Play Mac Games on Your iPhone With a Controller
Updated September 2026 · 3 min read
Short answer: pair the controller with your phone, and your Mac sees it.
Beam streams your Mac to your iPhone or iPad. Since Beam 3.0 and Beacon 1.5.0 it also sends the other way: the state of a Bluetooth controller paired with your phone goes back to the Mac, where Beacon presents it as an Xbox Wireless Controller. Games on the Mac see a normal gamepad with two analog sticks, analog triggers, a d-pad and all the buttons. Nothing to install on the Mac, nothing to configure in the game.
Setting it up
- Pair your controller with the iPhone or iPad in iOS Settings, Bluetooth. Xbox, PlayStation, Backbone and MFi controllers all work.
- Update Beacon on the Mac to 1.5.0 or later. It updates itself, or grab the DMG below.
- Open Beam and start the stream as usual (first time? see the setup guide). A small orange controller badge appears in the top bar while the controller is attached.
- Start the game on the Mac. It sees a controller the moment you touch a stick.
The first time, macOS may ask you to allow Beacon under Privacy and Security. That is the same permission Beacon already uses for the phone controls.
What the Mac sees
macOS only trusts controllers it knows, so Beacon does not invent a new one. It presents the virtual controller as an Xbox Wireless Controller, and macOS applies its own mapping. Every game that supports a controller on the Mac gets the same buttons and sticks it would from the real thing. Beacon Preferences, Controls lets you switch the identity to a PlayStation controller or a generic gamepad, and turn passthrough off entirely.
One button stays on the phone: the Xbox or PS button. iOS reserves it for Game Center, so it never reaches Beam.
How it travels
Controller state is a 14-byte report on the same encrypted local connection that carries the video, sent up to 60 times a second and only when something changes. There is no cloud in the path. Away from home it rides the same Tailscale connection as the stream.
The whole path, wire format included, is open source in Phoros, the protocol package Beam and Beacon are built on.
Good to know
- Foreground only. iOS stops delivering controller input when Beam is in the background or in Picture-in-Picture. Keep Beam in front while you play.
- One controller at a time. Beam forwards the first controller with a full gamepad layout.
- Latency is the video's. The controller adds almost nothing; what you feel is the stream. Use the 1080p 60 fps preset on a good WiFi for the fastest picture.
Questions
Can I play Mac games on my iPhone with a controller?
Yes. Pair a Bluetooth controller with your iPhone or iPad, stream your Mac with Beam, and Beacon presents the controller to macOS as an Xbox Wireless Controller.
Which controllers work?
Any controller iOS supports as an extended gamepad: Xbox Wireless, DualShock 4 and DualSense, Backbone and similar clip-ons, and most MFi pads.
Does the Mac need a driver?
No. Beacon 1.5.0 or later creates the virtual controller itself.
Is there input lag?
Controller data is tiny and travels on the same local connection as the video. What you notice is the stream's own latency.
Your Mac's games, on the couch.
Beacon is free on the Mac. Beam is free on your phone with a daily limit; Beam Unlimited removes it.