Questions
Controller connected but not detected
Most controllers are picked up within a few seconds of connecting. A few are not: a pad that presents itself in an unusual way, a clone whose vendor ID makes macOS claim it without doing anything, or a device that is not a gamepad at all. For those, InputConfig 1.5 lists everything the Mac can see and lets you connect it by hand.
The Devices menu
Open InputConfig ▸ Devices in the menu bar. It lists every Bluetooth and USB device on the Mac, plus MIDI sources, with a tick on the ones the app is reading. Tick the controller. The app opens it directly, skips the rule that leaves it to macOS, and remembers it by make and model so it reconnects on its own next time. The same list is in the editor's device menu on each input device, so the controller can be connected and assigned to a slot in one click.
When the layout is unknown
If the device has no hand-coded profile and its HID descriptor gives nothing usable, it is still connected and read raw: every bit of its report becomes a button, so pressing Scan and then a control on the device finds whichever bit it flips. That is enough to map a foot pedal, a presenter remote, or an odd arcade stick.
What is deliberately not offered
Keyboards, mice, and media remotes are listed but greyed out, because they already reach presets through the keyboard and mouse input types, and opening them directly would need a permission the App Store build does not ask for. Bluetooth headsets appear as headset buttons for the same reason.
Questions
Will it fight the Mac's own controller support?
If macOS is already reading the pad properly, leave it; connecting it by hand as well gives you two copies of every input. Use the Devices menu for pads the framework claimed but never delivered.
Does the connection survive a restart?
Yes. The vendor and product pair is remembered, and the device is reopened whenever it appears.
Related
