DeviceCheck Pro

Controller test (gamepad tester)

Plug in or pair your controller and press any button. Every button, trigger and stick shows live, with a drift meter for worn thumbsticks and a rumble check.

Gamepad
IdleTestingPassFault

Waiting for a controller. Connect it, then press a face button such as A or ✕. Browsers keep controllers hidden from a page until you press something.

Explainer

Stick drift vs deadzone: why games ignore the centre

A thumbstick reports its position as two numbers from −1 to 1. At rest they should read 0, 0, but real sticks never settle exactly there. Wear in the potentiometer, dust, or a weak centring spring leaves a small offset: drift. The game sees that offset as you gently pushing the stick, so your character creeps or the camera slowly turns.

Games hide this with a deadzone: any reading closer to the centre than a threshold counts as zero. Too small and drift leaks through; too large and small, precise movements are swallowed. Set the drift, then find the smallest deadzone that stops the creep.

centre zoomed 3×

The game still receives 4.0% input with your thumb off the stick: it drifts.

Stick drift: what to try before replacing

  1. Rotate each stick firmly around its edge ten times, then re-check the resting offset. Dust often shifts out.
  2. Update the controller’s firmware (Xbox Accessories app on Windows, or through the PlayStation console).
  3. Recalibrate: Windows “Set up USB game controllers” → Properties → Calibrate works for many controllers.
  4. Raise the in-game deadzone to the suggested value above. It hides drift at the cost of a little precision near the centre.
  5. If the offset keeps growing, the potentiometer is wearing out. Controllers with Hall-effect sticks don’t use contact tracks and are far less prone to this.

Buying a used controller? Check that every button turns green, both sticks rest under 0.05, triggers reach 1.00, and rumble works. Then check the reaction time test for fun.

Still not working? Describe it

An AI assistant suggests likely causes and fixes, cheapest first. It sees only what you type. Answers can be wrong; check your device maker’s support pages before opening anything up.

Questions

How do I test my controller online?

Connect the controller by USB or Bluetooth, then press any button. Browsers only reveal a gamepad after a button press, for privacy. Every button, trigger and stick then shows live values here.

My controller isn’t detected.

Press a button after the page has loaded; moving a stick alone may not count. Close Steam if it is running Steam Input for that controller, since it can hide or remap it. PlayStation controllers over Bluetooth work in Chrome and Edge; Safari and Firefox support varies by controller and OS. Some browsers only expose gamepads to secure (HTTPS) pages, which this site is.

How do I check for stick drift?

Let go of both sticks and look at the resting values. A healthy stick sits within about ±0.05 of zero on each axis. The drift readout shows the largest resting offset and suggests a deadzone that would hide it. A reading that creeps upward over time, or jumps when you tap the controller, is classic drift.

Why doesn’t the vibration test work?

Rumble uses the Gamepad vibrationActuator, which Chrome and Edge support for most Xbox and PlayStation controllers. Firefox and Safari don’t support it yet, and some third-party controllers ignore it. The page tells you when rumble is unavailable.

Why are the buttons in a different order?

Controllers that the browser recognises use the “standard” layout, and this page labels those buttons. Unrecognised controllers report raw button numbers, which are shown in a list instead.

Other checks