Specifications
Technical specifications
What you need, what you do not need, and what is underneath — for both halves: the Android app and ChimpDeck for Windows. The facts, with no padding and no invented figures.
The Android app (phone, tablet, Android TV)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum system | Android 8.0 (API 26) or later |
| To watch the PC | Hardware video decoder for H.264 and/or HEVCThe app only uses hardware decoders, prefers low-latency ones and picks HEVC only when the decoder is a good one. It offers only the resolutions and frame rates that decoder can really play. |
| To share the pad | USB OTG (USB host)The one hardware requirement there is no way around: without OTG the gamepad never reaches the Android device. A wheel or HOTAS needs its own power supply and, on most phones, a powered OTG hub. |
| Root required? | No |
| ADB or USB debugging required? | No |
| Touchscreen required? | NoThe whole interface works with the pad’s D-pad or the TV remote: a true 10-foot interface for Android TV and Shield. |
| Wi-Fi required? | NoAn Android TV box connected only over Ethernet works the same. |
| Devices | Phone, tablet, Android TV and NVIDIA Shield, one appThe layout adapts to the format: side rail on tablets, focus visible from three metres on the TV. |
| In the background | Persistent service with a session watchdog, automatic reconnection and hand-over, autostart on boot or when a pad is plugged in |
ChimpDeck for Windows (host and USB client)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| System | Windows 10 or 11 |
| Graphics card for streaming | NVIDIA (NVENC encoder)NVIDIA only today. AMD and Intel encoding are about to launch. Without an NVIDIA card, the Android app still works as a client for Sunshine or Apollo and as the controller bridge. |
| Installation | One installer: the app, a USB bridge driver signed by Microsoft and a virtual display adapterInstalls per user and never asks for admin again. |
| Video codecs | H.264 and HEVC, up to 4K, SDR and HDR10AV1 is wired through the code but not enabled. HDR: the app asks for it only when the display advertises HDR10 and the decoder has 10-bit HEVC; the PC switches Windows HDR on for the captured display during the session and off afterwards; 10-bit BT.2020 picture with the display’s mastering metadata. No Dolby Vision: it is a proprietary format that no desktop streaming produces. |
| Frame rates | 30, 60, 90 and 120 fpsNo artificial cap: the app offers the rates the device decoder and the PC can deliver, and switches the display to the refresh rate that best multiplies the stream (120 Hz for 60 fps). |
| Sound | Opus 48 kHz, stereo, 5.1 or 7.1, 5 ms frames, 10 ms cushionAutomatic: the app asks for the channels the device’s digital output advertises (HDMI, ARC, optical); it can also be set by hand. With 5.1 or 7.1 the PC configures its virtual output in that layout for the session and restores it afterwards, so the game really mixes in surround. The cushion grows only if the network drops frames and catches up afterwards, so delay never creeps up. If the device’s sound reaches the receiver over optical or ARC (not eARC), links that only carry uncompressed stereo or a Dolby/DTS bitstream, the app encodes the surround as Dolby Digital (AC-3, 640 kb/s) itself and passes it straight through, the way a console does; “How surround goes out” decides on its own (Automatic) or can be pinned to PCM or Dolby Digital. |
| Virtual display | At the device’s exact resolution, learned at pairing, served the same sessionSingle-display by default (your windows stay put, the mouse is never lost), removed when you stop, with four independent ways to restore the monitor — also after a crash or a reboot. No virtual display when the desktop or the real monitor already fits. |
| Input permissions | Three switches on the PC: pointer, typing, controllerEnforced on the host, live: off on the PC means that input does not get in, whatever the phone sends. |
| Shape | Native app with a dashboard; keeps running in the system tray with a status written for humans and the cause next to any problem |
| Published version | 1.0.0Downloaded from this website (/dl/windows/latest). Updates are announced by the app itself. |
Controllers and peripherals
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Over USB | Any gamepad, wheel, HOTAS or arcade stick reaches the PC as the real USB device, with its official driverForce feedback on wheels, every axis and button, four rumble motors addressed one by one (left trigger, left body, right body, right trigger) with pressure-driven trigger feedback. |
