You can talk to friends in Animal Crossing: New Horizons using the new Nook Link feature on smartphones

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You can also download your custom designs from New Leaf and Happy Home Designer

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo Switch Online app for smartphones and tablets will be getting a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons feature called Nook Link. 

Set to go live shortly after you arrive on the deserted island on March 20, Nook Link is a web service you can use to talk to other players in Animal Crossing: New Horizons - either by using voice chat or typing on your smartphone keyboard. 

While it'll be a key way of communicating with any visitors you invite to soak up some rays on your very own island paradise, Nook Link also works as a way of downloading any custom designs you've made in previous games. The feature enables you to scan QR code patterns from Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, which you can then add to New Horizons. 

(Image credit: Nintendo)

As the Nintendo Direct revealed, customisation is going to be a massive part of our upcoming island getaway, with all manner of ways to change the landscape and create your own custom furniture and decorations. If you've spent hours and hours pouring over designs in New Leaf or Happy Home Designer, Nook Link sounds like just the ticket for getting your favourite designs over to the sandy shores of your new residence. If you think about it, it's a bit like you're getting your belongings from past homes shipped over. 

Of course, with all this customisation and designing you'll be doing, you don't want anyone coming and wrecking your meticulously crafted island, right? Well, thankfully you can rest easy knowing your friends won't be able to destroy your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island.

The Nintendo Direct also served up a generous helping of insight into other features and news, such as revealing won't support cloud saves, and that a host of free updates will be added post-launch.

Want to know more? Here are 25 things we learnt about Animal Crossing: New Horizons from the Direct and our preview. 

Heather Wald
Heather Wald
Evergreen Editor, Games

Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.