Joy-Con test
Pair one Joy-Con or both with your computer. The test reads a single Joy-Con held sideways, with only the buttons it has, or a pair as one controller, and ends in a plain result.
Press any button on the controller
Browsers show a controller only after a button is pressed, so that pages cannot list your devices unasked. Wired or Bluetooth both work.
This browser cannot read controllers.
Try a current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari on a computer, Safari on an iPhone or iPad, or Chrome on Android.
The controller was disconnected. Connect it again and press a button; your results are kept.
Result: No problem found so far
Press every button, then run the checks below: the result is written here as you go.
Sticks
The rings are dead zones: the inner one 10 %, which many games use, the outer one 24 %, Xbox's standard for the left stick (27 % for the right).
Drift check
Put the controller down and do not touch the sticks. The check reads them for three seconds.
Range check
Push each stick to its edge and turn it slowly round, two or three times.
Buttons
Press each one. A button turns blue while held and stays ticked once it has worked.
Triggers
Press each trigger all the way down. A trigger reports how far it is pressed, not just on or off.
Rumble
Each button runs a motor for one second. The tab must stay in front while it runs.
This browser cannot run this controller's motors: Firefox and the browsers on iPhone and iPad run none, and Chrome and Edge on Windows do not run a PS5 controller's. The rest of the test is not affected.
Report
For a return, a warranty claim or a sale: print it, save it as a PDF, or copy the text.
How it works
- Pair each Joy-Con over Bluetooth: hold the small sync button on its rail, between SL and SR, until the green lights run, then choose it in your computer's Bluetooth settings.
- Open this page in Chrome or Edge and press a button. With both paired they appear as one controller, «Joy-Con L+R»; with one, as that Joy-Con alone.
- Press every button the test lists, SL and SR included. Capture and Home are optional: the computer may keep them.
- Press ZL and ZR, run the drift check with the Joy-Con lying still, and turn each stick slowly round its edge.
- Try the rumble, then keep the report for a repair or a sale: it names the stick at fault, left or right.
What the results mean
- One Joy-Con, held sideways
- A single Joy-Con is read the way it is held by a second player: its arrows or letters as the face buttons, SL and SR as the shoulders. The test lists only the buttons that Joy-Con has, so it never waits for one it lacks.
- A pair becomes one controller
- Chrome and Edge on a computer join a left and a right Joy-Con into one controller with both sticks. Other browsers may show each on its own; the test reads them either way, one tab per Joy-Con.
- A Joy-Con's triggers: pressed or not
- The Joy-Con's ZL and ZR are buttons rather than pressed in steps, so a working one reads 100 % and nothing in between.
- Joy-Con drift and Nintendo
- Nintendo names stick drift on its support pages and suggests updating the controller and calibrating the sticks first. In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland it repairs drifting Joy-Con free of charge until further notice, whatever the cause.
Questions
How do I calibrate a Joy-Con stick?
On the Switch: System Settings, Controllers and Sensors, Calibrate Control Sticks. Then come back and run the drift check again: if the stick still drifts, calibration is not the fix.
Only one Joy-Con shows up. Why?
Each one pairs on its own, so pair the second as well. A Joy-Con still on the Switch, or one the Switch pulls back, stays with the console: keep it off while testing.
Does rumble work on a Joy-Con?
In Chrome and Edge on a computer, yes: the motor runs when the browser asks, as a plain buzz rather than the full range a game can play.
What about the Joy-Con 2 for the Switch 2?
They are newer than the lists browsers use to recognise controllers. Where one appears, its buttons may show as numbers instead of names; the test still reads each one.