V vs Phone Controller
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
V
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V-Pad turns your iPhone into a game controller for the computer in front of you. Twin analog sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, shoulders and analog triggers — on a layout you can rearrange, resize and recolour until it fits your thumbs. BEFORE YOU START V-Pad needs a small free program running on your computer: V-Pad Helper, for Windows and macOS, from vpadcontroller.com. Your phone reaches it over your own Wi-Fi — both devices on the same network, nothing in the cloud, no account, no sign-in. Why not Bluetooth? iOS does not let a third-party app present itself as a Bluetooth gamepad. That is a platform rule, not a missing feature, and it is why every iPhone app in this category ships a desktop companion. ON WINDOWS The helper creates a real virtual Xbox 360 controller. Games and Steam see an ordinary XInput pad — no key mapping, sticks and triggers stay analog. ON macOS Apple grants no third-party app a virtual gamepad, so the pad is mapped to keyboard and mouse instead: left stick to WASD, D-pad to the arrows, right stick to the mouse, triggers to clicks. Games that insist on a real controller will not find one on a Mac. 22 LAYOUTS, READY TO PLAY Classic, Pro, Edge and Compact for the shape of your hands. Football, Tactical and Sci-Fi for the kind of game. Crimson Dragon and Gold Dragon for their own illustrated worlds. Plus a metal and neon set: Chrome, Gold, Rose Gold, Gunmetal, Obsidian, Sapphire, Emerald, Copper, Volt, Neon, Plasma, Circuit, Prism. MAKE IT YOURS Drag any control where you want it. Pinch to resize. Change its colour and shape. Pick a backdrop for the app and a separate surface for the pad. Save your own layouts and open them straight from the home grid. SHORTCUTS Bind a sequence of presses to a single control, with the timing recorded as you tap — up to five seconds per shortcut. One thumb, several inputs. TILT TO STEER Racing Gyro turns the phone itself into a wheel: hold it in landscape and tilt. It drives the left stick, so any game that steers with a stick steers with your hands. VOLUME KEYS AS BUTTONS Assign the physical volume keys to gamepad buttons. They only act as buttons on the gamepad screen and behave normally everywhere else. TUNE THE FEEL Stick deadzone and response curve. Haptics set per group — face buttons, shoulders, triggers, system buttons, D-pad, sticks — each with its own strength. Triggers as analog drags or single presses. Press glow on or off. TWELVE LANGUAGES English, Turkish, German, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. FREE, WITH ONE OPTIONAL PURCHASE Every layout and every setting is free, with ads. V-Pad Premium is a single one-time purchase — not a subscription, nothing recurring: it removes every ad and unlocks saving your own custom layouts. Privacy: no accounts, no servers of ours, and nothing you do in the app is reported back to us. Full policy at vpadcontroller.com/privacy.
Phone Controller
Transform your iPhone into a wireless gamepad for your Windows PC. Customize button layouts, add motion and touch feedback, and connect multiple devices over your local Wi-Fi network. Requires a companion app and driver installation on your PC.
- Wireless gamepad for Windows PC
- Customizable button layouts
- Motion and touch feedback
- Connect multiple devices
- Local network connection
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Turn your iPhone into a wireless gamepad for a Windows PC on the same Wi-Fi network. Phone Controller requires the Phone Controller Windows companion and the ViGEmBus virtual controller driver on your PC. Install them before playing. This app does not connect directly to a game console and does not include games. CUSTOMIZE YOUR CONTROLS Use a full two-stick controller or left- or right-hand single-stick layouts. Move and resize buttons, with separate saved layouts for portrait, landscape and upright or sideways holding. Use independent touches for sticks and buttons. ADD MOTION AND TOUCH FEEDBACK Enable optional gyroscope and accelerometer controls for compatible PC software through the companion's DSU motion bridge. Adjust sensitivity and calibrate while still. Optional iPhone haptics provide feedback for button presses and stick movement. Motion support depends on the game or emulator and its configuration. CONNECT ON YOUR LOCAL NETWORK Scan the QR code in the Windows companion using the in-app scanner, or paste the pairing URL. Keep the companion open while playing. Up to four phones can connect as independent controllers. One phone supplies one motion source. No app account, ads or analytics. Use a trusted private network: local controller traffic is unencrypted. See the privacy policy for the data sent to your computer. Compatibility: iPhone with iOS 17 or later; Windows PC with the companion and ViGEmBus installed; both devices on the same local network. Games must support compatible controller input. Motion requires a compatible DSU client. Standalone left/right layouts require manual game or emulator bindings. Haptic feedback depends on device hardware. Phone Controller is an independent app and is not affiliated with Nintendo or Microsoft. Joy-Con and Xbox names describe control compatibility. The app does not provide IR, NFC, Nintendo HD rumble or absolute positional tracking.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Phone Controller at none against V's 1. Phone Controller also leads on ads (none vs shown). V's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. V sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Phone Controller asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | V | Phone Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | — |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SAMET VOLKAN CAVUSOGLU | Jake Jin |
In-app purchases
V
- V-Pad Premium Lifetime$4.99
Phone Controller
No in-app purchases





