This is a summary all of the newest features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. New features such as DIY, Nook Miles, the vaulting pole, and many other things are introduced and described here, so read on to get updated!

New Features Coming to Animal Crossing New Horizons

NookPhone

You can use your NookPhone to access many apps such as Camera, DIY Recipes and Rescue Service. You get it from Tom Nook when you first arrive on the island.
List of NookPhone Apps and How to Unlock Them

DIY Crafting and Customization

DIY is short for Do It Yourself, and in New Horizons it's a new feature that allows you to create tools and furniture yourself by using materials and crafting at a workbench!
List of DIY Recipes | How to Get DIY Crafting Recipes

Change Item Color through Customization

You can also change the color of your furniture through item customization which will be available after your workshop with Tom Nook!

• How to Customize Your Furniture, Phone, and Tools
• List of Items Customizable with Custom Designs

Collect DIY Materials

On your island, you can collect the materials needed for DIY, such as branches, wood and stones. Wood can be found by cutting trees, and stone can be found from hitting rocks.

List of DIY Materials

Place Furniture Outside

With New Horizons, it has become possible to place furniture outside your house as well. Furniture that does not really fit indoors, such as bonfires, can now be placed outdoors without feeling out of place.

Sell and Craft Items with Weeds

Before New Horizons, you were unable to actually collect weeds. They were just pulled out of the ground and disappeared. However, now you can not only collect them, you can sell them too! Sell them at Leif's Garden Shop to get more Bells! Additionally, you can use them to craft certain DIY items!
How to Unlock Leif's Garden Shop

Nook Miles

The Nook Mileage Program is a system where you can get special points called Miles by completing set tasks. The Miles you collect can be exchanged for special items and recipes, so make sure to do a lot of bug catching, fishing and DIY!

• Nook Mileage Program Activities & Rewards List
• How to Get Nook Miles Fast
• What Should You Spend Nook Miles on First?
• Nook Miles+ Challenges and Rewards

Pick Flowers

In New Horizons, you can make flower garlands by collecting the flowers you've grown. You can also place picked flowers as decoration. Another newly added feature is that when you pick flowers, the stems remain, and the flower will grow back in 2 days!
List of Flowers

Cross the Water with a Vaulting Pole

You can use a vaulting pole to easily cross rivers. Until now, the only way to get across rivers was by bridges. However, the vaulting pole allows you to cross rivers wherever you want, so this new item means you don't have to worry as much about where to place your home.
How to Get the Vaulting Pole | Vaulting Pole Recipe

Climb Cliffs with a Ladder

Now, your island can be 3 levels high! When starting the game, the only way you can access cliffs is by using a Ladder. Later on, you'll be able to build slopes and stairs.
How to Build Slopes, Stairs and Inclines

Dig Up and Replant Trees

In New Horizons, you can dig up trees after eating things like apples to boost you. The trees you have dug up can be planted anywhere you want. Rearranging is going to be super easy!
How to Chop Wood and Pull Up Trees

Play on the Same Switch

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, up to 4 players can play on the same Switch at the same time. Since you can group up this way, gathering materials and such will get a lot easier!
How to Use Party Play | Playing on One Switch | Local Multiplayer

Play with 8 Players Together Online

Using online play, players can play up to 8 players together. In the previous games 4 players was the limit, so now you can have double the amount of people.
Do You Have to Pay for Online? | How to Play Online

Develop Your Island

Once you've developed your island to a certain extent, you'll be granted the Island Designer permit, allowing you to change the island even more. In the official videos, things like pathways and rivers being made and changed have been showcased.
Terraforming Guide | How to Use the Island Designer App

Northern and Southern Hemisphere

First you will be asked to choose between the Nothern and Southern Hemispere. The seasons are reversed for the Nothern and Southern Hemispheres, so this choice will probably change the gameplay quite a lot!
Which Hemisphere Should You Choose?

Find the Perfect Spot for Your Home

You can now freely choose where to place your house (or rather, tent) when you first start out on the island. This no doubt gives a lot more freedom than the 3DS games.
Best House and Tent Location | How to Move Your House

Decide Placements of Villagers' Houses

It's also possible to choose where the resident animals will live, making it even easier to create your ideal island layout!

Moving Buildings

In New Horizons, it has become possible to move buildings. This is super helpful if you placed a building in the wrong spot at first, or decide to change the layout of your island.

Rescue Service

If you get lost or stuck, you can now use your NookPhone to escape. The Rescue Service operator sounds suspiciously like Mr. Resetti!
How to Use the Rescue Service App

Storage Feature

Your house has a built in storage space. Once you've obtained an item, you can freely put it in your storage and take it back out.
Designing Your House - How to Use Storage and Decorating Mode

Use Old Custom Designs

It's possible to bring Custom Designs made in previous games to New Horizons. Why not make some new designs while waiting for New Horizons to release and import them after?
How to Create Custom Designs & Use the Custom Design Pro Editor

Chat by Using Your Smart Phone

You can use your real smart phone to chat in-game in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by connecting your user to your phone through the NookLink feature.
NookLink Features and Release Date

Swimming and Diving

You can jump into the ocean, swim, dive, catch new sea creatures, and trade with Pascal the Sea Otter!

This feature is available in the V1.3 update of the game. Learn how to update the game here.
Swimming and Diving

Free Updates!

For the first time in the game series, free updates are introduced. Seasonal events will be added to the game this way.

Update Information & How to Update

Related Guides

Pre-Release Info
Pre-Order Bonuses	Demo Information
System Requirements	ACNH Edition Switch Giveaways
Nintendo Direct	New Features
Characters
List of Villagers	List of Special Characters
List of New Characters
System Info
System Requirements	How to Delete Save Data
Update Information	How to Pre-Load
For Beginners
Unchangeable Features	Spending Nook Miles
Picking an Island Name	Best Island Layouts
Changing Hair and Face	Best Tent Location
Choosing a Hemisphere	How to Use the Camera
Game Modes
How to Play With Friends	amiibo Compatibility
Online Play	Nook Stop Explained
NookLink Features	How to Get DIY Recipes