App

Arc from a game controller

The Arc layout is built into InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.

On a Mac: Arc keeps the common Mac browser shortcuts this layout sends. Its sidebar tabs and Spaces have keys of their own, listed in Arc's Help menu.

Yes, Arc works from a game controller on a Mac with a browser layout: pointer on the left stick, scroll on the right, back, forward, reload and new tab on the face buttons. Arc kept the common Mac browser shortcuts, so nearly every row works as shipped. What Arc changes is where the tabs live, and that is the one thing to check.

The layout, control by control

How the layout thinks

• Point and click. The left stick moves the pointer, the right trigger clicks and the left trigger right-clicks. The right stick scrolls.
• Move through pages. Back (Command Left Arrow) on the bottom face button, Forward on the right, Reload on the left.
• Open and close. New Tab (Command T) on the top face button opens Arc's command bar for a search or an address. Close tab on the left bumper, the address bar (Command L) on the right, Escape on Start.
• Switch tabs. D-pad left and right send Command Option and an arrow for the previous and next tab.

If the D-pad does not move through the sidebar

Arc's tab list runs top to bottom, so left and right on the D-pad can feel sideways. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. Try the rows as shipped. Press D-pad right with a few tabs open and watch the sidebar.
2. Look up Arc's keys. If nothing moves in your version, open Arc's keyboard shortcut list in its Help menu and put its next and previous tab keys on those two rows.
3. Move them to up and down. Scan D-pad up and down onto those rows instead, so the direction matches the sidebar.

Match the D-pad to the sidebar and Arc feels like it was built for a controller.

Tune it

• Spaces. Arc switches Spaces with keys from the same list. Put them behind a chord on the D-pad.
• Speak a search. New Tab opens the command bar, and a Start Dictation row lets you say the search instead of typing it.
• Small targets. The sidebar's rows are narrow. The Pointer speed slider on the preset's page slows every pointer row at once.

A slower pointer is the change I would make first in Arc.

Get it in two clicks

1. Get InputConfig free on the Mac App Store, open it, and click Smart Preset Maker on the welcome screen.
2. Search for Arc and pick it. The layout is created as a preset in your sidebar, named and ready.
3. Press Activate. Every row can be changed afterwards: the editor's Scan button rebinds any control the moment you touch it.

Every binding, as a table

Button names follow the Xbox / PlayStation pair shown in the editor, so A / Cross is the bottom face button on either pad. On a Switch Pro Controller the bottom button is labeled B; the mapping still fires on position.

Questions

Related

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• Safari from a game controller
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• Browse the web from a game controller
• A Mac on the TV, run from the couch with a controller
• Brave from a game controller
• Vivaldi from a game controller

Completely free. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon. Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 16, 2026