How to turn off or disconnect a controller on a Mac
InputConfig is completely 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.
Hold the PS button for about ten seconds, or the Xbox button for about six, until the lights go out. That turns the controller off, and the Mac sees it disconnect. To drop it from the Mac without turning it off, click its name in the Bluetooth list in Control Center, or, in InputConfig, click the controller at the top of the sidebar and choose Disconnect. To move it back to a PS5, plug it into the console with a USB cable and press PS.
On this page
- Turn it off from the controller
- Let InputConfig disconnect it when it sits unused
- Disconnect it but keep the pairing
- Disconnect it from InputConfig
- Remove it from the Mac for good
- Move it back to the PS5, PS4, Xbox or Switch
- If the wrong device keeps taking it
- Turn the light off, not the controller
- What InputConfig does when a controller goes off
- The short version
- Questions
Turn it off from the controller
| Controller | Hold | It is off when |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 DualSense or DualSense Edge | PS button, about 10 seconds | the light bar and player lights go out |
| PS4 DualShock 4 | PS button, about 10 seconds | the light bar goes out |
| Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Elite Series 2 | Xbox button, about 6 seconds | the Xbox button light goes out |
- On a cable. Unplugging it is enough.
- Anything else. For a Switch Pro Controller, an 8BitDo or another pad, the power-off method is in its manual, and disconnecting it on the Mac, below, ends the connection for every Bluetooth controller.
With no PS5 in the house, turning off a PS5 controller without the console covers the controller on its own.
Let InputConfig disconnect it when it sits unused
On a PS5 the controller goes to sleep after a set time because the console tells it to. That timer lives in the PS5's Power Saving settings. macOS sends no such instruction, and I have not found a controller sleep timer anywhere in System Settings. Since 1.8, InputConfig has one. In Settings, Devices, Wireless controllers, turn on Disconnect a wireless controller after it sits unused and pick 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
- What counts as unused. No button, no stick or trigger moved past a third of its travel, and nothing on the D-pad. Motion does not count, so a pad lying on a table still goes.
- While a preset runs. The controller stays connected unless you also turn on Also while a preset is running.
- On a cable. A wired controller is never disconnected.
- Coming back. Press its PS, Xbox or Home button to connect it again.
Turn that setting on, or turn the controller off when you finish.
Disconnect it but keep the pairing
- You: Open Control Center in the menu bar, open the Bluetooth list, and click the controller's name.
- macOS: Disconnects it but keeps it paired.
- Check: Later, one press of the PS or Xbox button brings it back to the Mac with no pairing steps.
Use this when you want the controller off the Mac for now and back on it tomorrow. It works for every Bluetooth controller, including a Switch Pro Controller, Joy-Cons and an 8BitDo, whatever the power-off method in its manual.
Disconnect it from InputConfig
If InputConfig is open, you do not need Control Center. Click the controller's entry at the top of the sidebar, the one with its name, and choose Disconnect in the popover, or right-click the entry and choose Disconnect. What happens depends on how it is connected:
- Bluetooth. The controller drops its connection and stays paired, the same as from Control Center.
- A cable, for a controller macOS reads. An app cannot cut a wired connection, so InputConfig says the controller is connected by cable and to unplug it.
- A cable, for a pad InputConfig reads itself. A generic USB pad, or the GameCube adapter or Switch 2 Pro Controller, both experimental: InputConfig stops reading it until it is plugged in again or clicked under InputConfig, Devices.
The first time, macOS may ask whether InputConfig can use Bluetooth. If you said no, allow it in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Bluetooth. If macOS refuses, the popover says so and suggests turning the controller off or disconnecting it in System Settings, Bluetooth. Disconnect only ends the connection. To remove the pairing, use Forget This Device, below.
Remove it from the Mac for good
Open System Settings, Bluetooth, click the info button next to the controller, and choose Forget This Device. Do this when you are giving the controller away, when it has stopped connecting properly, or when the Mac keeps taking it.
To use it on the Mac again, put it back in pairing mode: PS and Create on a DualSense, PS and Share on a DualShock 4, the pairing button on the top edge of an Xbox controller. The connect page has the steps for every pad.
Move it back to the PS5, PS4, Xbox or Switch
- PS5. Plug the DualSense into the PS5 with a USB cable and press the PS button. Unplug it and it stays paired to the console.
- PS4. The same with the DualShock 4: USB cable into the PS4, press PS.
