How To Connect Moga Controller To Iphone

Unless a game is specifically designed for use with a touch screen, gaming on a smartphone can be an awkward experience. Most games, including all Project xCloud titles, are designed for dual-analog gamepad play. The PowerA Moga XP5-X Plus is just the sort of gamepad for those games, designed with Project xCloud in mind. The $69.99 controller works over wired and Bluetooth connections, and includes a phone clip and a full-size USB port for using its built-in 3,000 mAh battery as a portable battery pack to charge your phone.

Design

The XP5-X Plus looks and feels like a standard Xbox Wireless Controller, if slightly lighter. It features two analog sticks, a direction pad, four face buttons, and four trigger buttons, all arranged in the standard Xbox configuration—complete with a big, round Guide button with the Xbox logo in the middle.

In addition to the standard controls, the XP5-X Plus also has two Advanced Gaming Buttons on the back, just like the PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox and the PowerA Nano Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch. They're flat buttons that rest naturally under the middle fingers, and can be mapped to serve as any other digital control on the gamepad (face buttons, LB/RB shoulder buttons, direction pad presses). A third button on the back, near the bottom edge of the gamepad, lets you program the Advanced Gaming Buttons however you want.

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If those aren't enough controls for you, the XP5-X Plus also features a battery status button with four indicator LEDs, a switch that toggles the controller's use as a 3,000mAh external battery, and a smaller switch that activates either the USB or Bluetooth modes. Finally, a Bluetooth pairing button sits on the top edge of the controller between the triggers, along with a micro USB port for charging and a USB-A port for using the controller as a battery pack.

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Since it's designed for mobile gaming, the XP5-X Plus comes with a phone holder that attaches securely to the controller's center. The phone cradle is a rectangular piece of plastic with four stabilizing teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom. The top teeth are mounted on a springy arm that lets the holder accept phones of 2.2 to 3.3 inches in width. Two adjustable hinges connect the phone holder to the clip that attaches to the controller, with small knobs that let you loosen and tighten the hinges to set your phone at the ideal angle.

Besides the phone clip, the XP5-X Plus comes with a 6.6-foot-long, USB-to-micro-USB cable for charging the controller or using it wired with a PC; a foot-long, micro-USB-to-micro-USB cable for using the controller wired with a phone in the clip; and a foot-long, USB-to-micro-USB cable for charging a phone in the clip through the gamepad's USB-A port. Both foot-long cables have micro-USB-to-USB-C adapters on short tethers for users with USB-C phones.

Compatibility and Performance

I tested the XP5-X with my Google Pixel 3a XL in both wireless and wired modes. With the gamepad in wireless Bluetooth mode, I connected the controller to my phone by pairing it like any other Bluetooth device. It worked perfectly with the Project xCloud app. In USB mode, the gamepad lit up and began working as soon as I connected the micro USB port on the controller to my phone's USB-C port with the included foot-long cable.

The XP5-X works perfectly with Project xCloud, serving as an Xbox controller in any game on the service, and easily navigating through the app's library. I fought some matches in Soul Calibur VI with the XP5-X, and it felt just like I was playing on my Xbox One, just with a much smaller screen.

Outside of Project xCloud, whether the XP5-X works with your Android game of choice will depend on that game's controller support and how it's implemented. I couldn't get the gamepad to work with Call of Duty: Mobile, despite the app having wireless gamepad support. However, it worked just fine with Asphalt 9: Legends, letting me navigate menus and steer with ease.

Using the XP5-X with your PC is easy if you plug it in with the long USB cable, but Bluetooth is another story. By default, the controller functions as a DirectInput device, which Windows can't do much with unless a game is specially set up for it or you use software to remap the inputs as XInput commands. The XP5-X only functions as DirectInput when connected over Bluetooth, but you can switch the controller to XInput when you have a wired connection by holding the Menu and View buttons for three seconds. After taking this extra step, I played Fall Guys on my PC with the gamepad, using the USB cable. It felt just as responsive as any other gamepad I've used for PC gaming.

A Jack-Of-All-Trades Mobile Controller

The PowerA Moga XP5-X Plus is one of the best smartphone controllers we've used so far, mainly because it feels and acts just like a console gamepad. It works great for Project xCloud and any Android game that supports its type of controls, and you can use it as a wired Windows gamepad, too. Add the ability to charge other devices with its built-in battery, and you have a very handy controller for a stiff, but reasonable, $70. It earns our Editors' Choice for the features it offers as a mobile (and optionally PC) gamepad.

If you want a smaller package for your Project xCloud gaming and don't mind spending a bit more cash, the Razer Kishi for Android (Xbox) is a much more compact controller that snaps over your phone like Joy-Cons on a Nintendo Switch, though it's $30 more expensive and doesn't have wireless or PC connectivity like the XP5-X does.

PowerA Moga XP5-X Plus

Cons

The Bottom Line

The PowerA Moga XP5-X Plus controller lets you enjoy a full-size gamepad experience with your mobile games, and it can serve as a wired PC controller in a pinch.

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