Never Lose Another Game with Your iPhone or iPad's Hidden Cheat Mode — Here's How It Works

Games have become easier, thanks to Apple. There is a little-known feature on your iPhone or iPad that allows you to easily overcome hard-to-beat opponents through levels that you can't catch for a long time, and even helps you master a new game faster.

This "secret weapon" that fights high-difficulty challenges requires the latest system support. You need to upgrade to at least iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 to enable this feature and to top the rankings. Yes, you read it right - many people think it's "cheating", and in a way, they're right. But when you get stuck in a level and can't move, face the opponent who always loves to show off and lose repeatedly, or want to survive longer in team battles, it's not bad to occasionally use some external force.

This feature, called Buddy Controller , can be regarded as an accessibility in nature, but it is not in the Accessibility setting. After correct configuration, it can combine two independent Bluetooth gamepad inputs into one player operation. This means that two people can control the same character at the same time, fighting side by side in any iOS or iPadOS game that supports external controllers. Whether it is platform jumping, first-person shooting, battle royale games - almost any type can be used.

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Let's demonstrate step by step how to pair gamepads and use the Buddy Controller function. Although this article takes iPhone and iPad as examples, this feature also works on Apple TV (tvOS 16 or later) and Mac (macOS Ventura 13 or later).

Pairing handle device

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, go to the Bluetooth option, and make sure that Bluetooth is turned on. Next, switch your gamepad to pairing mode—there are slightly different ways of operating between brands and models. (A partial list of compatible handles is attached at the end of the article.) Here are some examples of pairing methods for common handles:

• Nintendo Switch Joy-Con handle : Press and hold the Sync button separately regardless of whether the left and right handles are turned on until the indicator light starts to flash.
• PlayStation handle : When closed, press the Create (or Share) button and the PS button at the same time until the light bar starts to flash.
• Xbox controller : When powered on, press the pairing button (( , until the indicator light blinks.
• MFi certified handle : Press the pairing key after powering on until the light on the handle starts to flash. This is a general process, and some handles may have more complex pairing steps.

At this point, your iPhone or iPad can search for the controller and it will be displayed in the Other Devices column under "My Devices". Click its name to continue.

The system may pop up a Bluetooth pairing request, prompting that the controller wants to connect to your device, click "Pair".

The handle should now appear in the My Devices list, showing as connected. Some handles support renaming, which is especially useful when connecting multiple devices of the same model. To change the name, click the Information (i) button to make the change.

Repeat the above steps to complete the pairing of the second (or more) handles.

Connect the partner handles together

After completing the handle pairing, enter the General menu in "Settings" and open the "Game Controller" submenu.

All connected handles will be listed here. Clicking "Identify Controller" can make the corresponding handle vibrate, making it easier for you to confirm which one it is - especially useful if it is not renamed. At the bottom of the page is the newly added Buddy Controller area, click "Connect Controller" to continue.

If you are using Nintendo Joy-Con, note: a single left and right Joy-Con cannot use the Buddy Controller function on iPhone/iPad as a standalone controller - you need two sets of Joy-Cons to achieve two-person control. Currently Joy-Con does not officially support Buddy Controller, so you may not see the "Connect Controller" option. But our tests found that in some games, we can still implement a double set of Joy-Con to operate a character together, as explained later.

Next, select the handle combination you want to use. One of them is the primary handle and the other is the auxiliary handle (Buddy). If necessary, click the handle name to modify it.

It should be noted that the custom configuration file you set for the controller in the "Game Controller" menu will no longer take effect after enabling Buddy Controller mode, and the system will restore the default settings. However, it is still recommended that you create personalized configurations for yourself when playing alone. You can reassign keys, rockers, triggers, gestures and other functions to improve operation comfort and optimize control layouts according to different games.

After the selection is finished, click "Done".

Returning to the Game Controller menu, you can now see the connected combinations in the Buddy Controller area. The main name is the main control handle, and the text below shows the auxiliary handle.

As long as both handles in this pair are connected and activated, the system will display a new Connected option in the active group, and the status of both handles will change from Connected to Linked.

You can also create multiple Buddy Controller combinations to fit different handles. If you want to delete a pair, just swipe the entry left.

Two-person collaboration, one role

As long as both controllers are activated and successfully linked, they will work together immediately after entering a game that supports controller operation. But please note that not all games support external controllers. You can find it in the App Store's relevant recommendation list, or refer to the more complete catalog provided by other websites. When you are not sure, you can first open the target game and test whether the controller can control the character.

We tested two Xbox wireless controllers that worked perfectly in all the games we tried.

Joy-Con's situation is slightly different. Since Joy-Con does not display the Buddy Controller option, you may think it is unavailable. But we found that in some compatible games, using two sets of Joy-Cons can still achieve a dual-player co-control of a character, such as Call of Duty: Mobile Game (pictured below) and Joy Jetpack. However, this may be caused by a system vulnerability and may not be able to operate stably on all devices.

List of partially compatible Bluetooth handles

• 8BitDo Pro 2 Bluetooth controller
• Backbone One iPhone dedicated mobile game controller
• GameSir T4 Mini Gamepad
• GuliKit KingKong 2 Pro Wireless Handle
• Nintendo Joy-Con (left/right)
• PlayStation DualShock 4 Wireless Handle
• PlayStation 5 DualSense Wireless Handle
• PlayStation 5 DualSense Edge Wireless Handle
• SteelSeries Nimbus Wireless Gamepad
• Xbox Wireless Controller (Bluetooth Edition, Model 1708)
• Xbox Wireless Control Series S
• Xbox Wireless Control Series X
• Xbox Elite Wireless Control Series 2
• Xbox adaptive controller

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Cover, screenshots and animations provided by Brenda Ramirez/Gadget Hacks

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