Nintendo has confirmed an official shutdown date for Pokémon Bank: service ends Thursday, February 25, 2027, at 7:00 p.m. PST. Once that happens, the app stops working entirely, and the ability to transfer Pokémon from Bank into Pokémon HOME goes with it. Anyone with Pokémon still sitting in Bank needs to move them to HOME before then, because there won't be a way to do it afterward.

Bank has been running since 2013 in Japan and 2014 elsewhere, and for a lot of long-time players it's the only bridge between older games and everything that came after. It's the tool that let Pokémon caught in X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, or Sun and Moon eventually make their way into modern games through HOME. It hasn't been available for new downloads since the 3DS eShop closed in 2023, so this shutdown mostly affects people who already have it installed and still have Pokémon parked inside it, not new users.

Nintendo announced two related Pokémon HOME changes in the same breath, both landing in October. First, the Switch eShop versions of FireRed and LeafGreen are gaining Pokémon HOME connectivity, though it's a one-way bridge: Pokémon can be sent out of FireRed and LeafGreen into HOME, but nothing can be imported back into those games. Completing the Pokédex in either Switch version also unlocks a Celebi, claimable through the mobile version of HOME as a bonus for finishing the job. Second, HOME Premium's storage capacity is increasing to 9,000 boxed Pokémon, giving Bank refugees (and everyone else) more room once their collections land in HOME for good.

Zoom out and this closes a chapter more than it changes daily gameplay for most players. Pokémon HOME has been the actual center of the modern transfer ecosystem for years now; Bank has mostly been a legacy stop for anyone who still had Generation 6 through 7 Pokémon they hadn't moved forward yet. Once February 2027 hits, that stop disappears, and HOME becomes the only link back to those games. Given everything else in motion right now, FireRed and LeafGreen's own Switch ports, the rumored Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald ports, and Winds & Waves still a year out, it's as good a moment as any to make sure nothing valuable is still parked in a service that's about to go dark.

Nintendo's announcement gives players roughly six months of notice. If you've got a Pokémon Bank box you haven't touched in years, now's the time to open it up and move everything over.

Sources for this piece: Nintendo Support, Nintendo Life, and Video Games Chronicle.