How the gamepad tester works
Connect your controller with a cable or Bluetooth, then press any button. Browsers keep controllers hidden from a page until you press something, so nothing shows up before that first press. From then on the tester reads the controller dozens of times a second through your browser's Gamepad API and shows every button, both triggers and both sticks live.
- Buttons turn dark while held and keep a copper line once tested, so a button that never lights up stands out.
- Triggers are analog: the bar and the percentage should rise smoothly from 0 to 100% as you squeeze. A jump straight to 100% or a trigger that never reaches it points to a worn sensor.
- Sticks show as a dot in a circle, with X and Y from −1.00 to +1.00. Push each stick round its edge: the dot should follow without jumps and reach the rim on every side.
Several controllers at once? Each one appears with a number; pick the one to show. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is saved.
Checking for stick drift
Stick drift is when a stick reports movement while nobody is touching it, so your view or character creeps on its own. Put the controller on a table, let go of both sticks and press Check stick drift. For three seconds the tester records how far each stick strays from centre and shows the largest reading.
- Below 0.05: a normal resting offset. No stick sits at exactly zero.
- 0.05 to 0.15: a slight offset. Games ignore a small zone around the centre (the dead zone), so this usually never shows up as input.
- Above 0.15: possible drift, especially if the reading keeps changing or you notice movement in games.
These thresholds are a rough guide, not a standard, and the readings are approximate. The dashed ring inside each stick circle marks 0.15, so you can watch a resting dot against it. If a stick drifts, many games let you raise the dead zone in their controller settings; a cleaning or a repair may fix it for good.
Button names: Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo
Browsers use one standard layout for all controllers: the bottom face button is always button 0, the left bumper is 4, the right trigger is 7, and so on. The tester picks labels from the name your controller reports, and you can switch them with the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo buttons:
- Face buttons: A, B, X, Y on Xbox; ✕, ○, □, △ on PlayStation; B, A, Y, X on Nintendo, whose layout swaps the letters.
- Shoulders: LB and RB with LT and RT triggers; L1 and R1 with L2 and R2; L and R with ZL and ZR.
- Middle: View and Menu; Share or Create and Options; minus and plus. The home button (Xbox, PS, Home) is the last standard button, and some browsers keep it for themselves.
A controller the browser doesn't recognise shows Custom under Mapping, and its buttons may come in a different order. Extra buttons, like a touchpad click, show up with their number.
Vibration, Safari and phones
The vibration test runs both motors for under a second. It works in Chrome and Edge with most Xbox and PlayStation controllers; other browsers may not support it yet, and the tester says so. Safari on Mac, iPhone and iPad reads Xbox, PlayStation and other supported controllers once they are paired in Bluetooth settings. On any phone, connect the controller first, then open this page and press a button.
Questions
Why doesn't my controller show up?
Press a button: browsers only show a controller after a press on this page. If it still doesn't appear, check that it's connected in your system settings, try another cable or USB port, and close apps like Steam that may take it over.
How do I test for stick drift?
Let go of both sticks and run the stick drift check. A reading under about 0.05 is normal; well above 0.15, or a dot that wanders on its own, suggests drift.
Does this work with PS5 and Xbox controllers?
Yes. DualSense, DualShock 4 and Xbox controllers work in current browsers over USB or Bluetooth, and most other controllers that your computer recognises do too.
Why do my triggers show as buttons?
On a controller the browser maps to its standard layout, triggers are buttons 6 and 7 with an analog value. The value under each button shows how far it's pressed.
Also playing on mouse and keyboard? The keyboard test and the reaction time test are a quick check, and the mouse finder sorts gaming mice by weight, shape and connection.