Gamepad Bridge

A simple, lightweight android app that reads a gamepad plugged into the phone via USB-C and sends its input over Bluetooth to a PC, so the phone behaves like a normal Bluetooth controller, giving new purpose to gamepads that are USB-C only.

  

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Features

Live controller view	Buttons, sticks, D-pad and triggers light up as you press them
Standard HID gamepad	The PC sees the phone as a normal Bluetooth gamepad
Controller detection	Shows the name of the connected gamepad and the connection status
No dependencies	Pure Kotlin and the Android SDK

Supported inputs: 16 buttons, 1 hat switch (D-pad), 2 analog sticks, 2 analog triggers.

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How it works

1. Android delivers the gamepad's key and motion events to the app.
2. The app stores them in a single state object and packs it into a 9-byte HID report.
3. Using the BluetoothHidDevice API, the phone registers as a gamepad and sends the report to the paired PC.

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Getting started

Requirements: A phone running Android 9 or later (the app opens on Android 7+, but Bluetooth sending needs Android 9+), and a USB-C gamepad.

1. Plug in the gamepad and grant the Bluetooth permissions.
2. Tap Make Discoverable, then pair the phone from your PC's Bluetooth settings.
3. Test the gamepad on Windows with any application.

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Project structure

app/src/main/
├── java/com/example/gamepadbridge/
│   ├── MainActivity.kt     Screen, permissions, event dispatch
│   ├── GamepadInput.kt     Reads buttons and axes from the controller
│   ├── GamepadState.kt     Current state and HID report packing
│   ├── GamepadView.kt      Custom view that draws the controller
│   └── HidGamepad.kt       Bluetooth HID device and report sending
└── res/                    Layout, colors, strings, drawables

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Limitations

• The app must stay open on screen, because Android only delivers gamepad events to the foreground app.
• Bluetooth HID support varies between phone manufacturers.

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