them as one of your Animal Crossing best friends.

Follow these steps to make someone your Best Friend.

1. On Animal Crossing, open your Nook Phone by tapping ZL.

2. Tap Best Friends List.

3. Choose a name from the list to add.

4. Tap Ask to Be Best Friends.

5. Once they've accepted your invite, they can explore your island and do whatever they want. You can also message them regularly.

How to Add Friends on Animal Crossing Through the Nintendo Switch

If you'd rather add someone as a friend from outside of Animal Crossing and make them a friend on your Nintendo Switch, you can. Ideally, you'll need your friend's Nintendo Switch code to do so. However, you can search through other methods.

Follow these steps to add a friend on your Switch:

1. On your Nintendo Switch, tap your user profile picture.

2. Tap Add Friend.

3. Tap Search with Friend Code.

4. Enter your friend's code.

   Tip:

   You can also tap Friend Suggestions if you've connected your Nintendo Switch to social media accounts. This method allows you to find friends that have done similar. 

5. Send the friend request and wait for them to accept it.

6. Once accepted, you can now invite them more easily within Animal Crossing.