ChimpDeck
ChimpDeck — full information
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USB/IP · ANDROID → WINDOWS · LOCAL NETWORK
What is ChimpDeck?
ChimpDeck turns a phone, tablet or Android TV box — an NVIDIA Shield, for example — into a USB gamepad server.
You connect the pad over USB-C, or its USB receiver, to the Android device, and the pad shows up on your Windows PC as if it were plugged in there, across your local network.
Transport uses a compatible USB/IP protocol, with an own clean-room implementation. The core is written in Rust and the Android app in Kotlin with Compose. The ChimpDeck client for Windows is a native window with a web console and a USB bridge.
Who is it for?
For gamers playing from the couch with the PC in another room, for living rooms with Android TV, and for anyone who wants a gamepad on the PC without running cables down the hallway.
How the chain works
The chain is: GAMEPAD → ANDROID (server) → LOCAL NETWORK → PC (client) → GAME.
The pad enters the Android device over USB, and that device acts as the server. USB traffic travels over the local network to the PC, where the client hands it to the system. Windows sees a USB device and loads its official driver, so the game never needs to know ChimpDeck exists.
In three steps: plug in the pad, start the server from the welcome screen, and play.
- 01 · Plug in. Connect the pad to your phone, tablet or Android TV box over USB-C, or plug in its USB receiver.
- 02 · Start. A welcome screen with no menus: one button, “Start server”. The SERVER · PAD · PC chain lights up as each link connects.
- 03 · Play. The pad appears on the PC with its official driver. Rumble travels back from the game to the pad.
Requirements
- Android 8.0 (API 26) or later on the device acting as the server.
- USB OTG, that is, USB host. It is the one requirement there is no way around: without it the pad never gets into the Android device.
- No root needed. No ADB or USB debugging either.
- A touchscreen is not a requirement: the whole app is driven with the pad’s D-pad.
- Nor is Wi-Fi: a box wired over Ethernet works just the same.
- At the other end, a Windows PC on the same local network. It is the only client there is: there is none for Linux or macOS, and none is planned.
Features
- Your pad on the PC, over the network
- Any USB gamepad — Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro, third party — reaches the PC with its official driver. Windows sees USB.
- Latency measured, not promised
- The app measures the phone → PC trip with a synchronised clock and shows you the figure with its margin of error. No “0 ms”.
- Rumble on the way back
- Games shake the pad through the client. On pads with trigger motors, such as Xbox ones, all four motors.
- Your phone drives the client
- Motors, patterns and rumble modes are controlled from the phone, and the PC mirrors the state even with the client minimised to the tray.
- Gamepad tools
- Button tester, stick drift and dead zone, trigger curve, four-motor rumble and a reaction test.
- End-to-end encryption, out of the box
- The link between the Android device and the PC is encrypted with the Noise protocol, on its own port. It is on by default and there is nothing to configure: the two devices recognise each other on their own the first time they meet on your local network.
- Steady in the background
- A session watchdog with reconnection and automatic handover, Wi-Fi in low-latency mode while a session is live, a background service, and autostart on boot or when the pad is plugged in.
- Session summary
- Exportable. Notices when a client takes or releases the pad, nicknames per pad, and several pads with filters.
Gamepad tools
- Button tester
- Press and watch. It also surfaces the unnamed bits the pad sends and nobody documents.
- Drift and dead zone
- The sticks, drawn. You see the drift at rest and where each axis starts responding.
- Trigger curve
- The analogue travel of each trigger, end to end, with its real curve.
- Four-motor rumble
- Fire the motors one at a time: the two in the body and the two in the triggers.
- Reaction test
- Measures your response time with whichever pad is connected at that moment.
Setups
- Phone — The phone on the table
- Phone next to the pad, on the coffee table. Plug in, start, and the PC in the other room gets the gamepad.
- Tablet — Tablet as a console
- On a tablet the interface switches to a side rail: more room for session data and for the gamepad tools.
- Android TV — From the couch to the PC
- On an Android TV box wired to the television, the whole app is driven with the pad’s D-pad. No mouse, no keyboard.
Honest latency
Nobody can promise you zero milliseconds. What you can do is measure it properly and show it.
ChimpDeck synchronises the Android clock with the PC clock and measures the full trip from the pad to the client.
