Gamepad & Controller Tester

How to test a controller

1. Connect the controller to this computer or phone with a USB cable, or pair it over Bluetooth in the system settings.
2. Press any button. The browser then shows the controller and every input goes live.
3. Press each button once. It turns green when pressed and stays marked, so you can see which ones never responded.
4. Squeeze each trigger slowly. The bar should rise smoothly from 0% to 100%. A bar that jumps, stops short, or never reaches 100% points to a worn trigger sensor.
5. Move each stick in slow full circles, then let go. The trail should be a smooth, round circle, and the dot should return to the center.
6. Press Test vibration to check both rumble motors, where the browser supports it.

Checking for stick drift

Stick drift is when a game moves your character or camera while you aren't touching the stick. It happens when the stick's sensors wear or get dirty and no longer read zero at rest.

Let go of both sticks and look at the At rest reading, which shows how far from the center each stick sits when you aren't touching it. As a rough guide:

• Under 0.05: normal. Games ignore this much with their built-in dead zone.
• 0.05 to 0.15: mild drift. Usually fine in games, but worth watching. Increasing the dead zone in the game's settings hides it.
• Over 0.15: drift most games will notice. Cleaning around the stick base sometimes helps; otherwise the stick module needs replacing or the controller needs a warranty claim.

Flick each stick and let it snap back several times. If the rest reading changes a lot each time, the spring or sensor is worn.

Which controllers work?

Most do: Xbox Wireless and Xbox 360 controllers, PlayStation DualShock 4 and DualSense, Nintendo Switch Pro, 8BitDo and most generic USB pads. Chrome and Edge give the most complete support. When the browser recognizes the layout it reports a "standard" mapping and we label every button by name. Otherwise buttons show as numbers, which is still fine for checking that each one responds.

Vibration works with Xbox and PlayStation controllers in Chrome and Edge. Safari and Firefox read buttons and sticks but may not start the rumble motors, so a silent vibration test there doesn't mean the motors are broken.

Buying a used controller?

Ask the seller to connect it to a laptop and open this page, or test it yourself before paying. Drift, a sticky bumper and a weak rumble motor are the most common faults on second-hand controllers and are easy to miss in a quick game.