GameControllerKit

GameControllerKit is a Swift package that makes it easy to work with game controllers on iOS, macOS, and tvOS. It provides a simple API to connect to game controllers, read input from them, and control their lights and haptics.

Requirements

• Swift 5.9+ (Xcode 15+)
• iOS 13+, macOS 10.15+, tvOS 16+

Installation (Pakage.swift)

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/0xWDG/GameControllerKit.git", branch: "main"),
],
targets: [
    .target(name: "MyTarget", dependencies: [
        .product(name: "GameControllerKit", package: "GameControllerKit"),
    ]),
]

Installation (Xcode)

1. In Xcode, open your project and navigate to File → Swift Packages → Add Package Dependency...
2. Paste the repository URL (https://github.com/0xWDG/GameControllerKit) and click Next.
3. Click Finish.

Usage

import SwiftUI
import GameControllerKit

struct ContentView: View {
    /// The game controller kit
    @State
    var gameController = GameControllerKit()

    /// Log
    @State
    var log: [String] = []

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Button {
                gameController.set(color: .GCKRandom)
            } label: {
                Text("Random Color")
            }

            Text("Controller: \(gameController.controller?.productCategory ?? "None"), " +
                 "\((gameController.controllerType ?? .generic).description)")
            Text("Last action:\n\(String(describing: gameController.lastAction)).")

            GCKControllerView()
                .environmentObject(gameController)

            List {
                ForEach(log.reversed(), id: \.self) { text in
                    Text(text)
                }
            }
        }
        .padding()
        .onAppear {
            gameController.set(handler: handler)
            UIApplication.shared.isIdleTimerDisabled = true
        }
    }

    /// Handler
    ///
    /// - Parameters:
    ///   - action: action
    ///   - pressed: is the button pressed?
    ///   - controller: which controller?
    public func handler(
        action: GCKAction,
        pressed: Bool,
        controller: GCKController
    ) {
        log.append(
            "\(String(describing: action))(\(action.position.arrowRepresentation)) \(pressed ? "Pressed" : "Unpressed"), " +
            "Controller #id \(String(describing: controller.playerIndex.rawValue))"
        )

        if action == .buttonA && pressed {
            // set to a random color
            gameController.set(color: .GCKRandom)
        }
    }
}

Image of Usage Demo App

iOS

MacOS

<img width="1012" alt="AA801C52-88A1-4326-A5DC-3A04DF491077" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f6eaa752-fdda-4ddd-8eeb-acbc9797dc94">

tvOS

Mentions

• Touch-free Touch Screens by Rob Whitaker
  https://appdevcon.nl/session/touch-free-touch-screens/ @ AppDevCon 2025
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHPMuVyjBYw @ iOSKonf25

Contact

🦋 @0xWDG 🐘 mastodon.social/@0xWDG 🐦 @0xWDG 🧵 @0xWDG 🌐 wesleydegroot.nl 🤖 Discord

Interested learning more about Swift? Check out my blog.