How to calibrate the PS4 controller

Lately it happens often, playing with the PS4 controller, to find it not working perfectly: some buttons, in essence, are “out of phase” and do not respond correctly to their function. This situation, to put it mildly, is quite bothering you and you are now determined to get to the bottom of it and remedy this frustrating problem.

It occurred to you, in fact, that some time ago you heard some friends talk or read on the various thematic forums about the possibility of performing a pad calibration using software and, from what you have learned, it would be a solution perfectly applicable to your specific needs.

You do not remember, however, what the correct procedure is and you immediately started looking for instructions on how to calibrate the PS4 controller, finally landing on this tutorial of mine. Well, today is your lucky day! In the next paragraphs, in fact, you can refer to a guide that will follow you step by step in the testing and adjustment phases of your gamepad. So, are you ready? Perfect! All that remains is to wish you good continuation and to resolve this nerve-wracking problem soon and definitively.

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to calibrate PS4 controller on PC
• How to calibrate the PS4 controller on smartphones and tablets
• How to calibrate the PS4 controller on console

Preliminary information

During the last game of your favorite video game, you are sure that you have correctly addressed the analog stick of the controller, however, once again, it has resulted in an inaccurate and uncoordinated movement of the character on the screen with respect to your intentions.

I want to reassure you immediately, as this is not an infrequent problem, far from it. Fortunately, however, there are several solutions that you can refer to restore the correct functioning of your trust pad (within the limits of the possible and excluding hardware problems).

You must know, in fact, that inside the pad there is a particularly delicate system for adjusting the movements and weighing the buttons. Therefore, it may happen that the correct calibration of the same undergoes important changes due to mechanical issues, or that the rotation axes of the analog sticks lose the right references due to a software problem (condition that I will deepen in detail in this guide).

In the first case, to dispel any doubts, I recommend that you first clean the PS4 controller, even superficial, in order to eliminate residual dust or accumulations of grease and organic material that could obstruct the regular movement of the mechanisms.

If, on the other hand, you perceive the presence of material damage to the gamepad, in particular to the analog sticks that control its direction, you can try to request replacement/repair following a procedure that is not particularly complex or expensive, of which you can find a full description in this my guide.

Before reaching more extreme solutions, however, I advise you to continue reading the next paragraphs, in which you will find complete instructions on how to perform the controller calibration procedure via software, which in some cases can be decisive.

How to calibrate PS4 controller on PC

Do you have the distinct feeling that the operating problems of your gamepad may be attributable to a software defect that can be solved with the logical rearrangement of the buttons? In this case, let me explain how to calibrate the PS4 controller on PC (from console, unfortunately, this is not possible).

I want to immediately inform that the procedure I am going to export is based on the use of a controller DualShock 4 Wireless by Sony and that the use of different models could lead to the achievement of partially different results than those discussed later. Furthermore, it can only be run on computers with Windows 10 or later operating systems.

First of all, therefore, it is necessary to connect the pad to the computer using the appropriate USB cable: the smaller micro-USB connector, therefore, must be inserted into the relative port located on the front of the game device, while the other connector, of the USB type -A standard, it will be introduced in a free port of the PC.

Alternatively, you can use the Bluetooth connection: in this case the pairing of the devices must be performed with the gamepad turned off (it must not emit light from the front LED), by pressing the PS and Share buttons at the same time: you will see that the controller light will begin to flash at the same time.

At this point, you can go to the Bluetooth settings of Windows 10 (just type the words “Bluetooth Settings” in the search bar located at the bottom left and click on the first result shown) and run the device recognition by pressing the button [+] place at the top, then selecting the Bluetooth mode and pressing on the name of the controller included in the list proposed in the following screen. Read more here.

After having successfully connected the device, it is time to access its settings: to do so, type the words “control panel” in the search bar located at the bottom left and press on the first result that appears.

If you have activated the category view, then, follow the path Hardware and sounds> Devices and printers by pressing on the respective items. Otherwise, if icon view has been applied, you can directly click on the Devices and Printers option.

Now, locate the icon corresponding to your controller and click on it with the right mouse button, then selecting the option Game peripheral settings from the context menu. In the window that is proposed to you, then, click on the Properties button and you will be redirected to a new screen in which the Test tab is directly selected.

