Switch online requires Phone App? Why is no one talking about this?

[binary solo]

superchunk said:
It doesn't "require" the phone app. Its an added feature if you want to control a friends list or voice chat, etc. If you just jump on to play a game, then you just do that without the phone app. I'm not even sure how you pulled that it is required out of any of the information that has come out so far.

Or to put it another way, it is mandatory to have a smartphone app if you want to "...voice chat, ...do matchmaking, and create [a] lobby."  None of these common features of online gaming should require a second device. All of those functions should be contained within the Switch, so that Switch is a full featured gaming device able to operate independantly of anything other than a network connection.

Now one logical thing would be if you are using your smartphone as a wi fi hotspot, because you have a wi fi only Switch, then clearly you need the smartphone, so having a companion app to be able to manage certain things with the app, if you want to, when connected to a network through your phone, is a nice, completely optional even when connected through a phone, extra. But that is not how Reggie's answer reads.