Browser Timeout: "This Screen will be closed."

[A Former User]

yeah odds are pigs will literally fly before nintendo even acknowledges their fans

[Almond]

@tofu stop derailing threads, this is absolutely out of pocket and unnecessary.

[tofu]

@Marbitt kk im so sorry istg please forgive

[Almond]

@tofu Thank you

[tofu]

@Marbitt np <3

[MarieSolace]

@Giovani and apparently some/most videos won't play because Nintendo won't let us play/watch any videos on the browser

[12345keddie]

@VGMoose said in Browser Timeout: "This Screen will be closed.":

This is a thread to talk about the browser closing on the Nintendo switch when using BrowseDNS or Switchbru DNS... This appears to be a timeout added by Nintendo in FW update 10.0, but the mechanisms of when/why it closes are not known.

In my experience, I have had both web pages live for a long time (even overnight!) by sleeping the switch or pressing home, and when it decides to close always seems a little random.

It seems like no matter how many page loads occur, or clicks/scrolls I make, it's determined to shut down. Does anyone have any other experiences or theories about whne it decides to close?

If the timeout can be better understood, then we may be able to discover a workaround to it. If it's something networking related, for instance, maybe there are changes that can be made to prevent it from closing.

It would also be interesting to know if this same timeout occurs when using "normal" captive portal airplane/hotel hotspots (which is what the browser applet was made for).

I will also again plug the petition to Nintendo to unlimited this browser, including removing the timeout.

[12345keddie]

Randomly It Shut Off At 1:94 For Some Weird Reason

[33tono]

qwww33

[deleted]

the closed out timer is very annoying it's almost like if i'm written a comment one of my friends instagram post or something like that i have hurry write before the timer goes out which don't really like keep have to sign back in everytime when the timer closes

[VGMoose]

I know, the timeout is awful! I usually have a phone or computer around, but SOMETIMES I just have my Switch and don't want to go to the other devices. For looking stuff up quickly it's fine, but the way it just pops up and everything you're doing disappears is adding insult to injury.

Our petition to Nintendo now has over 25,000 signatures! We want them to add:

• Cookies (no entering passwords every time / remembering logins and history)
• Video playback (the social applet has it, and the switch already has Youtube and a few others)
• Remove the timeout! (Pretty unlikely, as they likely added it just to make the DNS browser harder to use...)

And these would be great, but are obviously more development effort:

• An actual browser app instead of using a DNS redirect
• Tabs and bookmarks! Like on the 3DS, and Wii U browsers!

You can read other comments made by users that signed it here: https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-nintendo-expose-the-fully-functional-internet-browser-built-into-the-switch/c

I do think it's increasingly unlikely that anything will change on Nintendo's end, especially with rumors of a Switch 2 coming out in the future. The very least that they could do is unlock the DNS browser a little, or add an "Open web browser" area to settings (w/ their own landing page that links to Google).

For more info on the actual browser, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetFront . The browser itself is licensed to Nintendo from another company, so it's possible part of the deal is that they don't allow the user to use it as a fully fledged browser, and that could be one motive for the timeout. Just baselessly speculating, though.

[ㅤㅤㅤ]

does the eshop also close after 20 mins? cuz from what ive known is the eshop browser based (which explains why it runs so poorly) when it doesnt close then there must be someway to disable the timer

[VGMoose]

@Dan see this post for the different browser types: https://browsedns.net/topic/359/browser-applets-and-why-videos-don-t-work

In short, the WifiWebAuthApplet (Captive-portal / DNS) is the only one is allowed to load any website, but doesn't support video, and has the timeout.

The eShop uses ShopN, which is hardcoded to only display the shop. You're right though about it running poorly due to being unoptimized css and browser-based.

[sakujapan384]

yea fr theyre basically acting like our parents... and some of us are even adults who DONT need parenting!

also wtf isnt nintendo part of japan, and if so then why do we have the japanese internet guidelines? the censoring of sites is just like it is in japan...

[Nared]

But let me get this straight. On a hacked switch. When i go to the browser via the homebrew launcher. There is no timer. How does this work?.

[Nared]

For it to work though. You have to do an app takeover

[VGMoose]

@Jared Yeeeeep! That's because BrowseNX can manually use a different applet that doesn't have a timeout, and can enable video playback too. Only the WifiWebAuth Applet (which is what the DNS uses) has those limitations (times out, no video), likely to discourage usage.

[3STAR]

wait you can put videos on apptakeover

[ㅤㅤㅤ]

@Jared now i wanna hack my switch too but im too stupid to do so i probably just get my switch disabled (i have an oled switch)

[VGMoose]

Edited the original post to include a summary of information about the timeout, tips, the browser, and BrowseNX. This thread has a lot of views so I'm assuming people are coming in here from Google.

I can't really recommend installing homebrew just to access the browser, it's a pretty technical task and needs access to a computer or Android phone anyway to reliably use. It also comes with brick or ban risk. I mean, it's not that bad, but I don't think it's for most users.