Frequently asked questions.

Yep. Free and open source. No paid tier, no ads, nothing tracking you, and no plans for any of that. The Google Play build lets you leave an optional tip through Google Play, and it unlocks nothing.

Two apps. A Dish client on the device holding your controller (Android, Windows, macOS, or Linux), and Satellite on the PC you play on. Pair them over Wi-Fi and your controller feels wired. If you already run Sunshine, Apollo, or Wolf, Dish can talk to that host directly instead.

DualSense HD haptics over Wi-Fi, a fix for games that waited at their controller screen until you touched the pad, the touchpad and lightbar without Direct mode on Android, adaptive triggers and lights over Bluetooth on Windows and Linux, Diagnostics pages, and pairing keys sealed at rest. Those came after 2.0, which added the controller microphone, Sunshine, Apollo, and Wolf hosts, and Dish for Linux. The what's new page has the details.

Nope. Dish is a standalone wireless gamepad. You can run it on its own and control your gaming PC from the couch with zero video streaming. If you do run Sunshine, Apollo, or Wolf, Dish can pair with that host directly and show up there as a controller, no Satellite needed.

Buttons, sticks, analog triggers, gyro (when the game asks for it), the touchpad, rumble, the lightbar, and battery, for up to four controllers per host. HD haptics, adaptive triggers, and the controller microphone need Satellite: the Moonlight protocol has no microphone channel, and Dish doesn't take trigger effects over it yet.

Dish runs on Android 7.0 and up, Amazon Fire tablets from 2018 on, Windows 10/11, and 64-bit Linux desktops including the Steam Deck. Satellite runs on Windows 10/11 and Linux. The Android app is on Google Play and GitHub Releases; everything else is on the downloads page with a checksum on every file.

Yes, on Fire tablets from 2018 on, which run Fire OS 7 or 8. They don't come with Google Play, so install the APK; the downloads page has the steps. Fire tablets from 2017 and earlier can't run Dish: they're on Android 5.1 or older, and Dish needs Android 7.0. Pair your controller over Bluetooth: Amazon lists the DualShock 4, Xbox One, and Luna controllers for Fire tablets. A wired controller may not work; one owner's older Fire HD 10 kept restarting with a wired Xbox One controller plugged in. Fire tablets from 2018 on have no gyroscope, so the tablet itself can't do gyro aim. Amazon's Alexa Tablets run Android 16 with Google Play, so install Dish from Google Play on those.

Almost certainly. By default your games see a standard Xbox controller, which nearly every PC game with gamepad support accepts. Want the touchpad, motion, or lightbar? Choose a PlayStation pad instead. For a game's DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers, choose DualSense, with Satellite on Windows.

Dish is built for your home network. That's how it stays so fast. You can use it across the internet by bridging with a VPN like Tailscale, but expect more lag. It's fine for slow games and noticeable in fast ones.

Yes. Pair a DualSense, Xbox pad, or other controller to your phone over Bluetooth or plug it in over USB, and Dish forwards everything it does (buttons, sticks, triggers, gyro, touchpad, battery) to your PC, where it shows up as a controller your games recognize. Dish for Windows and Dish for Linux do the same for a pad plugged into a desktop.

Yes. Gyro aim and motion work all the way to your game, the same fine-targeting you get on a DualSense or Switch Pro. And if your controller has no gyro, your phone's own tilt can drive it instead, which is great for tilt-aim games.

Yes. Both fingers, swipes, and the touchpad click reach your game, whether the pad is on USB or Bluetooth. With no DualSense in hand, your phone's screen can act as the touchpad.

Yes. When a game sets the lightbar color, that color shows on the controller in your hand, and on the on-screen DualSense too. It works over USB, and over Bluetooth on the desktop clients and on Android 12 and newer.

Yes, with Satellite on Windows. Games like 007 First Light, God of War, and Horizon Forbidden West vibrate a DualSense by playing audio into it, which is why that only works wired on PC. Satellite shows the game a wired DualSense, and Dish plays the vibration straight into your real DualSense when it's plugged into Dish for Windows or Linux. On Android 14 and newer, Android hides the DualSense's audio output from apps, so there it arrives as regular rumble.

