Its technically easy, but there are plenty of stepsPokémon Home is a new cloud-based storage service available as an app for Android and iOS phones and tablets, as well as the Nintendo Switch. One of its most alluring features is that it allows you to keep your pokédex handy wherever you might be for a fee. Better yet, it allows you to form a unified pokédex, pulling in the pokémon youve caught in previous games so you can deploy them in, say, Pokémon Sword or Pokémon: Lets Go, Pikachu! (Pokémon Go support is still in development for the Home app.)Given that Pokémon games span so many years and various console platforms, getting all of your pokémon into Pokémon Home involves more steps the longer your journey dates back less if youve only gotten started with the recent Pokémon titles on the Switch. Heres how to go about it.Well start with the more involved process of migrating from older 3DS and DS games to Home. There are several steps involved, and while they are actually simple, there are a lot of crossed wires to untangle along the way. Image: Nintendo / Game FreakUpload your 3DS / DS collection to Pokémon BankIf you have a pokédex stored on games made for the Nintendo DS or 3DS systems, you cant jump straight to uploading on Pokémon Home. Youll first need to route your collection through Pokémon Bank, an older cloud-based service. Your first step should be to open the eShop app and download Pokémon Bank. Depending on the game from which youre trying to transfer pocket monsters, you might also need to download Poké Transporter, which is accessible from within the Bank app on 3DS. As for why certain games require a separate app, it likely comes down to newer games being built with the ability to interface directly with Pokémon Bank, while the others need the Poké Transporter to handle the data transfer for them. The technical details are less important than the fact that these apps do what they claim to: help you get your pokémon to the Bank, making them visible to Pokémon Home.Games that interface directly with Pokémon Bank: Pokémon Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Sun, Moon, X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha SapphireGames that require Poké Transporter to transfer to Bank: Virtual Console releases of Pokémon Blue, Red, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Pokémon White, Black, White 2, and Black 2. To see exactly how to get your pokémon into the Bank, take a deep breath, then look at this not-at-all-confusing flow chart made by The Pokémon Company. The boxes are color-coded to indicate which games work with Bank (orange) and Transporter (black).Image: The Pokémon CompanyAs indicated by the directional arrows in the chart, some games allow for deposits and withdrawals of pokémon, while others only support one-way transfers. Keep that in mind when youre moving things around. To transfer your pokémon, open up the 3DS apps that work with your game. If youre transferring from a physical cartridge, youll need to insert it for the app to detect the game (and the pokémon youve caught within it). Otherwise, games that you have installed on your 3DS system will automatically be detected by the apps. The steps that follow to transfer pokémon from your games to the Pokémon Bank are straightforward and you shouldnt encounter any problems.Photo by Sam Byford / The VergeIf youre feeling ambitious, Polygon put together a guide on moving pokémon from earlier DS games that arent directly supported by Bank. If you want to go even further back (Im talking Game Boy Advance), the guide also shows that its possible to modernize your old pokémon if you follow the arduous steps.Link your Pokémon Bank with Pokémon HomeOnce youre finished with the transfer, youll need to link your Pokémon Bank account on 3DS to your phone, Nintendo Switch, or whichever device you have the Home app installed on. I used the Home app on my Android phone, but this process is similar on the Switch.First off, ensure that your Nintendo Account is linked to the Home app. It asks you to do that when you first run it, but you can link it manually in the settings by tapping the menu button on the bottom of the screen. Since you need to link your account on the Switch before you can download apps from the eShop, youll already be linked if youre using the Switch app.Then select Options on the next screen if youre using the mobile app. While youre still on the Options screen, youll need to convert to being a paying customer to link your Bank to Home. The minimum is a $2.99 monthly fee to keep the service running. You dont have to keep paying once youve finished the transfer, but keeping your subscription active will give you more space to save pokémon and give you access to the other perks (seen below).After you subscribe, open Pokémon Bank on your 3DS. Tap the Move Pokémon to Pokémon Home button on the main menu.If you have the Home app installed on a phone or tablet, click Move Pokémon in the Options menu. On the Switch, click the 3DS symbol on the main screen.In the Home app, youll be presented with a Moving Key that you have to input on your 3DS to initiate the transfer.If you just wanted to have your pokémon available in the app, youre all done. But if you want to get the most out of having a unified pokédex, you should know that the mobile app and Nintendo Switch versions of the app are different in a few important ways, as detailed below.How to move pokémon between Switch gamesYou may have noticed in the image above that only the Nintendo Switch version of the Pokémon Home app lets you move your pocket monsters between games. And you better believe that Nintendo has yet another chart explaining how that currently works.Heres a quick breakdown: your pokémon from Pokémon: Lets Go, Pikachu! or Pokémon: Lets Go, Eevee! can be deposited into Pokémon Home (but not withdrawn). Once your pokémon are loaded into the Home app, others can be deposited and withdrawn to and from the latest Switch games, Pokémon Sword and Shield. If you want to explore more of what you can do with your newly unified pokédex in Pokémon Home, check out Polygons extension guide on the apps features.Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.