Gamepad / Controller Tester

Getting the controller to appear

1. 1

   Connect it by cable or pair it over Bluetooth, as you normally would.

2. 2

   Press any button on the controller. Browsers deliberately hide controllers until you do, so a page cannot quietly identify your hardware.

3. 3

   Press Start here, then work through the buttons, the triggers and both sticks.

4. 4

   Watch the numbers, not just the lights. A trigger should sweep smoothly from 0.00 to 1.00, and a stick should return to about 0.00 when you let go.

What the readings mean

A stick that does not settle near zero when released is drifting, which is the most common controller fault and the reason a character wanders on its own. A trigger that jumps straight from 0.00 to 1.00 is being reported as a plain button rather than an analog one, which some controllers and adapters do.

Where the browser reports the standard layout, the buttons are named. Where it does not, they are shown by number instead: that is honest rather than helpful, because guessing a layout from an unknown controller would put the wrong name on the wrong button. The identifier the browser gives for your controller is shown above the map.

What this page cannot do

It cannot see a controller the browser has not been told about, which is why the button press matters. It cannot measure latency, polling rate or stick precision. It does not vibrate the controller: rumble is an output, not a test of your inputs, and support for it varies too much to mean anything. And a controller that works here but not in a game usually points at the game or a driver, not at the hardware.

For the other input devices, see the Mouse Tester and the Keyboard Tester.