Questions

Can you use a Switch 2 Pro 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.

Not natively, no. macOS supports the original Switch Pro Controller and Joy-Cons from macOS 13 Ventura on, but it has no support for the Switch 2 Pro Controller or the Joy-Con 2, so they do not work as Mac game controllers. InputConfig, the free Mac app I make, reads them anyway. On a USB-C cable it sends the Pro Controller 2 the start-up commands it waits for and then reads it like any other pad, motion sensors included. Since 1.8 it can also read it over Bluetooth, once you turn on a setting. The app marks all of this as experimental, and so do I, because I built it without the controller in my hands, and the Bluetooth part is labeled not yet checked on a controller. If you want a Nintendo controller that simply works in every Mac game, the original Pro Controller is still the one I would pick.

On this page

1. Know why the Mac does not see it
2. Know the community workarounds
3. Use it with InputConfig on a cable
4. Connect it over Bluetooth
5. Use a Nintendo-style controller that works now
6. If you have Joy-Con 2
7. The short version
8. Questions

Know why the Mac does not see it

A Mac supports the controllers Apple has added to its game controller framework, and the Switch 2 pads are not on that list.

• Over USB. The Pro Controller 2 does appear as a gamepad, but it stays silent until the host sends it a sequence of start-up commands on a second, vendor-specific USB interface.
• Over Bluetooth. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy with Nintendo's own protocol rather than ordinary pairing.

The community projects below, and InputConfig, work by speaking those protocols themselves.

Know the community workarounds

I read each project's GitHub page on October 27, 2026. Two of them are aimed at making the controller an ordinary Mac game controller:

• switch2mac. GitHub, by Peterksharma: a menu bar app for the Pro Controller 2, the Joy-Con 2 (alone or as a linked pair) and the Switch 2 GameCube controller, over Bluetooth only, on macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon. Its readme says each controller shows up as a virtual gamepad that any app reading game controllers can use, through an Apple entitlement that it says Apple granted to the app. Rumble and motion are not carried by that gamepad. It calls itself a beta.
• Switch 2 Controller Helper. GitHub, by AlexmChadwick: a work in progress for the Pro Controller 2 only, over Bluetooth Low Energy, on macOS 13 or later. Its readme says the virtual gamepad mode needs either the paid Apple developer entitlement or System Integrity Protection switched off, and without it the app falls back to keyboard presses.

The older ones:

• procon2-mac. GitHub, MIT: a Swift command line tool that sends the start-up commands over USB so Steam and other apps can read the Pro Controller 2 on a cable, with HD rumble. Its wireless mode needs a DriverKit extension that you build and sign yourself with a paid Apple developer account.
• switch2bridge-macos. GitHub, MIT: a Python menu bar app that connects to the Pro Controller 2 over Bluetooth Low Energy and turns its buttons into key presses, written for the Ryujinx emulator, with a DSU server for analog sticks in Dolphin and Cemu. It asks for Accessibility permission. Pro Controller 2 only.
• connect_ns2pro_to_mac. GitHub: another Bluetooth Low Energy bridge for the Pro Controller 2.
• Switch2ProMac. GitHub: a shell script that makes a wired Pro Controller 2 show up as a Pro Controller in Steam on macOS.
• JoyCon2Mac. GitHub: a DriverKit project for the Joy-Con 2 that presents them as a virtual DualSense and a mouse. Its readme says it needs System Integrity Protection and AMFI switched off, which removes core Mac security protections, and not to treat it as a normal install yet. It is a developer project, not something to install on the Mac you rely on. A second project with the same name maps the Joy-Con 2 to key presses with nothing switched off: Joy-Con 2 on a Mac tells the two apart.

All of them are unofficial and unaffiliated with Apple or Nintendo, and I have not tested any of them. Here they are side by side, as each project describes itself:

Only a readme can tell you whether a tool makes the controller an ordinary one that every game sees, and I have not confirmed it for any of them. The switch2mac readme is the one that claims it. Check the repository an install comes from, because several of these projects share names.

Use it with InputConfig on a cable

1. Plug the Switch 2 Pro Controller into your Mac with a USB-C cable that carries data, straight into the Mac while you test.
2. Open InputConfig. Version 1.8 or later also reads the motion sensors.

