Point. Click. Play. - Turn your phone into a motion pointer and controller for your PC, or connect two Android devices to play.
PepoMote 1.11.0: updates and release notes inside the app. Discover new versions, see what's changed and continue installation with download progress and package verification. Install this version once to get the new updater. Includes the existing integrated keyboard and RetroArch Wii Remote pointer. What is new in 1.11.0 · How to update · Published downloads.
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A control not working as expected? Tell me in my Discord, including your device and game, and I'll fix it as soon as I can. I haven't been able to try every control and combination yet.
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Pointer mode - aim your phone at the screen and the cursor goes exactly there (world-anchored absolute pointing, roll-invariant, 250 Hz). Buttons, drag, scroll, media keys. Your real mouse keeps working whenever the phone is still. Needs a gyroscope: a phone without a real one (many budget phones) is told so and points by tilting instead, with the sensor selectable in Settings.
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Dolphin mode - PepoMote becomes a full-motion virtual Wiimote (DSU/cemuhook server on
127.0.0.1:26760). Play real Wii games - Wii Sports bowling included - in the Dolphin emulator. -
Wii U mode - turn the phone sideways and it is a Wii U GamePad for the Cemu emulator: two sticks, A/B/X/Y, L/R/ZL/ZR, gyro, touch screen. Cemu's controller profiles are written for you; a second phone can be a Pro Controller, and any phone (or all of them at once) can be a Wii Remote (with Nunchuk) for Wii-style Wii U games. Second screen included: the GamePad's own screen (map, inventory, off-TV play) is streamed from Cemu to the phone (and hidden on the PC), touching it touches the GamePad screen, and the phone's keyboard types into Cemu's on-screen keyboard (player names and the like). Or, with a real controller on the PC, the phone can be the GamePad's touch screen only, full screen (GamePad screen full screen in Settings).
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Switch mode - Pro Controller for Eden, with one independent player per phone. Buttons, both sticks, motion when a gyroscope is available, Capture and keyboard; automatic setup with backup and controller restoration. Switch setup guide.
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RetroArch mode - the phone is a controller for RetroArch: the pad of the console RetroArch just loaded (NES, SNES, Mega Drive, N64, PlayStation… with their own buttons and labels, or the full two-stick RetroPad), a sideways Wii Remote or, with a PC receiver, a light gun (aim with the phone: B fires, A reloads). It uses RetroArch's own network gamepad and network commands, without a driver. On Windows, Linux and macOS, PepoMote configures
retroarch.cfgwhile RetroArch is closed; the Android server guides you through enabling those options in RetroArch. Home opens the menu, a button fast-forwards while held, and the header brings save/load state, slot, rewind, pause, screenshot and reset. One player per phone, up to four. The Android receiver supports console pads and the sideways controller; light gun and keyboard need a PC receiver. RetroArch setup guide.
| Piece | Platform | File |
|---|---|---|
| Sender and Dolphin/Eden/RetroArch server | Android 8.0+ (the server must also meet the emulator requirements) | PepoMote.apk |
| Sender | iPhone / iPad, iOS 15+ (up to iPadOS 26) | PepoMote.ipa - installed with SideStore (my recommendation), AltStore or Sideloadly, see docs/IOS.md |
| Sender | Linux phones: Mobian, postmarketOS… (aarch64) | pepomote-mobile_*_arm64.deb (Mobian: tap to install) · PepoMote-Mobile-aarch64.AppImage (glibc) · PepoMote-Mobile-aarch64-musl.tar.gz (postmarketOS) |
| Receiver | Windows 10/11 | PepoMote.exe - single portable file |
| Receiver | Linux, X11 & Wayland | PepoMote-x86_64.AppImage · PepoMote-linux-x86_64.tar.gz (binary + launcher + install.sh) |
| Receiver | macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon (M1 or later) - beta | PepoMote-macOS.dmg, see docs/MACOS.md |
PC (Windows) - download PepoMote.exe and run it. No installer. SmartScreen may warn because the binary is unsigned: More info → Run anyway (verify SHA256SUMS.txt if in doubt). Allow it on private networks when the firewall asks.
