How to test a controller
- Plug in the controller with a cable, or pair it over Bluetooth, then press any button. It appears as soon as the browser sees the press.
- Press every button and pull both triggers. Each one lights up while held and turns green once it has worked; the line under the diagram counts them.
- Let go of the sticks to check for drift, then roll each one slowly around its edge a few times to measure circularity. Try Vibration to test the rumble motors.
What the tester shows
- Buttons. Every button on the diagram lights while pressed and stays outlined in green once it has worked. The counter tells you when all of them have been tested.
- Triggers. LT and RT (L2 and R2) are analog: the bar and the percentage show how far each is pulled, from 0 to 100%. A trigger that never reaches 100% or doesn’t return to 0% needs a look.
- Sticks. Each plot shows the live position, the recent path, the dead zone and the furthest reach in every direction. X and Y run from −1 to 1.
- Raw values. The list at the bottom shows every button and axis the controller reports, which helps with flight sticks, wheels and adapters that don’t use the standard layout.
Vibration
Weak motor, Strong motor and Both run the rumble motors for a moment. Xbox controllers in Chrome and Edge may also offer Trigger motors. Browsers can only make a controller vibrate where they support it; if yours can’t, the page says so, and the buttons stay off.
Fixing common problems
Drift often comes from dust or wear inside the stick. Some controllers have a calibration option in their settings app, which can help with a resting offset. If a button only works sometimes, test it here while pressing different parts of it: a button that registers only when pressed hard usually has a worn contact. For keyboards, use the keyboard tester.