| Over Bluetooth | Virtual Xbox 360 controller on the PC (PlayStation identity selectable)Stays connected when the stream starts. Only pads that expose a motor to Android can vibrate over Bluetooth; rumble on the pad where the pad allows it, plus haptics on the phone, is about to launch. |
| Several pads at once | Yes, with nicknames and per-pad filters |
| Works without streaming? | YesSitting at the PC’s monitor, the pad plugged into the phone is a PC controller. The bridge is a product on its own. |
| Gamepad lab | Button tester, drift and dead zone with a verdict, trigger curve, four-motor rumble, reaction testOn the Android device, with or without a PC session. The host has its own test bench. |
Network and meeting point
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| At home | Local network, directly between the device and the PCPicture, sound and controls never pass through a server of ours. |
| Away from home | The ChimpDeck meeting point introduces the two devices and opens a direct pathNo port forwarding, no UPnP, no VPN, no account. Works behind CGNAT (carrier-grade NAT) too, where opening a port is impossible. The app measures the NAT type and tells you whether a direct path is possible. If the meeting point were ever unavailable, the app tries the PC’s public address, as Moonlight does today. |
| Link protection | End to end, on by default, on its own portThe two devices recognise each other the first time they meet. Pairing without typing a PIN: the PC shows who is calling and a number both sides see; accept from the PC or from a trusted phone. |
| Network drops | The host pauses for up to 10 minutes and the app reconnects by itselfThe game stays open where you left it. |
| Quality | Live regulator driven by the PC’s telemetry (encode time, real output, capture cadence)Bitrate, repair (adaptive FEC) and pacing change mid-game without reconnecting. Every frame carries a checksum from the host: a damaged one is repaired or skipped, never decoded. |
| Latency | Measured, not promisedThe app synchronises clocks with the PC and shows the pad’s trip with its error margin (well under a millisecond on a home network in our own tests), plus the encode time, round trip and decode time of the picture. |
| Compatible hosts | ChimpDeck for Windows, Sunshine and ApolloThe app is a full client for Sunshine and Apollo: PIN pairing, app list with box art, launch and resume. The ChimpDeck-only features need the ChimpDeck host. |
How it is built
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Core | Rust |
| Android app | Kotlin with Jetpack Compose |
| Windows host | Native application with its own drivers |
| Method | Original clean-room implementationCompatible with the USB/IP family of protocols for the pad and with the Sunshine/Apollo family for streaming, with ChimpDeck extensions when both ends are ChimpDeck. No third-party code is copied. |
| Open source? | NoIf ChimpDeck were ever discontinued, the source code of the app, the host and its drivers would be released as open source. |
Price and licence
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Free | Every feature, with the Play Cooldown: 2 hours of real play, then a 4-hour cooldownReal play only: the clock runs while the controller is in use and freezes on its own once the pad has been still for two minutes. The app and the host warn 15, 5 and 1 minute before. No account is needed to play. |
| Non Stop Pass | €4.99 + VAT for 30 days (nothing charged automatically) or €39.99 + VAT for lifeSwitches off the Play Cooldown and nothing else. The key is twelve words that never change; it goes to the email you buy with and can be resent. One PC at a time, movable. |
| Where to get it | Google Play for the Android app; this website for ChimpDeck for Windows |
| App version | 1.0.1 |
Who publishes it
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Legal name | Tecno Eurotrading SL |
| Tax ID (NIF) | ESB82779562 |
| Registered address | Calle Caravaña 4, Local 1 · 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, España |
| Contact | Form at chimpdeck.com/contactThe site publishes no email address, to keep it away from spam harvesters. |
What is left out on purpose
There is no latency figure on this page, because latency depends on your network, your gamepad and your PC: the app measures it in your own home and shows the pad’s trip to the PC with its error margin, plus the encode time, the round trip and the decode time of the picture. What is about to launch (AMD and Intel encoding, HDR and AV1, surround sound, rumble over Bluetooth, more platforms) is listed on the home page without dates, and appears here only once it exists.