Home/Answers/Controller to keyboard on a Mac
How do you make a controller send keyboard keys on a Mac?
To make a controller send keyboard keys on a Mac, use a mapper such as InputConfig, the free one Rockstar Health makes: scan a button, pick a key and activate, and it works in every app. macOS cannot do it on its own, because the Game Controllers page in System Settings only swaps one controller button for another inside games that already read a controller.
Steam can send keys too, but only in Steam games. We compare all three routes below and say where each one stops.
The three routes, compared
| System Settings, Game Controllers | Steam Input | A mapper, such as InputConfig | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sends keyboard keys | No | Yes | Yes |
| Moves the pointer | No | With Steam's desktop layout | Yes |
| Works outside games | No | Only while Steam is running | In every app |
| Works in games with no controller support | No | Steam games only | Yes |
| Cost | Free, built in | Free with Steam | InputConfig is free |
How a mapper does it
Allow Accessibility once. macOS lets a mapper send keys and mouse events to other apps only after you switch it on in System Settings, Privacy and Security, Accessibility.
Scan a button. In InputConfig, click Scan on a row and press the button you want to map.
Pick the key. Choose Keyboard Key and the key, or a mouse action, scrolling, a macro or typed text.
Activate. Open TextEdit and press the button. If its key appears, the mapping works in every app.
Sticks as WASD or the arrow keys
A stick is two axes, so it becomes four keys: up to W, down to S, left to A and right to D, or the arrow keys. A direction presses its key once the stick passes the deadzone, 25 percent of the way out by default, and diagonals hold two keys at once, exactly as a keyboard would. A stick that sends keys is on or off rather than analog, so a game that runs while you hold Shift needs Shift on another control.
Why this matters for accessibility
For many people the keyboard is the hard part of a computer. A controller resting in the lap can be a whole keyboard and mouse instead. InputConfig's built-in Desktop Navigation preset does exactly that: the left stick moves the pointer, the right stick scrolls, the triggers click, the D-pad sends the arrow keys, the face buttons undo, cut and paste, and the bumpers switch apps.
When the keys do not reach the app
Check the preset is active. The Live Visualizer lights each control as you press it.
Check Accessibility. If nothing happens in any app, switch InputConfig on in Privacy and Security, Accessibility, or remove it and add it again.
Match the game's keys. If a key works in a text editor but not in the game, set the row to the key the game uses.
Stop doubled presses. If a game does everything twice, it is reading the controller as well as the keys. Turn off its controller support.
Release a stuck key. Control Option Command and the period key releases everything at once.
The full guide
The step by step setup lives on the InputConfig site: mapping a controller to keys, 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
Can I map a controller to keyboard keys on a Mac for free?
Does controller to keyboard mapping work in apps that are not games?
Can I make my keyboard act as a controller on a Mac?
Which controllers can send keys 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.