Steam Deck Controller Test in Your Browser

Get the Deck’s controls into the browser

A browser on the Deck only sees a gamepad when Steam hands it one:

1. In Desktop Mode, open Steam and choose Add a Non-Steam Game, then pick your browser.
2. Switch back to Game Mode and launch the browser from the Non-Steam tab of your library.
3. In the controller settings for the browser, choose a gamepad layout such as Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad.
4. Open this page and press A.

In Desktop Mode without these steps, the right trackpad moves the pointer and R2 and L2 act as mouse clicks, so the tester waits for a controller that never arrives.

Steam also has its own test at Settings, Controller, Test Controller Inputs (some versions call it Test Device Inputs). It covers the Deck’s own inputs, including the four grip buttons (L4, L5, R4, R5) and the trackpads; hold B to leave it.

What the diagram shows

The diagram is drawn as the Deck itself: the d-pad and the A B X Y buttons on the outer edges, a stick just inside each and the trackpads below them. Through Steam, the browser sees an Xbox-style gamepad: A, B, X, Y, L1, R1, the L2 and R2 triggers, View, Menu, both stick clicks and the d-pad. The Steam and quick access buttons normally open Steam’s menus instead, and the grip buttons and trackpads only appear if your layout maps them to standard buttons, so the trackpads on the diagram never light up themselves.

Drift and deadzones on the Deck

Neither the LCD nor the OLED Deck has Hall effect sticks, so the sticks can drift as they wear. Put the Deck on a table and run the drift test: the result includes a recommended deadzone, the resting offset plus a small margin. Enter it in Settings, Controller, Calibration & Advanced Settings, which has a deadzone slider for each stick with its own live preview.

If the offset keeps growing, the stick needs replacing. iFixit sells genuine Deck sticks; on the LCD model they come in two types, matched by the start of the Deck’s Controller ID (MEDA or MHDA), and the wrong type breaks the sticks’ touch sensing. Valve’s warranty runs one year from shipment, with statutory rights in the EU, UK and some other countries; claims go through Steam Support.

How the browser numbers the Steam Deck’s buttons

Browsers describe a recognised controller with the W3C standard gamepad layout, which numbers buttons by position, not by the symbol printed on them. This is the map the tester uses for the Steam Deck controls; the list under the diagram shows the same numbers live.