Unlock Guide

How to unlock the many features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

How to Unlock

The following table lists the various features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with a brief explanation of how to unlock it.

Feature to UnlockHow to Unlock
Upgrade from a tent to a house Pay Tom Nook 5000 miles, and ask him to upgrade your tent to a house
Nook Miles+ Pay Tom Nook 5000 miles, and ask him to upgrade your tent to a house
DIY Talk to Tom Nook and ask for his DIY workshop.
Critterpedia App Give Tom Nook a bug or fish.
Tool Ring Unlock Nook Miles+ by paying Tom Nook 5000 miles, then use the Nook Stop in Resident Services to redeem Nook Miles to purchase this upgrade
PRO Custom Design App Purchase with Nook Miles from the Nook Stop terminal in Resident Services
Upgrade your pocket space Redeem with Nook Miles after unlocking Nook Miles+. You can add even more pocket space later on, after upgrading to the Resident Services Building.
Museum Give five creatures to Tom Nook, then build the Blathers Tent Marker that Tom Nook gives you. Then donate 15 creatures to Blathers to upgrade to the museum.
Vaulting Pole and Shovel Blathers gives you the recipes for the vaulting pole and the shovel when you first talk to him.
Nook's Cranny Upgrade your tent to a house, build Blathers's Tent, then talk to Timmy and he will talk about opening a shop. Give him 30 Hardwood, Softwood, Wood, and Iron Nuggets, and he will give you the shop construction kit. Build it where you want the shop to be, and the shop will open the next day.
Furniture/Tool Customization During one of Tom Nook's daily broadcasts, he will mention that he has a customization workshop. Talk to him and attend the workshop. He gives you free customization kits. You can use any workbench to customize things.
Custom Nook Phone Case After unlocking customization, you can use the Nook Stop Terminal to redeem Nook Miles for a customizeable phone case kit. Use a workbench to do customization, and select the customizeable phone case kit to customize your phone. You can either choose a different color for the case or create a custom design for it.
Upgrade Resident Services Tent to Resident Services Building Build the Shop, build the Museum, use Nook Miles Tickets at the airport to fly to random islands and find an animal resident that you want to move to your island. See Upgrade to the Resident Services Building for more information.
Ladder When Tom Nook gives you housing kits to build, you also get the ladder recipe. See Upgrade to the Resident Services Building for more information.
Harvey's Island/Photopia Photo Studio Harv will visit your island after you have moved three residents in, or after your third day on the island if you're not the first player to move there. Talk to him to add his island to the list of airport destinations.
Campsite After you upgrade to the Resident Services Building, go into the building and talk to Tom Nook. Ask him "what should I do?" and he will give you a kit to build the campsite.
Able Sisters Tailor Shop After you build the shop, go into Nook's Cranny and you will find Timmy and Tommy talking to Mable, who wants to open a shop. Mable will sometimes be in your town plaza, selling clothing. After you have bought enough clothing from her (which might require multiple visits from her on different days), she will give you the Tailors Construction Kit. Build it where you want the Tailor Shop to be.
K.K. Slider Concerts Move 10 residents onto your island, then talk to Isabelle to ask about island evals. Follow Isabelle's advice until she tells you that your island has a three-star rating. K.K. Slider will give a concert the next day and will come to your island every Saturday after that.
Island Designer App (terraforming) After K.K. Slider's first concert on your island, Tom Nook adds the Island Designer app to your NookPhone.