Questions

Why a controller needs Input Monitoring on a Mac

Because that controller is also a keyboard. Some arcade sticks, leverless controllers, macro pads and adapters present a small keyboard or keypad to the Mac beside the gamepad, and macOS puts anything that can type behind the Input Monitoring permission. An app that wants to read such a device directly needs that switch, even for the gamepad half.

Ordinary PlayStation, Xbox and Switch controllers are not affected: macOS reads those through its own controller support, with no permission at all. InputConfig, the free mapper I make, never asks for Input Monitoring. It tells you when a controller needs it and leaves the choice to you.

Check whether your controller is one of them

These are the controllers that carry a keyboard:

• Arcade sticks and leverless controllers. Some firmware adds a keyboard, often for menu buttons or a keyboard mode.
• Macro pads and button boxes. They send keys and also report buttons.
• Other controllers and adapters. Any device that reports a keyboard or keypad alongside its buttons.
• The 2026 Steam Controller (experimental). Over Bluetooth, macOS can present it together with its lizard-mode keyboard. The Steam Controller page covers that case.

macOS also marks some devices as needing authorization on its own. Either way the rule is the same: no Input Monitoring, no direct reading.

Confirm this is the problem

The sign is a controller that is plugged in, may even type, and never appears at the top of InputConfig's sidebar.

• You: Open InputConfig, Devices in the menu bar.
• InputConfig: Lists a controller held back by this permission as its name followed by (needs Input Monitoring).
• Check: If you see that mark, the next section is your fix.

With Show the activity log turned on in Settings, Advanced, the log at the bottom of the main window also says the device acts as a keyboard, so macOS lets InputConfig read it only with Input Monitoring.

If the Devices menu shows the controller grayed out with a different reason, such as an Xbox 360 style pad, Input Monitoring will not help. Xbox 360 controllers on a Mac explains that one. The Devices menu names the reason, so read it before changing any setting.

Turn on Input Monitoring for InputConfig

Step 1: Open the setting

• You: In InputConfig, open Devices in the InputConfig menu and click the controller marked (needs Input Monitoring).
• macOS: Opens System Settings at Privacy & Security, Input Monitoring.
• Check: You are on the Input Monitoring list. You can also go there yourself.

System Settings: The pane to open by hand.

System Settings, Privacy & Security, Input Monitoring

What happens: You see every app that may read input devices, each with a switch.

Step 2: Turn on the switch

• You: Turn on the switch next to InputConfig. If InputConfig is not in the list, click the add button under the list and choose InputConfig from Applications.
• macOS: Lets InputConfig open controllers that carry a keyboard.
• Check: The switch next to InputConfig is on.

Step 3: Switch back

• You: Switch back to InputConfig.
• InputConfig: Checks again each time it comes to the front and starts reading the controller, with no need to unplug it.
• Check: The controller now appears at the top of the sidebar.

One switch, then bring InputConfig to the front, and the controller is read.

InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

If it still does not appear

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. Bring InputConfig to the front. It checks the permission again each time it does.
2. Quit and reopen InputConfig. That reads the permission fresh.
3. Read the Devices menu again. If the mark has gone but the entry is grayed out with another reason, the controller has a different problem, such as a protocol macOS cannot read. The arcade stick page has the modes by maker.

You never need to unplug the controller for the permission to take effect.

Know what you are allowing

Input Monitoring lets an app read input from your keyboard and other input devices while you use other apps. That is a real permission, so give it only to apps you trust.

• What changes. macOS lets InputConfig open the controllers that carry a keyboard. Nothing else moves.
• What stays the same. Your Mac's own keyboard is still read the way it was, through the Accessibility permission and only while a preset or Scan uses it. That reading is listen-only, so a bound key still types as normal, and keys from every keyboard count as the same key.
• What you can check. The Mac App Store build is sandboxed with no permission to use the network, and the source is on GitHub.
• How to undo it. Turn the switch off later and the controller simply stops being read directly. Nothing else in the app changes.

The permission adds one thing, reading keyboard-type controllers, and you can take it back at any time.

If you would rather not allow it

There are three ways around it, from least effort to most:

1. Use its keys as they are. If the stick types keys, those keys still reach presets as Keyboard Key inputs through Accessibility, so a row can add an action to them. They also keep typing their own key, since InputConfig listens to keys rather than replacing them.
2. Change the controller's mode. Many sticks have a PC, DirectInput or Switch mode without the keyboard part. The arcade stick page has the modes by maker.
3. Use the game's own controls. A game or emulator that reads the device itself does not need InputConfig at all.

Switching the stick to a mode without a keyboard avoids the question entirely.

Other apps that ask for it

Input Monitoring comes up with controllers for other reasons too:

• Steam. It asks for it before Steam Input can see a pad on recent macOS. See controller works on a Mac but not in Steam.
• OpenEmu. It needs it for the keyboard. See OpenEmu controller not working.

Those are their own requirements. How Input Monitoring differs from Accessibility, and how to judge any app that asks for either, is on the Accessibility permission on a Mac. Each app asks for its own reasons, so allow it app by app.

The short version

• Why. The controller also reports a keyboard, and macOS guards anything that can type.
• How to tell. InputConfig, Devices shows the controller with (needs Input Monitoring).
• The fix. Click that entry, turn on InputConfig in Input Monitoring, and switch back.
• The alternative. Put the stick in a mode without a keyboard, or use its keys as they are.

Ordinary game controllers never need this permission; only the ones that can type do.

Questions

Related

• The Accessibility permission on a Mac: what it allows and when to grant it
• Arcade sticks, fight sticks and leverless controllers on a Mac
• Connecting a controller to InputConfig
• Keyboard, mouse, and trackpad as input
• Controller connected but not detected
• Steam Controller on a Mac
• How to connect a wired controller to a Mac

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.