Phone Gamepad app icon Phone Gamepad

Your phone is the controller.

Play on your Mac or Windows PC with full touch controls. Free, over Bluetooth, nothing to install on the computer.

Get the appFree on Google Play Windows USB softwareFree · optional, for a cable link
How it works: every way to connect

Last updated: 5 November 2026

Who we are

Phone Gamepad is published by Noctua Software LLC. Contact: contact@noctua.software.

No account, no personal profile

The app has no sign-up. We do not ask for your name, email, contacts, location, photos or microphone, and we do not run our own analytics.

Controller data stays local

Permissions

Advertising (free version)

The free version shows ads through Google AdMob. AdMob may collect device identifiers (such as the advertising ID), IP address and ad interaction data to serve, measure and, if you allow it, personalise ads. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland we ask for your consent first through Google’s consent screen; you can change your choice at any time in the app under Settings › Privacy options. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in Android settings. See how Google uses data in ads.

Purchases

Payments are handled by Google Play; we never see your card details. To check and restore your Pro purchase we use RevenueCat, which receives the purchase receipt and an anonymous app user ID. See the RevenueCat privacy policy and the Google privacy policy.

Children

The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data.

Your rights and deletion

Uninstalling the app deletes everything it stored on your phone. For data held by Google or RevenueCat, or any privacy question, write to contact@noctua.software; we answer within 30 days. EU and UK users may also complain to their data protection authority.

Changes

We will update this page and its date if the app starts handling data differently.

How it works

Install the app on your Android phone, pick your computer, pick a link. The computer then sees a game controller.

Bluetooth Experimental

Nothing to install on the PC. Pairing works; in-game use is still being tested.

  1. In the app: PC › Bluetooth. The phone becomes visible for 3 minutes.
  2. On the PC: Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Add device › Bluetooth (the first choice, not “Everything else”).
  3. Click your phone’s name in the list. The controller opens on the phone.
  4. Next time, open the app: it reconnects by itself.

USB cable Tested on ROG Ally X · ~2 ms

Wired link through the free PhoneGamepad.exe. The fastest way to play on a Windows PC.

  1. Download and open PhoneGamepad.exe on the PC (it installs the controller driver once, if you say yes).
  2. Plug the phone in with a data USB cable.
  3. In the app: PC › USB cable, then turn on USB tethering.
  4. Type the 6-digit code shown on the PC.

One phone is one controller and serves one computer at a time.

Windows USB software

Play on a Windows PC through the USB cable. About 2 minutes, once.

  1. Download PhoneGamepad.exe and open it. Download for WindowsWindows 10 / 11, 64-bit · 14 MB
  2. If Edge says “PhoneGamepad.exe isn’t commonly downloaded”: open the downloads list, click … › Keep › Show more › Keep anyway. Then, if Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info › Run anyway. The app is new and not code-signed yet, so Windows does not know it.
  3. First time only: answer Yes to install the controller driver, then Yes again to the Windows permission prompt. This driver (ViGEmBus) creates the virtual Xbox controller that games see.
  4. If the firewall asks, allow Private networks only.
  5. Plug your phone into the PC with a data USB cable. In the app, choose PC › USB cable and turn on USB tethering.
  6. Type the 6-digit code shown in the PhoneGamepad window. Done: keep the window open while you play. Unplug the cable or close the app and the PC gets its own controller back (handy on a ROG Ally).

Prefer no install at all? Use Bluetooth: in the app choose PC › Bluetooth, nothing to download on the PC.