How to play Pokémon Bank on Mac

Game summary

Pokémon Bank is an application and service that will allow you to deposit, store, and manage your Pokémon in private Boxes on the internet. Pokémon Bank is a paid service, with an annual charge for usage. Pokémon Bank is a powerful resource for players who like to obtain many different kinds of Pokémon, or for those who like to raise many Pokémon in preparation for battles and competitions. The application has a variety of search functions so you can find the Pokémon you’re after among all the Pokémon you’ve deposited. Pokémon Bank now works with Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, making it easy to transfer Pokémon from among copies of Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Sun, and Pokémon Moon—including the downloadable versions—to a single game. You can also transfer Pokémon you’ve caught in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console versions of Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver, Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow into your copy of Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Sun, or Pokémon Moon. Pokémon from Pokémon Omega Ruby, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon X, and Pokémon Y can also be brought into Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Sun, and Pokémon Moon in the same way. When you download Pokémon Bank, you can also download the free linked application Poké Transporter. When you insert a Pokémon Omega Ruby, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon X, or Pokémon Y Game Card into a Nintendo 3DS system, you can use Poké Transporter to transfer Pokémon from these games into their own online Boxes. Then you can easily transfer those Pokémon into Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Sun, and Pokémon Moon using Pokémon Bank.
First released: Dec 2013

Play Pokémon Bank on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Pokémon Bank on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Pokémon Bank installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Pokémon Bank like you would on any PC.
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