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Install the helper
Download padlinq-setup.exe and run it. One click — Windows prompts for admin, the driver is set up for you.
✨ Free while in beta · No account required
Scan a QR. Play Steam, Game Pass, or any PC game — at home or across the internet. Stream the screen back to your phone, split it between up to 8 players, and pick from 15+ controller layouts. No app on the phone. No cables. No spare controllers to hunt down.
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit · ≈ 8 MB installer · Uninstall anytime
How it works
Download padlinq-setup.exe and run it. One click — Windows prompts for admin, the driver is set up for you.
The helper prints a link to padlinq.com/app with your PC already filled in. Hit Claim, and a session QR appears.
Point your phone’s camera at the QR. The controller loads in the browser, and Windows sees it as an Xbox pad.
Features
Scan a QR and the controller loads in your phone’s browser. iPhone and Android, no App Store, no permissions dance.
Windows sees a virtual Xbox 360 (XInput) or DualShock 4 (DInput) pad — your phone shows up in Steam, emulators, Game Pass, every PC game.
Pair up to eight phones to one PC. Couch co-op for the whole room without ever buying another controller — each player picks their own layout.
Default mode pairs over a tiny signalling relay so the phone doesn’t even need to be on the same WiFi. Inputs flow peer-to-peer over WebRTC after pairing.
PadlinQ installs as a PWA. One tap launches the controller fullscreen — no Safari chrome, no accidental swipes.
Plug in a Backbone, Razer Kishi, or any Bluetooth/USB pad and the phone auto-hides the on-screen layout so the streamed game gets the full screen.
Toggle screen streaming in admin and your PC display appears live behind the on-screen controller — couch, kitchen, patio, anywhere on internet or LAN.
Window-mode capture (WGC) sends just one app instead of the whole desktop. Notifications, second monitors, and stream-snipers stay out.
Drag-and-drop region editor in admin assigns each phone a slice of the stream. One-click presets for 2-up, 3-up, and 2×2 quad layouts.
The admin panel shows what the helper is actually capturing, with each player’s region drawn on top so you can crop directly on the live feed.
Each player picks Fast, Balanced, or Fidelity from their phone — so the kid on 4G and the partner on the same WiFi each get the right tradeoff.
NVENC, Quick Sync, AMF and VAAPI paths with playout-delay hints set to zero. Audio device picker per session.
Xbox, PlayStation (retro), NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Genesis, Joy-Con (single & dual), fight stick, racing wheel, touchpad, on-screen keyboard, and a fully custom layout.
Default, Dark, Neon, Mono, Arcade, Glass, and High-Contrast. Pick the one that matches your game — or your aesthetic.
Switch face buttons between Xbox (ABXY), DualShock 4 (△○✕□), or Nintendo Pro (BAXY) glyphs to match the game on screen.
In-app editor for every button, stick, and trigger. Resize, reposition, share by URL.
Tap = digital press. Drag past the threshold = analog. Same button, both behaviors, no settings menu to learn.
Racing layout uses phone tilt for the left stick. Android phones get rumble feedback on every press through the vibration API.
Shrink the layout, slide it to a corner, play one-handed on the bus. Per-phone preference, saved across sessions.
Live source preview, paired-player list, log viewer, system-tray quick access. Open it on the host PC or from any device with the helper’s URL.
Push a specific layout to one player or pin the whole session to one layout — and lock the picker so nobody “accidentally” switches to fight stick.
Match every player’s face buttons to the game’s on-screen prompts. Pushed instantly over the relay.
Default mode uses our signalling relay so phones don’t need to be on the same WiFi. Run with --lan-only and PadlinQ never touches the internet.
A uinput backend lets the helper run on Linux desktops. macOS is on the roadmap.
The relay only introduces your phone to your PC. Once paired, every byte — inputs, audio, screen — flows directly between the two devices and never touches our servers.
No sign-up form, no email collection, no analytics ping by default. Opt in if you want to help us debug; otherwise PadlinQ is invisible.
Download, play, and tell us what to fix. No card, no signup, no nag screens. Uninstall takes everything with it.
Who it’s for
TV mirrored from your PC, phone in hand. No cables, no extra hardware.
Friends walk in, scan a QR, they’re player two. Skip the controller hunt.
Hotel WiFi, parents’ house, anywhere with internet — your PC is one QR away.
Hand them a phone, not a $70 controller. Custom layouts for tiny hands.
NES, SNES, N64, fight stick layouts ship in the box. Built for emulator front-ends.
Capture a single game window so your second monitor and notifications stay off-stream.
Questions
Yes — free while in beta, with no account, no card, and no upsell screens. We’ll be transparent well before that ever changes.
A Windows 10/11 PC, an internet connection, and any phone with a browser. The phone does not have to be on the same WiFi as the PC.
No. Your phone just loads a webpage. iPhone users can tap "Add to Home Screen" for a fullscreen, app-like experience — still no App Store involved.
Yes, with the --lan-only flag. The helper serves the admin page on your LAN and pairs phones on the same WiFi — no relay involved. The default online mode uses a small signalling relay to introduce the two devices, then gets out of the way; inputs flow peer-to-peer over WebRTC in both modes.
Enable it in the admin panel and your PC screen (or a single window) appears live behind the on-screen controller. The stream is captured via Windows Graphics Capture and sent peer-to-peer — your video never passes through our servers.
Up to eight phones per PC. Each phone gets its own session code from the admin page, and you can force a layout or button skin per slot.
Linux support is in beta (uinput backend). macOS support is planned but not yet shipped.
Inputs go peer-to-peer over a WebRTC data channel. On the same WiFi you’ll typically see single-digit milliseconds; across networks, it’s roughly your phone’s ping to your PC.
One installer. No phone-side setup. No account. Uninstall anytime.
Download PadlinQ for WindowsFree while in beta · ≈ 60 seconds from download to first input
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