PC (Linux) - download the AppImage, make it executable and run it (or the tar.gz: unpack it and run ./install.sh, which installs the binary, the launcher and the uinput rule). On Sway, Hyprland, MangoWC, river, labwc, niri and other wlroots compositors nothing else is needed: the cursor is a Wayland virtual pointer. On GNOME, KDE or X11 the cursor goes through uinput: if that (or a firewall silently dropping the phone's traffic - many distros ship one enabled) needs setup, PepoMote detects it and asks for your admin password once in the system dialog, then fixes it by itself; if your session has no password dialog, the window shows the one-line command to paste in a terminal. Prefer a scripted install with a launcher entry? packaging/linux/install.sh PepoMote-x86_64.AppImage does the same setup non-interactively. If the window does not open, the receiver retries by itself with software rendering and with X11, and everything is written to ~/.config/pepomote/receptor.log. Something odd? ./PepoMote-x86_64.AppImage --diag prints a report to paste in an issue. Details in docs/LINUX.md.
PC (macOS, beta) - download PepoMote-macOS.dmg, open it and drag PepoMote to Applications. It is not notarized by Apple (that needs a paid developer account), so the first launch of each version takes one extra step: on macOS 15/26, System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (on 13/14: Control-click → Open). Then allow Local Network and, from the card the window shows, Accessibility (moves the cursor; no restart needed) and, only for Cemu's second screen, Screen Recording. Apple Silicon only, macOS 13 or later. It is built and tested by the CI on a Mac, but I could not try it on a real one yet: details, permissions and troubleshooting in docs/MACOS.md.
Phone - install PepoMote.apk (enable "install from unknown sources"). Open it, tap Conectar, scan the QR shown on your PC. Paired forever.
Two Android phones - install the same APK on both. On the phone running the games, open Server; on the other, tap Connect and scan its QR. The controller recognizes the Android server and offers Dolphin, Eden and RetroArch (each console's pad from RetroArch's history; RetroArch's network gamepad is switched on once from its own menu, with a guided check). Guided controller setup explains each tap and remembers the permission for next time. See the Android server and VPN guide (Spanish).
iPhone / iPad - not on the App Store. My personal recommendation is SideStore (it re-signs itself on the device every 7 days, no PC running; it is what I use), but AltStore (uses local or remote AltServer, depending on version and setup) and Sideloadly (by hand from the PC with PepoMote.ipa) work too. In SideStore or AltStore: Sources → + → add https://github.com/pepitolas13/PepoMote/releases/latest/download/altstore.json → Browse → PepoMote → Install; updates show up right there. One-tap links for a web page or a chat: sidestore://source?url=https://github.com/pepitolas13/PepoMote/releases/latest/download/altstore.json and altstore://source?url=https://github.com/pepitolas13/PepoMote/releases/latest/download/altstore.json. Step by step, permissions and what differs from Android in docs/IOS.md.
Linux phone (Mobian, postmarketOS…) - Mobian: download pepomote-mobile_*_arm64.deb on the phone, tap it and press Install. Any other distro, one command in the terminal: wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pepitolas13/PepoMote/main/packaging/linux-mobile/install.sh | sh. Then open it like any app: Conectar → pick your PC → type the 4-digit code shown under the QR. See docs/MOBILE-LINUX.md.
See docs/SETUP-DOLPHIN.md - two minutes of one-time Dolphin setup (DSU server + bundled controller profile), then: aim at the screen to point, hold the target button to recenter, swing to bowl. Games that ask you to move the remote closer to the screen (WarioWare: Smooth Moves): hold Closer on the phone (Dolphin 2407+, where PepoMote generates the IR dots itself, so the cursor also rotates with the phone).
See docs/SETUP-CEMU.md - tap Wii U in the app, hold the phone sideways, open Cemu. Nothing to configure: PepoMote writes Cemu's controller profile (GamePad from your phone's DSU pad, motion and touch included) while Cemu is closed.
Close Eden, tap Switch on the phone, wait for setup confirmation. Open Eden and play. Setup, restoration and multiplayer: docs/SETUP-SWITCH.md. This mode integrates Eden; Ryujinx is not included yet.
With a PC receiver: close RetroArch, tap RetroArch on the phone and wait for setup confirmation. Open RetroArch and load a game: the controller follows the console detected by the receiver. Pick another console, the full RetroPad, Sideways Wii or Light gun in the header. A second phone takes player 2, up to four players.
With an Android server: open Server → RetroArch on the device that will run the games and follow the guide to enable network commands and each player's network RetroPad. Save the configuration and check the connection. You can grant access to the RetroArch folder to detect the console from its history, or choose a pad manually. The check confirms the command connection: try each player's controls inside a game. Setup and limitations.
