Android Phone as Controller for PC Game Streaming

Whether you stream games from your gaming PC (Moonlight/Sunshine, Steam Link) or from the cloud (Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA GeForce NOW), you need a controller. Use your Android phone with Gamepad — Play Anywhere — free, no hardware purchase.

Moonlight / Sunshine Game Streaming

Moonlight (client) + Sunshine (server) is the most popular open-source PC game streaming solution. Both the streaming client and your games run on the host PC. When Gamepad creates a virtual Xbox 360 controller on that same PC, the virtual controller is available to all streamed games immediately.

Connect Gamepad first, then launch Moonlight on your streaming device (TV, tablet, etc.). The games you play through Moonlight will use the virtual controller. This is particularly useful if you want to play on your TV while someone else uses the PC for other tasks.

Notes on Cloud Gaming Services

Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce NOW have their own Android apps that support touch and Bluetooth controllers natively on the phone — you do not need the Gamepad app for those scenarios.

The Gamepad app is most valuable when you want to control a PC application that expects a locally-connected controller, rather than a cloud service with its own controller pipeline.