From here you can check the operation of each single button of the gamepad and test the different parameters. In the box at the top, called Axes, you can check the attitude of the analog sticks: the X and Y Axes correspond to the one on the left and the graphic representation shown must be consistent with the movement performed by the aforementioned lever.

The operation of the right analog stick, on the other hand, is represented by a dynamic bar graph that indicates the stability of the respective rotation axes. As already mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, these values ​​may be different depending on the controller model used. In this test the Z Axis corresponds to the left/right movement, the Z Rotation is associated with the up / down movement, while the X Rotation and Y Rotation values correspond to the L2 / R2 buttons respectively.

The important thing in this phase is that, when the controller is inactive, the values ​​are balanced and at the same level, without “phase displacements”, while the execution of any movement must necessarily involve a consistent variation of the relative measurement bar. In other words, if, for example, by moving the lever to the right the graph does not undergo variations or changes partially with respect to the intensity of the pressure, undoubtedly you are facing a problem.

The section below, called Buttons, shows small circles that have the purpose of detecting the operation of various buttons of the gamepad (in this case 14 are shown ). You will notice, therefore, that pressing the Cross button (the X to be clear) the first circle will light up and so on. Please note that the test in question also takes into account the L3 and R3 functions of the analog sticks.

The last box, called Point of View, finally allows you to very easily test the regular operation of the directional cross positioned on the left of the gamepad and to visually check the directionality (even diagonal ) which must necessarily be consistent with the pressure exerted.

Have you noticed something wrong? In this you can consider moving on to the actual calibration phase, but I warn you that the procedure is not very linear, as it offers standard instructions that do not completely coincide with the operations that must actually be performed.

By following this guide, however, you should understand without problems how to calibrate the gamepad in an effective and intuitive way: the important thing, in fact, is to keep in mind the association of the buttons with the relative axis, information that you can easily identify, as shown above. indeed, in the test screen.

To start, therefore, click on the Settings tab, located at the top left and click on the Calibration button. A new screen will open and, to start the process, you will have to press the Next button.

At the next step, therefore, follow the indication provided by the wizard that, at this stage, it will help to define the central point: then leaves the gamepad to the neutral position, then pressing any one of the game buttons, for example the X.

You will be shown a new screen dedicated to the calibration of the X and Y axes: in this case, you will have to act on the lever associated with this function by moving it in all directions, to allow a complete detection (in my case the left stick ). Then, press the Next button twice to begin the verification process of the Z Axis which, in this case, is carried out by moving the right analog stick to the right and left.

At this point, you have to press the Next button to perform the same procedure in relation, this time, to the detection of the X, Y and Z rotations. At the end, press the Next button again and conclude the operation by pressing the Finish button.

Consider that, whatever the outcome of the procedure (to tell the truth, in my case it had the positive effect of improving a slight offset of the Z Rotation) you can always return to the previous settings by clicking on the Restore defaults button located to the left of the test button.

Finally, if the problems inherent in the operation of the controller have not led to satisfactory results, you can always perform a more drastic operation, which consists in resetting the pad: in this guide you will find all the information you need to complete the procedure correctly.

How to calibrate the PS4 controller on smartphones and tablets

If you are looking for instructions on how to calibrate the PS4 controller on smartphones and tablets, I must inform you that unfortunately, at the time of writing this guide, there are no tools capable of doing this.

Although it is possible to connect the gamepad to any Android or iOS / iPadOS mobile device through a simple pairing procedure via Bluetooth, in fact, no apps have been developed that allow the pad to be calibrated.

However, I think you might be interested in learning more about another particular connection method that allows you to play the Playstation on your phone using a service called Remote Play. The latter allows both to enjoy the contents through the transmission of the video stream from the console, and to control some basic functions of the PS4 (or PS5) through the smartphone display in the mode called second screen.

How do you say? In fact, have you never heard of it? In this case I suggest you read my guide on how to play the PlayStation on your phone, where I explain in detail the installation and configuration procedure.

How to calibrate the PS4 controller on console

You would like to understand how to calibrate the PS4 controller on consoles and, therefore, you are looking for the relative instructions: unfortunately, as already mentioned before, I must inform you that no functionality has been provided that can perform this operation directly on the PS4.

Currently, therefore, you can only refer to the PC procedure that I explained to you in the dedicated chapter.