Yes. Choose DualSense as the controller type, with Satellite on Windows, and a game's trigger effects reach your real DualSense: over USB on Android, and over USB or Bluetooth on Windows and Linux. An Xbox pad has no adaptive triggers, so the game never sends them to one.

Yes. When the game shakes the controller, you feel it. On a phone the buzz comes through the phone itself, so your hand feels every hit either way.

Yes. Switch the microphone on for a controller and your phone's microphone becomes the pad's microphone, so voice chat on the PC hears you the way it would through a DualSense. The pad's speaker comes back to your phone too. On Windows and Linux, a DualSense plugged into Dish uses its own headset mic and speaker instead. It's off until you turn it on, and muting stops the capture, so nothing leaves your device. Needs Satellite on Windows and a controller emulated as a DualSense or DualShock 4.

Up to 16 on one PC, each its own player. One person dropping out doesn't drag the others down. Four players is the usual couch, and it handles more.

Steam Link and Moonlight forward inputs from the same device that's receiving the video. Dish splits the two apart. Your phone is the controller, your TV is the screen, and the controller doesn't need any streaming software at all. If you run Sunshine, Apollo, or Wolf, Dish can also join that host as a controller only.

Not much. Between button presses Dish sits almost idle, and when the phone sits untouched while a controller streams, low power mode dims its screen and keeps the stream going.

Yes. You pair with a short-lived 4-digit code, and after that your inputs are private to your two devices. Nobody else on the network can read them or sneak inputs into your game. See the security page for the full picture.

Automatically. Open Dish and your gaming PC shows up by name, usually in under a second. No IP addresses, no setup.

Yes. Satellite checks for new versions and, if you like, downloads and installs them from inside the app. You stay in control: it's cancellable and skippable. Dish for Windows does the same. Dish for Linux tells you and leaves the install to your package manager.

No. No ads, no tracking, no account. Besides your controller input to your own PC, an app sends two things: a crash report when it crashes, and a check for new releases that carries nothing about you. The Google Play build skips the release check, because Google Play updates it. Neither ever includes your inputs, which PC you connect to, or your Wi-Fi name, and both have an off switch in Settings. The full privacy policies are on this site.

It's a nod to Sunshine and Moonlight. Those projects beam video out of your PC; we picked up the broadcasting metaphor on the controller side. Satellite is the receiver on your gaming PC, Dish is the transmitter in your hand. The naming page has the longer story.

Bluetooth adds a bit of lag and hogs the same radio your phone uses for everything else. Wi-Fi is faster and more reliable for this job. That said, Dish can act as a plain Bluetooth gamepad if you specifically want to use your phone with a console or TV box without a PC around.

Partly. It follows the pad your game sees, so you pick Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch per player, and the layout fits your screen. The triggers are analog (slide for a partial pull) and the eight-way d-pad has generous diagonals. You can't move or resize the buttons yet.

Every Dish client and the Satellite dashboard come in English, Spanish, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Bosnian out of the box, with more easy to add.

Open an issue on the relevant GitHub repo: dish-android, dish-windows, or dish-linux for the client, Satellite for the PC app. We try to triage within a couple of days. Security issues go to security@tinkernorth.com.

Yes. Dish for macOS is on the downloads page: a native app for macOS 13 or newer on Apple silicon. It is not signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so the first launch takes one extra step in System Settings, and the download page walks you through it. Satellite for macOS is still waiting on the virtual HID entitlement it needs from Apple, so the receiver stays on Windows and Linux for now.

GitHub Sponsors (recurring) is the most helpful, since steady month-to-month support is what funds the unglamorous costs like code-signing, the Google Play developer fee, and hosting. Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee work great for one-time tips, and the Google Play build of Dish takes tips through Google Play. See the support page. Starring the repos, filing good bug reports, and telling a friend all help too.