The number you see comes with its margin of error, because a measurement without a margin of error is not a measurement: it is a slogan.
That is why you will not find a latency figure on this page. The figure depends on your network, your pad and your PC, and the app gives it to you in your own home — not a banner on a website.
Coming soon
- Bluetooth mode Coming soon
- A virtual Xbox 360 pad on the PC, over the same tunnel the USB mode already uses.
- PC streaming to the living room Coming soon
- Bringing the PC picture to the television by integrating Moonlight and Sunshine.
Downloads
The Android app is the server; ChimpDeck for Windows is the client, a native window with a web console and a USB bridge. There are no public links yet.
Both downloads will be available very soon.
What the “Non Stop Pass” is
The “Non Stop Pass” is ChimpDeck’s paid unlock. It is not a company, a sponsor or a third-party service: it is the name of the paid product, and it is not translated into any language.
ChimpDeck can be used for free. The free tier has a per-session play-time limit; the Non Stop Pass removes that limit. That is all it does: it unlocks no hidden features and changes nothing about how the gamepad travels.
- Free: every feature, with a per-session play-time limit.
- With the Non Stop Pass: the same ChimpDeck, without that limit.
- The price is not published yet.
- Link encryption does not depend on this: it is always on, on the free tier too.
What this site does not say
There are no prices, no release dates, no stores and no concrete latency figures. When they exist, they will be published here. Latency is measured on your own network and the app shows it with its margin of error.
Frequently asked questions
Which gamepads work?
Any USB gamepad: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and third-party pads. They reach the PC with their official driver because Windows sees them as USB devices.
Do I need a cable between the Android device and the PC?
No. The only cable is the one from the pad to the Android device. Between the Android device and the PC there is your local network.
Does rumble work?
Yes. Games shake the pad through the client. On pads with trigger motors, such as Xbox ones, all four motors are driven.
How much latency does it add?
It depends on your network, your pad and your PC. The app measures the phone-to-PC trip with a synchronised clock and shows you the figure with its margin of error. That is why we publish no number here: the real number is the one the app gives you at home.
Is the traffic between the phone and the PC encrypted?
Yes. The link between the Android device and the PC is encrypted end to end with the Noise protocol, on its own port. It is on out of the box and there is nothing to configure: the two devices recognise each other on their own the first time they meet on your local network. There is no server in the middle either, so gamepad traffic never leaves your network.
What do I need to use it?
A device running Android 8.0 or later with USB OTG, a USB gamepad, and a Windows PC on the same local network. No root, no ADB, no touchscreen and no Wi-Fi: a television box wired over Ethernet works just the same.
Is there a Linux or macOS client?
No, and none is planned. The only client that exists is the Windows one. If the destination computer is anything else, ChimpDeck is not for you and a general-purpose USB-over-IP is worth a look.
What is the “Non Stop Pass”?
It is ChimpDeck’s paid unlock; it is not a company or a sponsor, and the name is not translated. ChimpDeck can be used for free, with a per-session play-time limit, and the Non Stop Pass removes that limit. The price is not published yet.
Is it open source?
No. The implementation is our own and built clean-room, with a Rust core and a Kotlin and Compose app, but the code is not open.
Can I use it to see the game picture on the television?
No. ChimpDeck carries the gamepad to the PC, not the PC picture to the television. For that you need streaming: Steam Link, Moonlight with Sunshine, or Parsec. Integrating Moonlight and Sunshine is on the list of what is coming.
Does it keep running if I leave the app?
Yes. There is a background service with a session watchdog, reconnection and automatic handover, plus autostart when the device boots or when the pad is plugged in. While a session is live, Wi-Fi is put into low-latency mode.
Does it work on an Android TV box?
Yes. On tablets and in the living room the interface switches to a side rail and is driven entirely with the pad’s D-pad.
Where do I download it?
There are no public links yet. The Android app and the Windows client will be available very soon.
Read on
- Comparison with the alternatives
- What each tool solves — VirtualHere, native USB/IP, Steam Link, Moonlight, Parsec, DS4Windows — and when the right answer is not ChimpDeck.
- Guides by use case
- Using your PC gamepad from the living room, sending a pad to the PC over the network, passing a USB gamepad to Windows, using an Android TV box as the server.
- Technical specifications
- Requirements, platforms, protocol, encryption and how it is used, in a table.