Nintendo gives you more than one way to get your pictures onto an Apple Mac.

Maybe you’re keeping a record of your gameplay for posterity or boasting about your gamer skills on social media. You might even be sourcing images for review work or writing. Whatever your reason, the struggle to get screenshots from your Nintendo Switch to a Mac is real.

Fortunately, there are several methods you can try out, and each has its benefits.

The screenshot button is present on any Switch controller, including the left Joy-Con and the Pro Controller. It’s a square button with a hollow circle icon, just to the bottom right of the directional buttons on the Joy-Con.

Press the button once to take a screenshot of whatever’s currently on-screen. Hold the button briefly to record a video clip of the last 30 seconds.

You can find your screenshots and videos in the Album, via the middle icon of the seven at the bottom of your home screen. By default, your Switch saves screenshots in system memory, but you can set the save destination to your SD card via System Settings > Data Management > Manage Screenshots and Videos.

The old-school method, probably the most long-winded, but straightforward, is to transfer files by swapping physical media.

You’ll need some kind of adapter or hub that can read microSD cards since any Mac that does have a built-in reader will only accept the larger SD format. The best USB-C hubs for the MacBook Pro all include a microSD card reader.

You can now transfer your files using Finder or a file app of your preference. Since the SD card is a separate volume, transferring files will usually copy them by default rather than moving them. Make sure to delete the files from your SD card if you no longer need them.

The Switch uses an automatic file structure for screenshots, storing image files in Album > {Year} > {Month} > {Day}

The advantage of this approach is that there’s little to go wrong. Once you’re used to the process, it becomes automatic. But it’s fiddly, especially due to the tiny size of the micro SD card.

You can post your screenshots to social media straight from your Switch. You can use your social media account as an intermediary to transfer media to your Mac.

If you have a Twitter account, this option may work for you, especially if you’re already used to posting screenshots. There’s also a Facebook alternative.

If you haven’t already set up Twitter on your Nintendo Switch, you can do so using these steps:

Once you’ve set up a connection with your Twitter account, you can post screenshots either individually or several at a time. The current limit is four at once.

Your tweet will appear shortly. When it does, you can download the screenshot image to your computer.

This method is easy to use to transfer a handful of screenshots. However, you will need a Twitter account, and you’ll be posting your screenshots in public which may not be ideal. You can only post between one and four screenshots at once, so this approach will be very time-consuming if you have a lot of images to transfer.

Unfortunately, this method is also not as easy to use to transfer videos. Although you can save videos from Twitter, it’s a long-winded process.

This option is easier with a PC than a Mac, but it’s a good choice if you have problems with the others.

You should now be able to use the MPT client on your Mac to transfer your files. Android File Transfer and OpenMTP each provide a file management interface, similar to Finder.

While this method should, in theory, be the most convenient, it turns out to be unreliable. You’ll need the right USB cable, the right MTP software, and a sizable helping of good luck. It’s quite likely you’ll run into a “Could not connect to device” error and give up out of frustration.

Nintendo doesn’t officially support this method for Mac users, so it’s not surprising that it has flaws. But if you can get it to work, it’s the least fiddly and quickest of the three options.

Each of these methods of screenshot transfer has benefits, but drawbacks too. At least there are options; hopefully, one of them works for you and is convenient enough for long-term use.

Remember, you can also share photos with a smartphone or a Windows PC. Try either of these methods if transferring to Mac is too problematic.

Bobby is a technology enthusiast who worked as a software developer for most of two decades. At MUO, he's the Section Editor for the Programming section. He’s passionate about gaming, having worked as Editor-in-Chief at Switch Player Magazine, and is immersed in all aspects of online publishing & web development.