Tool

Joystick test

Plug in a joystick, press any button on it, and this page lists every axis and every button it reports, by number, moving as you move it. It is built for the devices a controller drawing does not fit: flight sticks, HOTAS throttles, arcade sticks, racing wheels and pedals, and unbranded USB gamepads.

Read the axes and buttons

  • An axis. One direction of travel: -1 at one end, 1 at the other, 0 in the middle. A stick is two axes. A throttle, a rudder twist, a wheel or a pedal is one.
  • A button. 0 when released and 1 when pressed. An analog button shows the values between.
  • A hat switch. It can show as four buttons, or as one axis that jumps between fixed values, depending on the device and the browser.

The numbers are the device's own, in the order it reports them. Move one control at a time, and the bar that moves is that control's axis.

Find a fault

  1. Rest. Let go of everything. A centered axis should read close to 0. One that rests away from it, or flickers, is worn or needs calibrating.
  2. Full travel. Move each control end to end. It should reach -1 and 1, or 0 and 1 for a pedal, and move smoothly between.
  3. Jumps. Move slowly and watch for a value that leaps. A jump in the same place every time is a worn spot on the sensor.

If the controller does not show up

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Press a button. A browser hides every controller from a page until a button is pressed while that page is in front.
  2. Click the page, then press again. The tab has to be the active one when you press.
  3. Reconnect it. Unplug the cable and plug it back in, or turn the controller off and on so it pairs again.
  4. Check that the computer sees it. On a Mac, a connected PlayStation, Xbox or Switch controller is listed in System Settings under Game Controllers. If it is missing there, the fix is pairing: controller connected but not working on a Mac has every step.
  5. Try a second browser. Browsers read controllers in different ways, so one that is missing in one browser can show up in another.

What a browser does not do for a joystick

A browser does not send force feedback, so the motor in a wheel or a stick is not tested here. It also shows only the devices it accepts as game controllers, and browsers differ on which ones those are. On a Mac, wheels and flight sticks never appear in System Settings under Game Controllers, because macOS does not treat them as gamepads. The joystick and racing wheel tester for Mac covers that case.

It works. Now give it a job

A tester tells you the controller is fine. On a Mac, InputConfig is the app I make for the next step: it turns the buttons and sticks you just tested into keys, the mouse pointer, clicks and scrolling, in any app or game. It is free, and its Live Visualizer draws the same live picture inside the app, with the touchpad and motion sensors a browser does not pass to a page. Test it here, then put it to work there.

Questions

How do I test a joystick online?

Plug it in, open this page and press any button on the joystick. Every axis and button it reports then shows by number and moves as you move the stick.

How do I know which axis is which?

Move one control at a time and watch which numbered bar moves. A stick moves two axes, and a throttle, a twist, a wheel or a pedal moves one.

Can I test a racing wheel and pedals here?

Yes, as axes: the wheel is one axis and each pedal is another. A browser does not send force feedback, so the wheel's motor is not tested.

Related

Download InputConfig on the Mac App StoreFree. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.