Tap Universal controller on the phone. Your PC sees a real Xbox 360 controller, so there is nothing to set up: Steam, a game from 2019, an emulator nobody has heard of - they all just find it. Move the phone to aim, and the gyro drives the right stick; touch the on-screen right stick and your thumb takes over. The first time you connect, the phone asks whether you want that aiming: some games are worse with it (in The Binding of Isaac you shoot wherever you move the controller) and others are half the fun because of it (in Until Dawn you have to hold it still). You can change it any time in Settings. And the Keyboard chip types into the game or the browser on the PC: «Send» pastes the text and «Send + ⏎» types it and presses Enter, which is what you need to search.
Windows and Linux. On Windows the virtual controller driver (ViGEmBus, BSD-3-Clause) ships inside PepoMote: the receiver installs it by itself the first time it starts, with a single Windows permission prompt, nothing to download. On Linux it uses uinput, same as the rumble controller. Not available on macOS: a virtual controller there needs a driver signed by Apple.
When the game asks for rumble - the Mario Party dice, a hit in Wii Sports, a crash in Mario Kart - your phone rumbles. It works by itself in Dolphin, Cemu, RetroArch and the universal controller: the PC creates a virtual controller, picks up whatever the game sends to its motors and forwards it to the phone over the connection it already has.
In the phone's Settings you choose how much: High, Normal, Low or Off, with a button to try it. It is on Android and iPhone; Linux phones do not get it yet. This is separate from the tap feedback on the buttons, which is unchanged. On Windows it uses the same virtual controller driver as the universal controller, which PepoMote installs by itself; on Linux it goes through uinput. There is none on macOS.
- Local multiplayer: up to 4 phones on one PC - scan the same QR and each phone becomes its own Wiimote in Dolphin, with Dolphin's controller config written for you automatically
- Nunchuk on the same phone (1.5.5): games that ask for a Nunchuk (Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Metroid Prime…) just work with one phone: the controller turns sideways by itself and you get the Nunchuk under your left hand (stick, C, Z) and the Wii Remote under your right (A, B, D-pad, −/+/Home, 1/2), still pointing with the phone. Off by default: turn it on with the Nunchuk chip or in Settings (remembered); off, sideways is the NES pad. Details in docs/SETUP-DOLPHIN.md
- Nunchuk on a second phone: tap Nunchuk on the other phone: stick, C, Z and its own accelerometer feed the emulated Nunchuk of your Wiimote, configured in Dolphin for you
- Physical volume keys = A / B triggers. On Android, quick presses are preserved even when several events arrive together
- Turn the phone sideways for a NES-style pad (2D games) - or a full Wii U GamePad in Wii U mode
- Optional start-with-the-system (tray only, no window)
- One QR pairing; reconnects with one tap; auto-discovery on your LAN
- Synthesized UI sounds + haptics (both optional)
- Automatic mode (1.4): open Dolphin, Cemu, Eden or RetroArch and the receiver switches mode by itself; closing it keeps the current mode. Enable Return to pointer when an emulator closes in Settings for automatic return (off by default)
- Precision: hold the crosshair strip and the cursor moves at 40 %, with no jump when you let go; it keeps working even if your finger drifts off the strip
- Phones without a gyroscope: the app detects a missing or software-only gyroscope (Moto G04s and other Unisoc phones), warns you once, and the pointer switches to tilting: sideways and up/down, from the accelerometer alone, drift-free because it comes from gravity. Settings → Pointer sensor lets you pick Gyroscope or Accelerometer yourself. Needs the updated receiver
- Several Wii Remotes in Wii U mode (1.8.5): Cemu's Controller 1 is always a Wii U GamePad. If every phone chooses Wii Remote (Mario Party 10 with two to four phones), PepoMote leaves a GamePad driven by the PC keyboard there (or your own real one) and the Wii Remotes take Controllers 2 and up, so the game boots and reads all of them
- Target on the sideways controller (1.8.5): holding the target between − and + recenters the cursor or the pointer sideways too (pointer mode, Dolphin, Wii Remote in Cemu)
- Home on the Wii Remote (1.8.5): between 1 and 2 on the upright controller and next to A sideways, in Dolphin, Wii U and Switch modes. Mario Party 10 needs it to pair each emulated Wii Remote in Cemu
- Browser back/forward and volume that repeats: in pointer mode the D-pad ← / → go back / forward in the browser (↑ / ↓ stay arrow keys), and holding − / + or the media 🔉 / 🔊 keeps stepping the volume
- iPhone and iPad (1.5): the same sender in Swift, with the Wii U GamePad's second screen and everything else; installed with SideStore or AltStore from a one-tap source, built and tested by the CI on macOS
- Several PCs and automatic reconnection: the app keeps all your PCs and, if the Wi-Fi drops or the receiver restarts, it comes back by itself without losing the screen or the mode
- macOS (1.5.5, beta): the same receiver on Apple Silicon - cursor and keys through Accessibility, Cemu's second screen, an icon in the menu bar, start with the system, a signed
.appin a DMG - Updates and release notes: automatic detection, brief in-app notes and a verified download when you choose Install. Android requires system confirmation; iPhone/iPad continues in SideStore or AltStore. Automatic notices can be disabled in Settings. How it works and the first rollout. Controls travel directly between your devices over your local network or configured VPN; PepoMote does not run its own relay service.
