Controller tests
Plug in a gamepad and see every button, trigger and stick react in real time.
Controller checks
What the controller test checks
The gamepad tester reads your controller through the browser’s Gamepad API, the same way many web games do. Every face button, bumper, trigger, stick click and the D-pad lights up as you press it, and analog triggers show exactly how far they are pulled.
Both analog sticks are drawn as circles with a dot that follows the stick. Let go of the sticks and watch the numbers: a healthy stick rests very close to the centre. If the dot keeps creeping away from the middle on its own, that is stick drift, the most common fault on modern controllers.
No drivers or apps are needed. Connect the controller over USB or Bluetooth, press a button, and the test starts.
Before you buy or return a controller
Testing takes less than a minute and is worth doing with any second-hand controller or right after a new one arrives. Press every button once, pull both triggers all the way, roll each stick around its edge and then let go. If every button lights up, the triggers reach 100% and both sticks return close to the centre, the controller is in good shape.