Cloud Islands & multiplayer
A separate shared world, plus read-only island tours.
How Cloud Islands work
A Cloud Island is one giant map, separate from your main save, stocked with materials from every biome in the game. Your main-save items do not travel with you — you start from nothing — but your Pokédex and recipe list do. Every Pokémon can be summoned there, the Pokémon Center has its own Pokédex terminal, and the island keeps its own shop and Environment Level.
Up to four people can build together, and anything gathered — by you or your visitors — stays on the island. Requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Virtual Islands
Buy Mysterious Goggles from the shop and you can tour other islands in read-only Virtual mode — walk around, look at everything, change nothing, and no interaction with other visitors. You can flag your own island as Virtual when you create it. The Pokémon Company periodically publishes official islands to visit; codes are listed on this site's Cloud Islands section.