Gamepad Tester vs PadVitals
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Gamepad Tester
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Gamepad Tester is the fast, no-setup way to check that your game controller works correctly on iPhone and iPad. Connect over Bluetooth or a cable, and every button, trigger, analog stick, and d-pad direction lights up on screen in real time. Whether you are buying a used controller, hunting down stick drift, or just making sure a new gamepad is fully functional, Gamepad Tester shows you exactly what your controller is sending. WHAT YOU CAN TEST ⢠Buttons and triggers: see every press register instantly, with live trigger pressure values. ⢠Analog sticks: precise X and Y readouts make stick drift easy to spot. Leave the sticks centered and watch for unwanted movement. ⢠D-pad: confirm all four directions and the diagonals. ⢠Rumble and haptics: fire built-in vibration presets, or set the left and right motor strength and duration yourself. ⢠Battery: see your controller's charge level when it reports one. ⢠Controller light: change the LED color on DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers. THREE TEST MODES ⢠Generic Gamepad: a clear, labeled layout with live values and a live input update rate readout. ⢠Universal Gamepad: works with any controller by mapping every input to a numbered slot, ideal when a controller is not fully recognized. ⢠Vibrate Tester: presets and manual controls for rumble and haptics. WORKS WITH ⢠MFi-certified controllers, such as Backbone One and Razer Kishi ⢠Xbox controllers over Bluetooth ⢠PlayStation DualShock 4 and DualSense Controllers that iOS does not recognize natively may not appear, even if they work on other platforms. NO SETUP, NO ACCOUNT Just connect a controller and start testing. There is no sign-in and no configuration, and your controller input is processed on your device. A built-in User Guide covers pairing, supported controllers, battery, stick drift, vibration, and troubleshooting. Gamepad Tester is free and supported by ads.
PadVitals
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See what your connected game controller is doing, right now. PadVitals shows the buttons, sticks, triggers, rumble and sensors of a controller connected to your iPhone / iPad in real time, and measures stick drift and circularity as numbers. Note: this app does not diagnose or certify the controller hardware itself. It measures and visualizes the input data that iOS received on this device. ā Try it before you connect anything - No compatible controller at hand? Demo mode walks through every screen ā button lights, stick trails, each diagnosis and the report ā so you can see what the app does right away - The values shown in demo mode are fictional (they are not measurements from a real device) ā Real-time view - Pressed buttons light up on a schematic, and stick movement leaves a glowing trail - Raw stick / trigger values, motion (gyroscope and accelerometer) and battery level, all in one list - Values standing still is normal. GameController delivers input only when something changes ā A guided diagnosis - Drift ... how far the center wanders once you take your fingers off - Circularity ... spin the stick around once, and the reach at each angle is compared - Input event delivery rate / jitter ... the effective rate of the input that reached the app, and how steady the intervals are (measured on iOS) - Trigger slack ... where the response starts - Rumble and core button response checks The input event delivery rate is not the polling rate of the controller itself. It is the input that reached the app, shaped by the Bluetooth connection interval and by scheduling on the iOS side. ā Follow the wear over time - Results are kept on the device per controller, so the numbers show how things are trending ā A report you can share - The result fits on a single image, ready to post ā Supported controllers - DualSense / DualSense Edge / DualShock 4 - Xbox Wireless / Elite Series 2 - MFi controllers - Apple has not stated support for Nintendo Switch Pro / Joy-Con, so those may or may not work ā Pricing - Free to use, with ads kept modest - Ad removal is a one-time purchase (non-consumable), not a monthly subscription. Purchases can be restored from Settings ā Privacy and terms - Diagnosis results and history are stored on this device only. Diagnostic data is never sent to an external server - Privacy policy: https://padvitals-lab.web.app/en/privacy - Terms of use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Requires iOS 17 or later.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: PadVitals at none against Gamepad Tester's shown. Gamepad Tester's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Gamepad Tester | PadVitals |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | ā | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No ā better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | selvasundar m | Hiroki Nakayama |
In-app purchases
Gamepad Tester
No in-app purchases
PadVitals
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Gamepad Tester free?
Is PadVitals free?
Do Gamepad Tester or PadVitals have ads?
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