Oliver Haslam·

How To Use PlayStation / Xbox Controller As Mouse On Mac

There is no shortage of options in the world when it comes to mice and other pointing devices, but sometimes you just want to go that step further and use your PS4 controller, right?

Sure, you aren’t going to set about using a game controller to run the numbers in a spreadsheet, but there could be real uses for it. And thanks to Controlly, it’s now possible.

The idea is a simple one. You pair your game controller with your Mac and then tell Controlly what functions to map to the various controller buttons.

Those functions include more than you might think, too. In fact, you can replace your keyboard in some cases as well.

Mouse Actions

  • Primary Click
  • Secondary Click
  • Look Up
  • Smart Zoom

Playback Controls

  • Play/Pause
  • Skip Forward
  • Skip Back

Sound and Brightness

  • Mute
  • Volume Up/Down
  • Brightness Up/Down

System Conveniences

  • Mission Control
  • Launchpad
  • Show Desktop
  • Next/Previous Desktop
  • Mirror Displays

Thumbstick Actions

  • Move Pointer
  • Scroll

There might not be all that many use cases for something like this, but one immediately jumps out at us. Imagine using a Mac mini as a media center and being able to use your game controller to interact with it instead of your mouse.

Magic.

(Download: Controlly for Mac from the Mac App Store)

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