Android Pie adds controller mapping for the Xbox One S wireless controller

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If you look at the categories in the Play Store and the iOS App Store, you’ll notice one thing: the games category is far and away the most popular for both platforms. This is true for a number of reasons, but each of them had to mature in ways no one had thought of when the first iPhone and the first Android smartphone were released. One of the big drawbacks to next level gaming on Android dealt with lack of controller support, but now Android 9 Pie has finally added controller mapping support for the Xbox One S’s wireless controller.

A couple of years ago, Microsoft released the Xbox One controller that actually included Bluetooth instead of some proprietary wireless technology. This made a lot of mobile Android gamers happy because this was their answer to leaving the wired cable adaptation. Personally, I had been using one of the Nyko plastic clips that let you snap in a controller and wedge in a smartphone above it. You would then need to plug in these two devices for it to work. While it did work in supported games, it was far from perfect.

The Xbox One S controller’s addition of Bluetooth did connect to Android devices as it should have, but some games had issues with button mapping. In the game Android Police tested, the button mapping seemed all over the place and just didn’t make any sense. So Android enthusiasts were quick to go to Google’s Issue Tracker and let the company know what was going on. This bug report lasted from August 2016 until yesterday, August 22nd, 2018, when a Google engineer finally marked it as fixed.

The developer said “This bug should be fixed in P” and therefore they are marking this bug report as fixed. The commit for this new key layout that was updated in AOSP and should be in all releases of Android 9. Pie. Do you use an Xbox One S controller with your Android device? Does the button mapping work better in Android Pie?