InputConfig: free controller mapper for Mac Turn literally anything into your Mac's input.
InputConfig is a free controller mapper for Mac. I made it so that whatever you can comfortably use can work as a full keyboard and mouse: a PS5, Xbox or Switch controller, a MIDI keyboard, a spare mouse, your trackpad, or even a knock on your MacBook's case. You decide what every button, trigger, stick, key, pad and knob does, and then you run macOS and all of your apps with the device that's already in your hands. It's open source, and I built it for accessibility first.
This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
Map any controller to keyboard and mouse
It works with the PS5 DualSense and DualSense Edge, the PS4 DualShock 4, Xbox, Switch Pro, Joy-Cons, Stadia, 8BitDo, the Steam Controller, and pretty much any MFi or HID gamepad. Plug yours in, pick a preset, and you're good to go. There are 45 presets built in and sorted into folders, so you never have to start from scratch.
Buttons become anything
Any button, trigger or stick can send a key, a click, mouse movement, scrolling, a whole typed phrase, a macro, a MIDI note, or a system function like volume, Mission Control or a Siri Shortcut.
Press anything to bind it
Click Scan, press the thing you want to use, and it's mapped. You never have to look up a key code, and it works the same way for MIDI gear and for your Mac's own keyboard and trackpad.
Turbo, macros, haptics
One control can do a lot at once. It can have a different action when you hold it or double tap it, plus chords, turbo, a rumble that confirms the press, and even a spoken phrase.
An emergency stop that always works
If a preset ever gets away from you, there is one action whose only job is to stop things. A system-wide shortcut, holding Back and Start on the controller for three seconds, or a button in the menu bar halts everything and lets go of every held key, button and note.
See everything, tune everything
Everything you see here is the real app. Nothing is staged.
A live mirror of your controller
The Live Visualizer lights up every button, stick and trigger as you press it, and it draws a full MIDI instrument for your keyboard or pad controller too. Click any control on the screen and you jump straight to its mapping.
One control, any output
Keys, clicks, mouse movement, scrolling, macros, MIDI notes and control changes, app launches and spoken phrases all work across every controller you own at the same time. You can drag rows to reorder them, and each row keeps its options right inside it.
MIDI out, and the Mac itself
One press can play a note into GarageBand, Logic or any other DAW. It can also run the Mac itself: volume, mute, media keys, brightness, Mission Control, the lock screen, dictation, zoom, any Siri Shortcut, any app and any URL. Each binding shows you exactly what it sends.
Tap your Mac
Your MacBook already has a motion sensor inside it, and InputConfig can feel you knock on the case. That means you can trigger things with no extra hardware at all, which I think is pretty cool.
Nothing to plug in
You don't need a controller, a MIDI device, or anything else connected. Just tap the palm rest or the lid with a fingertip, and the Mac's own accelerometer picks it up.
One to five taps
Taps that come close together get counted, from one to five, and a pause starts a new count. The built-in preset uses the double and the triple tap, because setting the laptop down on a desk can look like a single tap.
Typing is ignored
A keystroke shakes the case about as hard as a tap does, so any taps that land while you're typing get thrown away. You can work at the keyboard without setting it off.
Ready-made preset
Double tap for Mission Control, and triple tap to start dictation. It's built in under Feature Showcases, or you can download the Tap the Mac preset and add it with Import Preset File, in the … menu next to any preset.
Tested on M4 MacBooks. It did not work on an M1 Pro in our testing, and desktop and Intel Macs have no motion sensor. On macOS 27 the Mac App Store sandbox does not let InputConfig switch the motion sensor on, so taps are heard only while the sensor is already on. The status chip in Calibrate Taps shows whether your MacBook is listening. How Tap the Mac works.
Made for every hand
My hands don't work that well, so I built InputConfig with the PlayStation Access Controller and other adaptive hardware in mind from the very start. If a keyboard is hard for you, a controller can be your Mac. One-stick driving lets you steer, accelerate, brake and shift from a single stick. And since everything comes out as real keyboard and mouse events, it works in games and apps that were never designed for any of this.
With gyro aim, you tilt the controller to move the mouse. Pause Motion While Held lets you re-aim without dragging the cursor along, the same way you'd lift a mouse off the desk. You can tune the deadzone and response curve of each binding while you watch a live plot, and Start Dictation, Speak Selection and Zoom are outputs just like any other.
Guides for specific needs: a Mac without a mouse or keyboard, one-handed use, tremor and limited range, one to four switches, the PlayStation Access Controller, the Xbox Adaptive Controller, one-stick driving, a first controller for an older parent, and a setup guide for occupational therapists.
It's more than a controller mapper
Any key, mouse button, MIDI pad or controller button can do these jobs too, and all of it is free.
- A free auto clicker. The built-in Auto Clicker preset clicks on a timer, starts and stops with fn F6, and lets you set the gap, a click limit and a fixed spot. The auto clicker for Mac has the setup.
- An auto key presser and auto typer. Repeat a key, or type a whole sentence, from one press. The auto key presser shows how.
- Macros on any button. A list of timed steps runs from a key, a mouse side button or a pad. How to make a macro on a Mac walks through one.
- Extra mouse buttons with a job. Give the side buttons Mission Control, back and forward, or anything else. Mouse side buttons on a Mac covers it.
- MIDI gear as shortcuts. A MIDI keyboard, pad or knob becomes keys, clicks and volume. MIDI devices as input explains it.
- Free tools in your browser. Test a controller, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone or a screen, or practice music with a piano, a metronome and ear training. All the free tools are on one page.
