Connect a PS5 DualSense to a Fire TV Stick — even if it won't pair
The DualSense is a fantastic pad, and the Fire Stick really doesn't want to work with it — refusing to pair, or connecting with every button in the wrong place. The trick is to never let the Fire Stick touch it.
Why the DualSense and Fire TV don't get along
Fire OS's Bluetooth handling of PlayStation controllers is notoriously patchy. Depending on your stick and software version, the DualSense will either fail to pair at all, or pair and then mis-map — face buttons swapped, triggers reading as buttons, sticks off. Fixing the mapping properly needs root access and editing key-layout files, which isn't realistic for most people.
Meanwhile, that same DualSense pairs to your phone flawlessly. So we relay it from there.
The fix: relay the DualSense through your phone
Pair the DualSense to your phone, and Controller Gateway sends its input over Wi-Fi to the Fire Stick as a standard Xbox controller — correctly mapped, low latency, no root, nothing installed on the stick.
Get the full version — £5.99Step by step
- Put the DualSense in pairing mode. With it off, hold PS + Create (the small button top-left) until the light bar flashes.
- Pair it to your phone from Android's Bluetooth settings.
- Enable ADB debugging on the Fire TV. Settings → My Fire TV → About → tap the device name seven times, then turn on ADB debugging.
- Open Controller Gateway, Find your Fire Stick, tap Start, and approve the one-time prompt on the TV. Your DualSense now drives the Fire Stick as a clean Xbox pad.
Because the Fire Stick never touches the DualSense, you also dodge its Bluetooth device limit and the lag its radio adds — on older sticks, relaying roughly halved controller latency in our tests.
Play with your DualSense on the big screen.
Correctly mapped, low latency, and it just works — no root, no button-remapping headaches.