PS5 Controller Tester

This PS5 controller tester checks a DualSense or DualSense Edge on a PC, Mac or phone, so it works as a full DualSense tester without the console. Press any button and the drawing lights up every button, including the touchpad click and the mute button where your browser passes them, while the scopes track both sticks and the bars show how far L2 and R2 travel. In Chrome and Edge on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS it also reads the battery level and charging state, both touchpad fingers, the gyroscope and accelerometer, and lets you set the light bar, player lights, mute light and adaptive trigger effects.

How to test a PS5 controller on PC

1. Connect the DualSense with a USB-C data cable, or pair it: hold Create and the PS button until the light bar flashes, then add it in your computer's Bluetooth settings.
2. Press any button. The page shows the PS5 drawing and the name your system gives the controller.
3. Press every button, click the touchpad, and press both sticks down. Each part turns green once it works.
4. Squeeze L2 and R2 slowly and watch both bars reach 100 percent.
5. Run the Stick drift and Vibration tabs.
6. In Chrome or Edge, press Connect for extras, choose the controller in the list and allow it.

Battery, touchpad, motion and lights

The extras panel talks to the controller directly once you choose it in the browser's list. It shows:

• Battery in 10 percent steps, plus charging or full. A controller that reads "not charging" on a cable is too hot, too cold or has a charging fault.
• Reports per second: how often the controller itself sends a reading. On USB a DualSense sends about 250 a second and a DualSense Edge about 1000.
• Touchpad with up to two fingers and their coordinates, so you can find dead strips on the surface.
• Motion sensors: gyro in degrees per second and tilt in g, with a bubble that follows the controller. Press Zero at rest with the controller flat, then tilt it.
• Firmware date, useful when support asks whether the controller is up to date.
• Light bar, player lights and the mute light, plus the DualSense Edge function and back buttons, which normal gamepad support cannot see.

What the results mean

PS5 controller drift

The DualSense uses potentiometer sticks, the same type that wears out on most controllers, so drift after a year or two of heavy use is common. Put the controller down and run the drift test: a resting offset above 0.10 means the stick will creep in games with small deadzones. The ps5 controller drift test explains how to read the result, and the ps5 controller drift fix guide covers cleaning, the PS5 reset button and repair. Many PS5 games have their own deadzone setting in the controller options. The DualSense Edge also has stick deadzones in its profiles on the PS5, and its stick modules can be swapped by hand.

A button, the touchpad or the mute button does not respond

• Test with a cable. If the button works wired but not on Bluetooth, re-pair the controller.
• Check whether the button reaches the browser at all. The PS button can open Steam while Steam is running, and some browsers do not pass the mute button. In Chrome or Edge, the extras panel shows the mute button directly.
• For a touchpad that clicks but does not track, connect the extras and slide a finger across the whole pad. Gaps where the dot vanishes point to a damaged touch layer.
• Reset the controller: unplug its cable, then press the reset button inside the small hole next to the Sony logo on the back with a straightened paper clip for at least 5 seconds. Reconnect it with a cable.

Adaptive triggers feel weak or do nothing

Connect the extras, choose Resistance, Click or Buzz for L2 or R2, and press the trigger. If the effect works here but not in a game, check the PS5 setting Trigger Effect Intensity under Settings > Accessories > Controller (General), which can turn the effects off, and remember that only games built for the DualSense use them. If a trigger stays loose in every mode, the trigger motor or its gear is damaged and needs repair. The page releases both triggers when you disconnect the extras, so games are not left with stiff triggers.

The DualSense will not connect or keeps dropping out

Use a data cable rather than a charge only cable, and plug it into the computer itself. For Bluetooth problems, remove the controller from your Bluetooth settings and pair it again. Sony offers a firmware updater for the DualSense on Windows PCs, and on the console the PS5 updates the controller when you connect it with a cable. Our guide to a controller not connecting to pc has the full list. If a PS4 controller is the one acting up, the ps4 controller tester has its own fixes.

What this PS5 controller test cannot check

• Haptic effects. The DualSense uses voice coil actuators that games drive like speakers. Browsers can only play classic rumble, so the vibration tab tests the motors, not every haptic texture.
• The speaker, microphone and headset jack. Test a headset on the controller with a headset mic test while it is plugged into the DualSense.
• The exact deadzone a game uses. The page shows raw values, so the number you see is what the stick reports before any game filtering.

PS5 controller tester questions