Controller Bridge

Turns an Android phone into a WiFi adapter for a physical game controller. Plug in (USB/OTG) or pair (Bluetooth) a controller with the phone, and its input is sent over the LAN to Phone2Pad Desktop, which drives a virtual Xbox 360 gamepad on Windows.

Only a physical controller is supported; there is no on-screen gamepad. The only setting is the PC's IP address.

Install

1. Open the latest successful Build Android APK run under this repo's Actions tab.
2. Download the ControllerBridge-debug artifact and unzip it.
3. Sideload the .apk on the phone (allow installs from unknown sources).

The APK is signed with the fixed debug key in app/debug.keystore, so new builds install as updates and keep the saved server IP.

Use

1. Start Phone2Pad Desktop on the PC (it listens on port 60001 by default).
2. Connect the controller to the phone.
3. Enter the PC's IP address, e.g. 192.168.1.50. Use ip:port if the server runs on another port.
4. Tap Connect. The controller shows up in Phone2Pad Desktop.

Phone and PC must be on the same network.

• Analog triggers are sent as 0.0–1.0. If they only read 0 or 1, the controller reports its triggers as digital buttons.
• Xbox / guide button is forwarded as the guide button. On some phones Android handles it as the Home key before any app sees it; this can't be prevented.
• Debug (left of Connect) shows a live log of connection events, controller detection and errors under the button readout. Everything is also written to logcat with the tag ControllerBridge.
• Screen stays on but dims to minimum after 30 s without a touch. Touch to restore. The UI is pitch-black to save power on OLED screens.

Build

Every push runs .github/workflows/build-android.yml (JDK 17, Gradle 8.7, gradle assembleDebug), which uploads the APK as the ControllerBridge-debug artifact. There is no Gradle wrapper in the repo; to build locally, use Gradle 8.7 with JDK 17 and the Android SDK (platform 34):

gradle assembleDebug

Output: app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk.

Stack: Kotlin, minSdk 24, targetSdk 34, OkHttp (WebSocket), msgpack-core.

Protocol

MessagePack over WebSocket, compatible with the Phone2Pad Desktop server: handshake → register (as GAMEPAD_XBOX360) → a stream of input frames → disconnect. Each gamepadData map uses the same keys as the original Unity client's GamepadData, plus ps for the guide button.