- Xbox. Press the pair button on the console, then hold the pair button on the controller until the Xbox button flashes fast. Or plug it into the Xbox with a USB cable.
- Switch. On the Switch, open Controllers, then Change Grip/Order, and press the Sync button on the Pro Controller.
A controller goes back to the last device it paired with, so after this, getting it onto the Mac again means pairing mode again. If you swap every day, a USB cable on the Mac side saves re-pairing each time. Sony has since given the DualSense four pairing slots, so it can stay paired with the Mac and other devices at once: a PS5 controller on multiple devices has the buttons. Xbox Support describes a quicker way: double press the Pair button to go to the console, and hold it to come back to the Mac. How to turn off an Xbox controller on a Mac has the steps.
If the wrong device keeps taking it
Pressing PS wakes the controller and it looks for the last device it paired with.
- It goes to the Mac, and you wanted the PS5. Re-pair it to the console with the cable as above.
- A PS5 in rest mode keeps pulling it away from the Mac. The PS5 controller keeps disconnecting page covers it.
Turn the light off, not the controller
macOS has no setting for the light bar on a DualSense or DualShock 4, but InputConfig does: click the controller at the top of its sidebar and set Light Bar brightness to Off, or let a preset carry its own light setting. The light bar page has the details.
- Player lights. The small lights under the touchpad belong to macOS and stay on.
- Xbox. Xbox controllers have no light bar. The Xbox button stays lit while the controller is on, and InputConfig cannot change it.
What InputConfig does when a controller goes off
Nothing gets stuck. If you turn a controller off while one of its buttons is holding a key, a mouse button or a MIDI note, InputConfig lets go of all of them as soon as the controller drops. The preset keeps running, so when you turn the controller back on it picks up again. 1.6 fixed controllers that the app lost after a Bluetooth reconnect or a sleep. Since 1.8, Try to reconnect paired controllers when InputConfig opens, when the Mac wakes and when a preset starts, in Settings, Devices, asks paired controllers to come back at those moments. Only a controller that is switched on and waiting can be reached, and most wake only from their own button.
- Battery. The level of each connected controller shows in the app's sidebar and in the menu bar icon's controller list, the easy way to know it needs charging before it dies mid-game.
- The activity log. With Show the activity log switched on in Settings, Advanced, every connect and disconnect is listed, which settles whether a controller really dropped or a game stopped listening.
The short version
- Off. Hold PS about ten seconds, or Xbox about six.
- Off the Mac, still paired. Click it in Control Center's Bluetooth list, or Disconnect in InputConfig's sidebar.
- Gone for good. Choose Forget This Device in System Settings, Bluetooth.
macOS never puts a controller to sleep, so turn it off yourself or let InputConfig disconnect it when it sits unused.
Questions
How do I turn off a PS5 controller connected to my Mac?
Hold the PS button for about ten seconds, until the light bar goes out. Clicking its name in Control Center's Bluetooth list disconnects it instead, without forgetting the pairing.
How do I turn off an Xbox controller connected to my Mac?
Hold the Xbox button for about six seconds, until its light goes out.
Does a PS5 controller turn off by itself on a Mac?
Not by macOS. The idle timer that switches a DualSense off is a PS5 setting, and the Mac has no equivalent. InputConfig 1.8 can disconnect a wireless controller after it sits unused for 5 to 60 minutes: turn it on in Settings, Devices, Wireless controllers.
What is the difference between Disconnect and Forget?
Disconnect ends the connection and keeps the pairing, so one button press reconnects it. It is in Control Center's Bluetooth list and, in InputConfig, on the controller's entry in the sidebar. Forget This Device, in System Settings, Bluetooth, removes the pairing, and the controller has to go through pairing mode again.
How do I connect my PS5 controller back to my PS5 after using it on a Mac?
Plug it into the PS5 with a USB cable and press the PS button. After that it works wirelessly on the console again. To go back to the Mac, pair it with PS and Create.
Can I charge my PS5 controller from my MacBook?
Yes. Plug it into a USB-C port on the Mac and it charges, and works as a wired controller while it does. A DualShock 4 does the same on a micro-USB cable.
How do I disconnect a controller from my Mac without turning it off?
Click its name in the Bluetooth list in Control Center, or click it at the top of InputConfig's sidebar and choose Disconnect. It stays paired, so one press of its home button reconnects it.
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