Switch Pro controller test. What the browser does to it.
A Switch Pro Controller is a HID device, but it needs setting up before it sends its full state. Chromium does that itself: its nintendo_controller.cc performs a handshake over USB, stops the pad falling back to Bluetooth, turns on player light 1 and puts it in standard full report mode, which its comment says reports at 60 Hz. This page shows what arrives, through the Gamepad API and through WebHID.
One check · Five seconds a reading
Asks for: A controller, and a button press. It runs in its own window and nothing leaves this page.
In short
Switch Pro controller test: the answer first
A Switch Pro Controller can be tested in Chrome or Edge, which set it up themselves: a handshake over USB, then the pad's standard full report mode, which Chromium's code describes as 60 Hz. This page identifies it and measures how often its state arrives through the Gamepad API and over WebHID.
Reading your result
- Near 60 Hz is the mode, not a fault
- The full report mode Chromium sets reports at about 60 Hz by its own comment, so a reading near 16 ms is that mode.
- Dropping off a cable
- The pad falls back to Bluetooth when it gets no USB commands. Another program holding it can cause that.
- Layout
- Nintendo's face buttons are lettered differently from Xbox's; the browser reports them by position.
What it measures
Measured here, not assumed.
- Identified, by number
- Nintendo's vendor number 057e and the Pro Controller's 2009, as Chromium's gamepad code names it.
- Gamepad API interval
- Every change of Gamepad.timestamp while you roll a stick for five seconds. In Chrome and Edge, expect it near the pad's full report rate rather than the browser's 4 ms polling.
- WebHID report interval
- The pad's own reports in Chrome and Edge, with the report numbers seen. The page sends the pad nothing, so what it gets depends on whether the browser or another program has already set it up.
- Drift at rest
- The gamepad tester's reading: still for a second and outside our 8 percent dead zone is drift.
If it fails
The usual failures, and what fixes each.
- Seen on a cable, then lost
- By Chromium's own comment, the Pro Controller falls back to Bluetooth if it gets no USB commands for a while. Chrome and Edge send them; another program that holds the pad can get in the way. Close Steam or a remapper and reconnect.
- Will not pair
- Press the small sync button on top until the player lights run, then pair from the system's Bluetooth settings.
- A and B, X and Y are swapped
- Nintendo's layout puts A on the right where Xbox has B. The browser's standard layout follows position, so the right face button is reported as the one in Xbox's B position. Games map it themselves.
Where a browser stops
What it cannot tell you.
- Motion sensors and the HD rumble. Chromium's setup leaves the motion sensor off, and the Gamepad API's standard layout does not carry it.
- The pad in browsers that do not set it up. Without the setup it may send only a short report or nothing useful; Firefox and Safari behave differently from Chrome.
- Battery level, which this page does not decode.
- Input lag, which needs a camera or a photodiode.
Privacy
Nothing leaves this page.
The camera and microphone are read on this page and stopped as soon as they have been measured. The clip you can play back lives in the browser's memory and is discarded when you leave. The location check discards the position. The internet test sends random bytes to this site and nothing else. The result is stored nowhere unless you ask for it by email, and then only the fact that an email was sent is kept.
Questions
Switch Pro controller test, answered
- How do I test a Switch Pro Controller on a PC?
- Connect it by USB-C or Bluetooth, open the test above in Chrome or Edge and press a button. The page identifies it and measures how often its state arrives; the gamepad tester shows every button.
- Why is the Switch Pro Controller's rate lower than other pads?
- Chromium puts it in its standard full report mode, which its code comments describe as 60 Hz. The WebHID reading shows the interval you actually get.
- Does it work in Firefox?
- Firefox reads controllers through the Gamepad API too, but this page has not checked how it sets the Pro Controller up. Chrome and Edge are the browsers whose setup this page describes, from Chromium's source.
- Can I use a Switch Pro Controller for PC games?
- Many games and Steam support it. This page shows whether the browser reads it and how often; a game may use its own driver and behave differently.
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