A Decky Loader plugin that turns your Steam Deck into a wireless Bluetooth controller for your Mac or iPad. Nothing needs to be installed on the other device: the Deck pairs as a PS5 or Xbox controller.

This is still a very early build, expect latency and connection issues, specially with untested devices.

Tested on a Steam Deck OLED (SteamOS, Decky Loader 3.2) with a Mac running macOS 27 and an iPad Mini 7 running iOS 27.

Independent project. Deck as Controller is developed independently and is free. It isn't affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Valve Corporation.

• Three controller types: PS5 (DualSense), PS5 Edge, and Xbox Elite Series 2. PS5 Edge carries all four Deck back buttons.
• Deck screen off while connected. Tap ⋯ to toggle it; hold ⋯ for 2 seconds to stop and get the Deck's screen and controls back.
• Reconnects automatically to the last device when you turn the plugin on.
• Remembers your devices: pair more than one (e.g. a Mac and an iPad).
• Rumble (see the table below for where it works).
• Trackpads: the Deck trackpads act as the PS5 touchpad, with a small haptic tick when you click them.
• Gyro on the PS5 types.
• Battery level of the Deck shown on the Mac (PS5 types).

1. Install Decky Loader on your Deck.
2. Download deck-as-controller.zip from the releases page.
3. In Game Mode, open ⋯ → Decky → ⚙ Settings → General, turn on Developer mode, then go to Developer → Install Plugin from ZIP File and pick the zip.

1. Open ⋯ → Decky → Deck as Controller, choose a controller type, and turn on Use as controller.
2. The first time, the Deck is ready to pair. On your Mac or iPad, open Bluetooth settings and connect to the controller that appears (e.g. "DualSense Edge Wireless Controller").
3. After that, turning the plugin on reconnects to the device automatically.

While connected, the Deck's controls go to your device:

Switching controller types: your device remembers the Deck as the type it was paired as. To switch, remove the Deck from your device's Bluetooth settings, choose the new type, tap Pair a new device, and pair again.

On a Mac, PS5 Edge is the best all-round choice. Tested results:

• Turn off screen while connected
• Trackpad click feedback: the haptic tick when you click a trackpad.
• Stick deadzone

• Steam doesn't rumble the PS5 types. Steam never sends rumble to them over Bluetooth, so Steam's rumble test and games that rumble through Steam Input stay silent. Use Xbox Elite if you need rumble in those.
• Some Mac games don't detect Xbox Elite. macOS keeps the name the Deck first paired with (e.g. "DualSense Wireless Controller") for its Bluetooth address, even after you forget it, and passes that name to games. Games that recognize controllers by name, like Silksong, then ignore the Deck. Renaming it in Bluetooth settings doesn't help.
• The Deck's own Bluetooth devices are unavailable while the plugin is on. Headphones, controllers and keyboards paired to the Deck can't be used, and your device never uses the Deck as a speaker.
• Turning the plugin on or off restarts the Deck's Bluetooth, which drops any Bluetooth devices connected to the Deck for a moment.

The plugin's backend runs a small daemon with the Deck's system Python:

• Bluetooth: restarts BlueZ with a runtime-only config (under /run) that frees the HID channels and gives the Deck a gamepad identity, then serves the Bluetooth HID profile itself. Stopping the plugin, or rebooting, restores the stock setup.
• Input: takes exclusive access to the built-in controller over USB, so Steam on the Deck stops reacting to it, and translates its reports into the chosen controller's format.
• Profiles: py_modules/sdcd/profiles/ defines each controller type: its Bluetooth identity, HID descriptor, input encoding and rumble parsing.

pnpm install
scripts/deploy.sh deck@<deck-ip>   # build and install over SSH (needs passwordless sudo on the Deck)
scripts/package.sh                 # build out/deck-as-controller.zip

To log what the host sends (rumble, setup requests), run sudo touch /run/sdcd-debug on the Deck before turning the plugin on; the output appears in Decky's plugin log.

Contributions are welcome: bug reports, pull requests, and test results on devices we haven't tried yet (Windows, Linux, Android, other macOS and iPadOS versions, the original LCD Steam Deck).

When reporting a problem, please include your Deck model, the controller type you picked, the device you connected to, and the plugin log from ~/homebrew/logs/deck-as-controller/ on the Deck. To capture what your device sends to the Deck, see the debug tip under Development.

Released under the MIT License.

Steam and Steam Deck are trademarks of Valve Corporation. PlayStation, DualSense and PS5 are trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Xbox and Xbox Elite are trademarks of Microsoft. Mac and iPad are trademarks of Apple. These names are used only to describe compatibility; this project isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of these companies.

The plugin changes the Deck's Bluetooth setup and takes over its built-in controller while it runs. Both are restored when you turn it off or reboot. Use it at your own risk.