Home/Answers/Controller battery on a Mac
Where can you see a controller's battery level on a Mac?
Look in the Bluetooth menu or Control Center first, because macOS shows a battery level there for some accessories. If your controller shows nothing, InputConfig, a free app from Rockstar Health, shows the level and charging state of any controller that reports one, at the top of its sidebar and in its menu bar icon.
Some controllers never report a level, and then no app can show one. We compare every place to look below.
Every place to look
| Where | What it shows | Works for |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth menu or Control Center | A battery level for some accessories | Depends on the device and the macOS version |
| InputConfig, the controller's chip at the top of the sidebar | The percentage, and Charging, Full or Discharging | Any controller that reports its level to macOS |
| InputConfig's menu bar icon, Controller menu | Every connected pad with its percentage | The same controllers, without leaving a game's window |
| The DualSense light bar | A slow orange pulse while it charges switched off, dark when full | The PS5 DualSense |
Controllers that report no level
If InputConfig's chip shows no battery at all, macOS is not receiving a level from that controller, and no Mac app can show one. Generic USB pads and arcade sticks usually fall in this group. So do 8BitDo pads in the modes the Mac reads as plain USB devices, and anything wired with no battery inside.
When a low battery looks like a broken Mac
A controller running low tends to disconnect every few minutes, lag, or reconnect as a new device, and all three look like a problem with the Mac. Charge it and test again before you change anything else.
This matters more than it sounds. Many people who use a controller as their mouse and keyboard have no quick backup, so a pad that dies in the middle of the day takes the whole computer with it. A glance at the menu bar icon before a long session is worth the habit.
The full guide
The step by step setup lives on the InputConfig site: checking a controller's battery, step by step. InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store, open source under the MIT license, and runs on macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Questions people ask
How do I check my PS5 controller's battery on a MacBook?
Can I see the controller battery while I play?
Why does my controller show no battery level on a Mac?
More answers
About these comparisons
Rockstar Health is a nonprofit that makes adaptive mobility hardware and free accessibility software, including InputConfig. Facts about other apps come from their own listings and repositories on the dates given, and we have not tested the community tools named here. If something is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.