Do you want to know how you can use your Android phone as gamepad for PC? Every video game player wants to have a totally immersive feeling and a good playtime experience. Having a good and efficient gamepad contributes a lot to that. A great percentage of gamers, 37% to be exact, use PC for day-to-day gaming. The most common controls for such gamers are usually the keyboard and mouse though some opt to connect the Xbox console gamepads and use them.
However, not everyone can afford to just casually acquire a gamepad. So, with this tutorial, you are going to learn how you can turn your Android smartphone into a game controller. Furthermore, by using your Android phone as a gamepad, you can customize its look and button positioning. Let’s dive into the topic!
DroidJoy PC Gamepad
DroidJoy is a PC software developed by GitHub user, Florian Grill, who is also a software engineer for a company in Vienna. The software comes alongside two Android apps, a lite version which is free with ads, and a complete version with no ads but has to be purchased.
Please note that not only does this tool not support consoles, but it also isn’t available for Apple devices.
To use DroidJoy, you need to download;
PC Client
Windows 7 and newer versions
Legacy server for Windows XP and Windows Vista
PS; The developer claims that the legacy server for Windows XP and Vista is no longer maintained and may contain bugs.
Mobile App
To set up the PC client, do as follows:
- Install the application by double-clicking on the download and following the on-screen prompts
- Launch the server and create more gamepads if you are playing offline multiplayer. One gamepad comes pre-installed. To create a second gamepad, simply click on Gamepad 2 and check the little box, as shown.
- Next, pair your PC to your Android phone using Bluetooth or connect your phone to the same WiFi network as your PC.
- Head over to your phone and install the DroidJoy apk.
- Once installed, ensure the two devices are linked via Bluetooth or on the same network to continue.
- Connect the PC client to the DroidJoy Android Application.
Read: The Top 10 Google Chrome Extensions for Your PC
Bluetooth
The Bluetooth MAC address must be the same for the connection to take place. You can choose to either search for the server automatically or you can manually type in the MAC address.
When connected, a red circle will appear around the Gamepad circle.
WiFi
Connecting via WiFi simply involves connecting both the PC and the Android phone to the same WiFi network and following the rest of the procedure.
Just like the Bluetooth method, you can either manually enter the IP address provided or do an automatic scanner, though that might not work for some devices.
The app comes with pre-designed gamepad templates that can be modified to fit the gamer’s preferences The templates are as shown below:
Below is my fully customized gamepad:
You can test the functionality of the gamepad by visiting gamepad-tester.com and in my screen recording below, you can see that indeed the gamepad activity and motion can be detected.
Conclusion
Hats off to this genius developer for his amazing work. Feel free to leave a comment and tell us if this helped you in using your android as gamepad for PC.