Nothing leaves your Mac
I don't collect anything about you, and honestly, I don't want to. The app has no analytics, no tracking and no accounts. Your settings and presets just live on your Mac. The source code is public too, so you don't have to take my word for any of it. Here's the privacy policy, and it's a short one.
Questions
Which controllers work with InputConfig on Mac?
Pretty much all of them: DualSense and DualSense Edge, DualShock 4, Xbox, Switch Pro, Joy-Cons, Stadia, 8BitDo, the Steam Controller, and any MFi or HID gamepad. Your Mac's own keyboard, mouse and trackpad can be inputs too, and so can MIDI gear. You don't need any drivers.
Is InputConfig really free?
Yes, completely. It's free on the Mac App Store and open source on GitHub. There's no subscription, no account and no paid unlock. There is an optional tip jar if you want to support my work, and a tip doesn't unlock anything. That's why it's on the list of free controller mappers for Mac.
Is InputConfig safe to use?
Yes. It comes from the Mac App Store, where Apple reviews every version, and its source code is public on GitHub. The App Store version runs in Apple's sandbox with no network access, so it cannot send anything anywhere. The main permission it needs is Accessibility, which is what lets any app type keys and move the pointer for you, and you can switch it off in System Settings at any time. A controller that also acts as a keyboard needs Input Monitoring as well. If a preset ever gets in your way, the emergency stop releases every held key and hands the mouse back, from a keyboard shortcut, two controller buttons held together, or the menu bar.
Can I play games that do not support controllers?
Yes, and that's exactly what it's for. InputConfig sends real keyboard and mouse events at the system level, so anything that works with a keyboard and mouse works with your controller, in every app, with nothing extra to install.
Does it work with the PlayStation Access Controller?
Yes. I built it with adaptive hardware in mind. One-stick driving steers, accelerates, brakes and shifts from a single stick, and you can remap every control to fit the hand you have.
Which Macs does InputConfig run on?
Any Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It's optimized for Apple silicon, and it runs on Intel Macs too. It's one universal app from the Mac App Store, with no drivers or kernel extensions to install.
Is there a JoyToKey, DS4Windows, or reWASD for Mac?
Those are Windows apps. InputConfig does the same job on a Mac: controller buttons and sticks become keys, clicks and mouse movement, per app. The comparison of every Mac controller mapper covers the other options honestly.
Is InputConfig a free alternative to Joystick Mapper, Gamepad Mapper, Enjoyable and Controlly?
Yes. All four are Mac apps that turn a game controller into keyboard and mouse input, and InputConfig does that job for free, with MIDI in and out, macros, system functions, Siri Shortcuts and adaptive controllers besides. Each has a page here that sets it beside InputConfig, with the facts taken from its own pages: Joystick Mapper, Gamepad Mapper, Enjoyable and Controlly.
Who makes InputConfig?
I do. I am Ryleigh Newman, one developer, and I run my own Mac with it because my hands do not work well. It is free, and the source is public under the MIT license.
What is Tap the Mac?
Your MacBook has a motion sensor, and InputConfig can feel you knock on the case. Knock one to five times on the palm rest or the lid to fire any output, with no controller and nothing plugged in. Typing is ignored, so working at the keyboard never sets it off. It was tested on M4 MacBooks and did not work on an M1 Pro in our testing; the calibrator's status chip tells you whether yours listens.
Does anything leave my Mac?
No. I don't collect anything, and the app doesn't send anything. Your settings and presets are stored on your Mac, and there are no analytics, no tracking and no accounts. The privacy policy is one short page.
Guides, help, presets, and tools
New here? Start with using a controller as a mouse on a Mac or your first preset.
Popular: connect a controller to a Mac, map a PS5 controller to keyboard keys, map an Xbox controller, the JoyToKey equivalent for Mac, compare every Mac controller mapper, MIDI keys as keyboard shortcuts, and a gamepad tester that runs in your browser.
Asked most: the Switch 2 Pro Controller on a Mac, Joy-Con 2 on a Mac, OpenEmu not seeing a controller, checking a controller's battery, turning off or disconnecting a controller, Minecraft without a mouse, a mouse back button that does nothing, Steam Controller lizard mode, and whether your MacBook has an accelerometer.
Free testers that run in the browser: gamepad tester, stick drift test, PS5 controller tester, Xbox controller tester, keyboard tester, mouse tester, double click test, CPS test, controller vibration test, MIDI tester, virtual MIDI keyboard, virtual MIDI controller, and tap tempo.
MIDI on a Mac: the complete guide, a game controller as a MIDI instrument, a MIDI controller as a macro pad, a MIDI file viewer and player, a chord identifier, and a MIDI message decoder.
There are long guides for real situations, a help page for every feature, a page for each of the 450+ ready-made presets, and a bunch of small tools that run right in your browser.
Guides
An older parent's first controller, the PlayStation Access Controller, a Mac without a keyboard, a MIDI controller as a control surface, streaming decks, one-stick driving, and more.
Help
Every feature on its own page: scanning, the editor, MIDI in and out, gyro aim, chords, macros, the touchpad, the emergency stop, and where your data lives. Start with your first preset.
Presets
The full button map for every game, app, and workflow the Smart Preset Maker knows, plus every built-in preset as a file you can download.
Tools
A gamepad tester, a stick drift test, and keyboard and mouse testers that read your real devices, a stream overlay, a controller map, a key code finder, and a MIDI CC reference.
Made by one person who needed it
I am Ryleigh Newman. My hands don't work that well, which makes a keyboard and mouse difficult, so I depend on other devices to control my Mac. The mapping tools out there were expensive, missing things, or not built for the people using them. So I made the one I wanted. Why I built it.