• You: Wait about a second after opening the app.
• InputConfig: Sends the controller its start-up commands itself.
• Check: Player light 1 comes on, and the controller appears at the top of the sidebar as Switch 2 Pro Controller (Experimental).

Press the buttons with the Live Visualizer open, then build a preset or pick a layout for one of more than 450 games and apps in the Smart Preset Maker.

• What it reads. Nintendo's letters: every face button, both sticks, the D-pad, L, R, ZL and ZR, Minus, Plus, Home, Capture, the C button and the two back buttons, GL and GR.
• Motion and calibration. Since 1.8 it reads the gyroscope and accelerometer, so Motion rows and gyro aim work, and it takes the stick calibration stored in the controller, so the sticks center the way they do on a Switch 2.
• What it needs. It needs no driver and no extension, and it changes nothing about your Mac's security.
• After sleep. InputConfig sends the start-up commands again, so the controller comes back without a replug.
• The GameCube controller for Switch 2. It takes the same start-up commands and works the same way. GameCube controllers on a Mac covers it.

Connect it over Bluetooth

1. In InputConfig, open Settings, Devices, and turn on Connect Switch 2 Pro, GameCube and Joy-Con 2 controllers over Bluetooth.
2. Pair the controller with the Mac: hold its sync button until the lights sweep.

• You: Leave InputConfig open. The first time, macOS asks whether InputConfig can use Bluetooth. Allow it.
• InputConfig: Looks for the controller while the app runs, connects to it, and reads it like the USB-C connection, motion sensors included.
• Check: Player light 1 comes on and the controller appears at the top of the sidebar. The line under the setting says what the search is doing.

The app labels this setting Experimental: not yet checked on a controller. I had no Switch 2 controller on hand to try it with, so a cable is still the surer route. What it cannot do on a cable or over Bluetooth:

• Be a Mac game controller. macOS still does not read it, so games that read controllers through macOS do not see it.
• Analog ZL and ZR. They read as on or off.
• Rumble and NFC. InputConfig does not use either one.

I built it from the community's published start-up sequence and report layout (thanks to procon2-mac) without the controller in hand, which is why the app labels it Experimental. If a button reads wrong, open an issue on GitHub.

Use a Nintendo-style controller that works now

• The original Switch Pro Controller. Bluetooth, macOS 13 or later: pairing steps. Nintendo lists it as compatible with the Switch 2, so one pad can serve both.
• The original Joy-Cons. One at a time or as a pair: how to connect Joy-Cons to a Mac.
• 8BitDo pads. In S (Switch) mode, macOS 13 and later see an 8BitDo as a Pro Controller, with Nintendo's swapped A and B. Which mode to use.

Any of these then works in games without controller support through InputConfig, with ready layouts for more than 450 games and apps in the Smart Preset Maker.

If you have Joy-Con 2

Since 1.8, InputConfig reads the Joy-Con 2 as well, each one on its own and held sideways: over USB in the Joy-Con 2 charging grip, or over Bluetooth with the same setting as the Pro Controller 2. It is experimental too, and macOS still does not read them. Joy-Con 2 on a Mac has the steps, what each one reads, and the two community projects that connect them. If you want a Nintendo controller that games see as one, the original Joy-Cons are still the ones: how to connect Joy-Cons to a Mac.

The short version

• macOS alone. It has no support for the Switch 2 Pro Controller or the Joy-Con 2.
• On a USB-C cable. InputConfig starts the Pro Controller 2 and maps it, motion sensors included, as an experimental feature.
• Over Bluetooth. Turn on the setting in Settings, Devices and pair it from the sync button. Not yet checked on a controller.
• Something that just works. That is still the original Pro Controller over Bluetooth.

Use a data cable, and leave your Mac's security settings alone.

Questions

Related

• How to connect a Switch Pro Controller to a Mac
• Switch Pro Controller on a Mac
• Joy-Cons on a Mac
• What controllers work with a Mac
• How to connect an 8BitDo controller to a Mac
• How to use a GameCube controller on a Mac
• How to connect Joy-Cons to a Mac
• Do Joy-Con 2 work on a Mac, and which JoyCon2Mac is which?

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Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 27, 2026