Does the new Xbox controller work with your phone or laptop?

As well as refreshing the Xbox One in the form of the sleek Xbox One S, Microsoft has shipped an updated Xbox One controller with one huge improvement — Bluetooth support.

But Bluetooth doesn’t automatically mean it’ll work with every Bluetooth-friendly device, so I decided to put the controller to the test. And for the record Microsoft officially only supports the Xbox One and Windows 10.

Windows 10

As you’d hope the Xbox One S controller supports Windows 10 right out the box. Buuuuut there are some issues I’ve noticed so far.

For one the controller only officially supports the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, not vanilla Windows 10.

Without that update support for the controller is spotty. I have to re-pair the controller every time I restart my computer, for example.

Presumably with the Anniversary Update, which is slowly rolling out worldwide, the controller will function as you’d expect.

iPhone, iPad, iOS

The Xbox One S controller pairs with iOS but it doesn’t work. Some apps, like GBA4iOS, even function as if a game controller is connected, although it still doesn’t understand the input. Even Minecraft fails to recognise any input from the controller.

macOS

Unlike iOS, macOS at least recognises the Xbox One S controller. Analog controls even work right out of the box in Steam. Buuuuuut the face buttons don’t work as they should. The B button functions as the A button for example.

So yeah, you might still have to mess with it a bit to make it work as it should.

We’ll be updating this piece ASAP with Android and other tests (PS4?). Stay tuned, or let us know where you want us to test the controller. Tweet us @glossxyz or comment.