Tool

Xbox controller tester

Connect an Xbox controller by USB cable or Bluetooth, press any button on it, and this page lights every control under its Xbox name: A, B, X, Y, LB, RB, LT, RT, View, Menu, both stick clicks and the Xbox button. It reads Xbox Series X and S pads, Xbox One pads, and Xbox-style pads from other makers that the browser recognizes.

Check an Xbox controller in this order

  1. Connect it by USB cable, or pair it over Bluetooth. On a Mac, connecting an Xbox controller has the pairing steps.
  2. Press any button, so the browser shows the controller to this page.
  3. Press every button once and watch the checklist turn green.
  4. Let go of both sticks and press Record 5 seconds at rest, then run the circle test.
  5. Pull LT and RT slowly. Each should climb from 0 to 1 without a jump.
  6. Press Both motors, then each motor on its own.

Test on the cable first. A cable rules out a weak Bluetooth link, so anything that fails on it is the controller itself.

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.

Share, paddles and the trigger motors

  • The Share button. Buttons past the standard seventeen depend on the browser and the connection, so Share on a Series pad can show as button 17 or not at all.
  • Elite paddles. With a profile on, a paddle sends the button the profile gives it, so pressing one lights that button. With the default profile the paddles stand alone, and a browser has no standard place for them, so they may not show at all.
  • The Xbox button. On some systems it does a job of its own when pressed, and the browser may not see it.
  • Trigger motors. Xbox One and Series pads have small motors in the triggers. The Trigger motors button appears when the browser can drive them.

A control that stays dark here is not proof it is broken, so check it once outside the browser.

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 an Xbox controller on a PC or a Mac?

Connect it by USB or Bluetooth, open this page and press any button on it. Every button, stick and trigger then shows live under its Xbox name.

How do I test an Xbox controller for stick drift?

Let go of both sticks and press Record 5 seconds at rest. A healthy stick reads close to 0. The result is a number and a deadzone that would hide it.

Why does my Xbox controller not show up in the tester?

Press a button on it with this page in front, because a browser hides a controller until then. If it still does not appear, reconnect it and try a second browser.

Related

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