BT Controller: Use Your Android Device As A Bluetooth Gamepad For Another
A couple of weeks ago, we reviewed Tablet Remote – an Android app that let the users remotely control one Android device with the other through Bluetooth. Now, while said app can be used to, say, remotely control media being played on another Android phone or tablet connected to your TV through HDMI, BT Controller allows playing emulator games in the same way. The app turns your Android device into a bluetooth gamepad, allowing you to remotely control emulator games running on another device (the host). Like Tablet Remote, BT Controller must also be installed and running on both the devices – the host as well as the controller – that are paired with each other over Bluetooth. As of now, the app only works with a handful of game emulators, and supports controlling one Android device with the other over Bluetooth connection only.
BT Controller can be used to control various emulators for Mame, Playstation, CPS2 and N64 games. List of all the supported emulators can be found on the app’s Android Market page (link provided at the end).
Here are all the configuration steps that you need to follow in order to set the app up on the controller and host devices.
- As mentioned earlier, you first need to ensure that BT Controller is installed and running on both devices.
- When prompted, activate Bluetooth on both devices.
- Make your devices’ Bluetooth discoverable from within the app by tapping the Visible button.
- Next, tap the Connect button, and select the device with which you wish to pair.
- From within the prompt that appears, choose whether you want to set the device as the Controller or Host.
- Assuming that you’ve selected one device as the controller, the other one is automatically assigned the role of the host.
- While the controller device’s screen automatically turns into a virtual gamepad, the host device’s screen displays a small preview window at the top-right of the screen. Tapping this windows takes you to your device’s Language & Input Settings. Make sure that you select and enable BTController as the default input method on the host device. Once that is done, the aforementioned preview window should now display any key pressed on the controller device.
- You need to manually map all the keys on the controller device’s gamepad to the controls on the emulator running on the host device.
- Once your done with setting the keys, load a game ROM into the emulator to start using your controller device to play it.
The app’s settings screen (Menu > Settings) lets you enable/disable vibration (haptic/tactile feedback) upon pressing keys on the gamepad.
We tested the app successfully with an HTC Desire as the controller and an HTC Desire HD running N64oid as the host device.
There are a couple of variants of BT Controller available in the Android Market. One is free but contains ads whereas the other one is ad-free and costs a little over $1.
Download BT Controller Ad Supported for Android (Free)
Download BT Controller Ad Free for Android (Paid)
The link to both apps don’t work!!! Please would someone tell me where to find this app or even another similar one to controll a android device with another for gaming purposes :(((
On the Play Store search: BT Controller, and if you want to customize the controller download: BT Controller Editor
Wireless controller