Getting PhonePad working
About five minutes, most of it a one-time driver install. You need a Windows PC and an Android phone on the same Wi-Fi network.
1. Install the ViGEmBus driver
Windows will not let a normal program invent a controller out of nothing. ViGEmBus is the driver that makes it possible — the same one Parsec and DS4Windows use. You install it once and never think about it again.
Grab ViGEmBus_1.22.0_x64_x86_arm64.exe from that page and
run it. A reboot is not usually needed.
2. Run the PhonePad companion
Download PhonePad-Companion.exe and run it. There is no
installer: it is one self-contained program, and deleting it uninstalls
it.
Download the Windows companion
Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised publisher the first time; the companion is not code-signed. Checksums for every file are in SHA256SUMS.txt on the release page.
Windows will ask whether to allow it through the firewall. Say yes for private networks — PhonePad only ever talks to your own network, and blocking it means your phone can never find your PC. If you clicked the wrong thing, there is an Add firewall rule button under Advanced in the companion window.
You should now see Waiting for your phone and a six-digit pairing code.
3. Install the app
Download PhonePad-arm64.apk onto the phone and open it.
Android will warn you about installing from an unknown source and ask
you to allow it for your browser or file manager. That warning is what
Android says about any app not distributed through the Play Store;
PhonePad is not on the Play Store.
4. Pair, once
Open PhonePad. Your PC appears within a second or two. Tap it, type the six digits shown on the PC, and you are on the controller.
That code is used once, to establish a key the two devices keep. From then on, opening the app and tapping your PC goes straight through — no code, no IP addresses, nothing to remember.
5. Check Windows agrees
Press Win+R, type joy.cpl, press
Enter. You should see Xbox 360 Controller for Windows. Open its
properties and the buttons and axes should light up as you touch the
phone.
If that works, every XInput game on the machine will see the pad. There is nothing to configure per game.
Playing cloud games
Xbox Cloud Gaming works, with one thing to know: launch the game first, then hold the XBOX button on the phone. There is a real reason for it, explained in the cloud gaming guide.
If something is wrong
The troubleshooting page covers what actually goes wrong, in roughly the order it goes wrong.
PhonePad is free and open source, and the controller is not going behind a paywall. If it saved you buying one, you can help pay for the time.