on iPhone gamepad is connecting but no event #1

Activity

1. amitu commented on Dec 15, 2025

   

   amitu

   on Dec 15, 2025

   ContributorAuthor

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   Investigation Summary

   What we tested

   • iPhone with DualShock 4 controller connected via Bluetooth
   • iOS Safari accessing the app via HTTPS (ngrok tunnel)
   • Tested against third-party gamepad tester websites for comparison

   Observations

   1. Gamepad is detected correctly: Gamepad connected: DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless Controller Extended Gamepad (id: 0),
      axes: 4, buttons: 17
   2. Gamepad state never updates:
      - gamepad.timestamp() is always 0
      - Axis values remain at initial state [0.0, -0.0, 0.0, -0.0]
      - Button presses not detected
   3. Third-party gamepad tester sites also stopped working after navigating between tabs/sites - the gamepad appears
      to get into a "stale" state where it's connected but not updating

   Root cause

   This appears to be a known iOS Safari/WebKit bug. The Gamepad API detects the controller but doesn't properly
   update the gamepad state after initial connection. References:

   • Need to spec liveness of Gamepad objects w3c/gamepad#8 (Gamepad object liveness)
   • [Kha] gamepad ios safari not working armory3d/armory#1573 (iOS Safari gamepad not working)
   • Gamepad Support seems to cause break in Safari (iOS and Desktop) SplatJS/splat-ecs#38 (Safari gamepad issues)

   Current status

   • Gamepad works on desktop browsers (tested on Mac)
   • iOS Safari gamepad support is broken due to WebKit bugs

   Future investigation ideas

   1. Try using gamepadconnected/gamepaddisconnected events instead of/in addition to polling navigator.getGamepads()
   2. Test on different iOS versions to see if newer Safari versions have fixes
   3. Check if there's a specific user gesture requirement to "activate" gamepad input on iOS
   4. Compare our implementation with working gamepad tester sites' JavaScript to see if they use a different approach
2. amitu

   added

   wontfixThis will not be worked onThis will not be worked on

   on Dec 17, 2025