While the vast majority of Android games rely on touchscreen controls, the number of games that offer physical game controller support is increasing. The rise of cloud gaming services, in particular, is making it possible to play touchless PC and console games on Android devices. To bridge the gap between these two input methods, Google is preparing significant game-oriented improvements in Android 17. These improvements aim to give users greater control over key bindings.
Game controller support is getting stronger: Android 17 will allow for key remapping.
When you connect a USB or Bluetooth game controller, Android recognizes it as an input device. The operating system translates key presses into specific codes and translates them into actions in supported games. This mapping is done through predefined configuration files and is determined by the device’s manufacturer ID. While Android offers custom settings for popular hardware (such as Xbox controllers), many niche manufacturers are emulating these popular schemes for compatibility. This strategy allows Android to work with a wide variety of controllers right out of the box.
However, there’s a significant shortcoming in the current system: Android doesn’t support remapping by default. This feature requires relying on game developers, but most standard Android games don’t offer this option. Players have many legitimate reasons for wanting to remap keys, including accessibility, ergonomics, improving response time in competitive games, or simply switching to a familiar layout. Until now, users have relied on third-party tools using ADB or the Accessibility API, but these methods are unreliable and add overhead.
Recent findings suggest that Google is working to fundamentally address this issue. A new system permission called ‘android.permission.CONTROLLER_REMAPPING’ was discovered in the latest Android Canary preview. This permission is protected by a feature flag related to hardware input devices. References to a new menu dedicated to game controllers, though currently empty, were also found within the Settings app. This menu is expected to be a central hub for managing connected controllers and configuring keybindings.
A deeper analysis also identified code hinting at a new feature called a “virtual gamepad.” This appears to be a software representation of a physical controller. The code allows the system to register this virtual device with standard hardware IDs, allowing games to “convince” it’s a real physical controller. This virtual device supports a full set of standard controller inputs, including the A, B, X, and Y buttons, triggers (L1/R1/L2/R2), analog sticks (L3/R3), and the D-Pad.
This virtual gamepad mechanism has potential beyond remapping buttons. The code can also be used to remap on-screen touch controls to physical buttons. This could be revolutionary for games that unfortunately lack native controller support, which makes up a large portion of the Android game library. Google is already known to use similar systems in Chrome OS and Google Play Games for PC. Android 17 is more than six months away, and we’ll have to wait and see how these features are implemented.
Google’s introduction of at least basic button mappings would be a significant upgrade for gamers. So, do you use a physical game controller to play games on your Android device? Do you find these new features useful?
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