Questions

How to stream PC games to a Mac with a controller

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.

Yes, you can play a Windows-only game on a Mac with a controller by streaming it from your own PC, with Steam Link, Moonlight or Parsec. The game runs on the PC, the Mac shows the video, and the controller you pair with the Mac is passed to the game. When a stream does not pass your controller, InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store, turns it into the keys and mouse movement the stream always carries.

On this page: 9 sections

1. Steps
2. Pick the app for your PC
3. Set up Steam Link on the Mac
4. Set up Moonlight and Sunshine
5. Set up Parsec
6. If the game ignores the controller over the stream
7. What it cannot do
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Pair the controller with the Mac over Bluetooth or a cable.
2. Install the streaming app on the PC and on the Mac.
3. Connect the Mac to the PC over Ethernet or 5 GHz Wi-Fi on the same network.
4. Start the game from the Mac and press a button on the controller.
5. If the game ignores the controller, activate the game's layout in InputConfig and turn the stream's controller passing off.

Pick the app for your PC

All three are free to start with and all three send a Mac's controller to the PC. Climb this ladder, smallest setup first:

1. Steam Link. Valve's app, for games in your Steam library on a computer running Steam. It needs the least setup.
2. Moonlight with Sunshine. For any game on the PC, Steam or not. Sunshine runs on the PC and Moonlight runs on the Mac.
3. Parsec. For the whole PC desktop, including launchers and games outside any store, and it also works away from home.

If the game is in your Steam library, start with Steam Link.

Set up Steam Link on the Mac

Steam Link is a free app from Valve on the Mac App Store. Its listing asks for macOS 10.13 or later and a Mac on the same local network as the computer running Steam, which can be Windows, a Mac or Linux. Valve says it works best over 5 GHz Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

• You: Pair the controller with the Mac, open Steam Link, and pick the PC.
• macOS: Hands the controller to Steam Link, which passes it to Steam on the PC.
• Check: Steam's Big Picture menus move when you press the D-pad. Valve's listing names MFi controllers and the Steam Controller, so a pad Steam Link does not take is the case for the ladder further down.

Set up Moonlight and Sunshine

Sunshine is the host that runs on the PC, and its documentation says it works with any Moonlight client, macOS included. On the Mac you run Moonlight and pick the PC.

• Allow the controller on the PC. Sunshine has a setting called controller, which decides whether controller input from the Mac is allowed at all. It has to be on.
• Leave the emulated pad on auto. Sunshine's gamepad setting picks which controller the PC sees, and its default chooses from what the Mac's controller can do.

When Moonlight shows the game but the pad does nothing, check Sunshine's controller setting first.

Set up Parsec

Parsec sends the Mac's controller to the PC as a virtual USB device, and its own help says a controller should generally work without setup.

• You: On the Mac, open Parsec's Settings, Gamepad, and pick your controller.
• Parsec: Shows the controller's state as you press buttons.
• Check: Connect to the PC and press a face button. Parsec's help says the PC plays a USB plug-in sound when the controller is added.

If buttons are mapped wrong, Parsec's help says to fix them in Settings, Gamepad on the Mac first, then in the game on the PC. A Switch Pro Controller connected while Parsec is already running can have odd sticks, and Parsec's fix is to restart Parsec.

If the game ignores the controller over the stream

A stream can lose the controller on either end: the Mac app may not take it, or the PC game may not read the pad the host pretends to be. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. Check that the Mac sees the controller. Open the gamepad tester and press a button. If nothing lights up, fix the connection first.
2. Check the streaming app sees it. Steam Link's menus, Sunshine's controller setting, or Parsec's Settings, Gamepad.
3. Check the game's own controller setting on the PC. Some games need their controller option switched on, and a Steam game also has a Steam Input override in its Properties.
4. Send keys instead. Turn the stream's controller passing off, then activate the game's layout in InputConfig on the Mac. The pad becomes keys and mouse movement, which every one of these apps carries to the PC. The keyboard route works even when the stream never sees the controller.

Use one route at a time. If the stream passes the pad and a layout is active too, the game gets every press twice.

What it cannot do

• It needs the PC to be on. The game runs there, so the PC has to be awake and logged in.
• It adds delay. Every stream adds some, more over Wi-Fi than over a cable, and that is the trade for playing a Windows game on a Mac.
• I have not tested every pad. What each app accepts comes from its own listing and help pages, not from tests of mine on every controller.

The short version

• Steam game. Use Steam Link, pair the pad with the Mac, and press a button.
• Any game. Use Moonlight with Sunshine, and make sure Sunshine allows controller input.
• The whole PC. Use Parsec, and test the pad in Settings, Gamepad first.

If the pad never reaches the game, send keys from the Mac with the game's layout, and one route always works.

Questions

Related

• Mac game controller finder
• Using a controller with GeForce NOW on a Mac
• Xbox Cloud Gaming on a Mac with a controller
• Controller works in Steam but not in the game on a Mac
• Play any Mac game with a 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 9, 2026