- iPad and tablets (1.5.5): the remote, the NES pad, the Nunchuk and the Wii U GamePad grow to fill the screen (same rule on iOS and Android; phones stay exactly as they were). And Settings gains GamePad without touch screen: it removes the Wii U GamePad's screen (and the second screen) so the sticks, the D-pad and A/B/X/Y get much bigger - on a phone they go side by side, like a Pro Controller
- GamePad screen full screen (1.6): with a real controller plugged into the PC, the phone shows only Cemu's GamePad screen (touch included), like the Wii U's own; the receiver merges the phone into your Cemu profile without replacing your controller. Optional keyboard button at the top right
- Wii Remote + Nunchuk side (1.6): the first time the sideways Wii Remote + Nunchuk appears, the app asks whether it is the right way up ("Flip it" / "Keep it like this") and the side stays fixed for good (some phones' sensors flipped it on their own); changeable in Settings. The Wii U GamePad has its own side, separately
- One-piece D-pad (1.6): like the Wii Remote's, on every controller of the three apps: sliding the thumb changes direction without lifting it, the corners between arms are diagonals and the dead centre is smaller
- Press modes (1.9): two new settings on Android, iPhone/iPad and mobile Linux. Keep pressed when leaving the button keeps a pressed button pressed until you lift your finger, even if your thumb drifts off it - now on by default on Android, which is what fixes 2 letting go in Mario Kart when the thumb slides off. Slide to press (off by default) presses the button your finger slides over and releases the previous one. The D-pad, the sticks, the GamePad's touch screen and the header chips stay as they were
- Collapsible header on the sideways controllers (1.9): on Android and iPhone/iPad (on mobile Linux the header stays as it was), on the sideways Wii Remote, on the Wii Remote + Nunchuk and on the Wii U / Switch controller the top is now just a pill with the current mode, centred and away from B and from Z/C. Tap it and a card drops down, and it folds back by itself after 4 seconds: on the Wii Remotes the card holds the mode chips, the Nunchuk chip, Keyboard and Exit; on the Wii U / Switch controller it holds the PC name, the player and the pad, the screen fps, the mode chips and Exit, while Keyboard stays right beside the pill, always visible and one tap away while you play
- Dark theme and English: both follow the system; ES/EN at the top right of every app
- A chime per player, a tray icon that tells the state, a heartbeat with the RTT in the receiver window; on Android a themed icon, launcher shortcuts and a Quick Settings tile
- Receiver:
cd desktop && cargo build --release(macOS: thenbash packaging/macos/bundle.shfor the.appand the DMG) - Android:
cd android && ./gradlew assembleDebug - iOS (Mac):
brew install xcodegen && cd ios && xcodegen generate && xcodebuild -scheme PepoMote build(the CI builds the unsigned IPA on macOS runners) - Protocol spec: protocol/PROTOCOL.md · DSU notes: protocol/DSU.md
Have a question, found a bug, or want to help? You are welcome in English or Spanish, whether you write code or simply enjoy playing. Testing a device, improving a guide or explaining a problem clearly all help PepoMote grow.
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Please follow our Code of Conduct. For vulnerabilities, use the private channels in our security policy.
PepoMote is an original, independent project - not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Nintendo. It contains no Nintendo assets, trademarks, fonts or sounds; "Wii" is used only nominatively to describe compatibility with the Dolphin emulator. "Wii U" likewise describes compatibility with the Cemu emulator (open source, MPL-2.0), "Switch" with Eden, and "RetroArch" with the RetroArch frontend (open source, GPL-3.0), whose network gamepad and command interface PepoMote talks to. It does not distribute Dolphin, Cemu, Eden, RetroArch or any games. See docs/LEGAL.md.
GPL-3.0-or-later. Original visual and sound assets: CC-BY-SA 4.0. Font: Nunito (SIL OFL 1.1). The Windows receiver embeds the official, unmodified installer of the ViGEmBus 1.22.0 virtual gamepad driver (BSD-3-Clause, © Nefarius Software Solutions e.U.; notice in packaging/windows/).
Made by PepoTech.