Pokémon Bank will shut down on February 26, 2027, ending the Nintendo 3DS service’s ability to move stored Pokémon into Pokémon HOME. The official Pokémon Bank notice from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company says the service and its transfer function will end at 12:00 p.m. Japan time.
The same decision is recorded in the official Pokémon HOME announcement, which gives the equivalent cutoff as February 25, 2027 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Anyone with Pokémon still stored in Bank must move them to HOME before that deadline. The service is not currently available for new download.
The last route out of Pokémon Bank
Pokémon Bank is the Nintendo 3DS service that stores Pokémon collected across compatible games. Its transfer link to HOME became especially important after the 3DS eShop stopped accepting new purchases, because it remained the bridge for collections built across older generations.
That bridge will remain usable until the shutdown. The official notice says Pokémon stored in Bank can still be sent to HOME before the service ends, but the move is one way. Pokémon transferred into HOME cannot be returned to Bank, so trainers should check their boxes and decide which teams, event Pokémon and older collections they want to preserve before starting a transfer.
This deadline arrives alongside a major expansion of HOME support. As we covered in our FireRed and LeafGreen HOME guide, the Nintendo Switch versions of those games will connect to HOME in October 2026. Completing their software Pokédex will also reward the Mythical Pokémon Celebi on the mobile version of HOME.
The October update is not a replacement for Bank’s transfer window. It gives the Switch versions of FireRed and LeafGreen a new connection to HOME, while the February 2027 deadline concerns Pokémon already stored in the 3DS service. The two announcements matter to different parts of the same long-running collection system.
What trainers should do before February
Start by opening Pokémon Bank on the 3DS that contains the collection and checking whether the Pokémon you want to keep are already in HOME. Move the remaining Pokémon in batches if necessary, then confirm that they appear in the correct HOME boxes. Because transfers cannot be reversed, it is worth checking the destination before sending rare or sentimental Pokémon.
Trainers who no longer have a working 3DS, access to the Bank application or a HOME Premium Plan may need to resolve those problems before the cutoff. The official notices do not promise an extension after February 26, and they do not describe another route for moving Pokémon out of Bank once the transfer function ends.
For collectors who have followed Nintendo’s hardware changes, this is another reminder that a console transition can leave older services as the key to preserving a library. Our Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck comparison looks at the newer hardware landscape, but Pokémon Bank’s closure is about the software history stored behind the hardware.
Pokémon Bank will continue to operate until February 26, 2027 at 12:00 p.m. JST. The safest course for anyone with Pokémon in the service is to move them to HOME well before that date rather than waiting for the final day.
