Can you use your phone as a Bluetooth adapter for your PC?
Your PC has no Bluetooth, your phone has excellent Bluetooth, and it's sitting right there. Can the phone do the PC's pairing for it? For headphones and file transfer, no. For game controllers, mice and keyboards, yes, and it takes a couple of minutes.
The short answer
A phone can't become a Bluetooth adapter that Windows recognises: no app can give your PC a Bluetooth radio. But you often don't need Windows to have Bluetooth. You need the device to work on the PC. For controllers, mice and keyboards, the phone can pair the device itself and pass what it does to the PC over Wi-Fi. That's what Controller Gateway does.
What works and what doesn't
| Device | Through your phone? | How it shows up on the PC |
|---|---|---|
| Game controllers | Yes | A standard Xbox controller: PS5 DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox, Switch Pro, Joy-Cons, 8BitDo and most others. Up to four at once. |
| Mouse | Yes | Your normal Windows cursor, with clicks, scroll wheel and side buttons. Needs Windows app 2.2+. |
| Keyboard | Yes | Types as if plugged into the PC, using Windows' own keyboard layout. Needs Windows app 2.2+. |
| Headphones, speakers | No | Audio isn't relayed. Apps such as SoundWire or AudioRelay can stream PC sound to the phone, and your headphones connect to the phone. |
| File transfer | No | Use a cable or a file-sharing app instead. |
Controllers, mice and keyboards: covered
Pair them to your Android phone, open Controller Gateway, and they work on your Windows PC over Wi-Fi. Nothing to buy, nothing to plug into the PC.
Why Windows still won't show "Bluetooth"
Bluetooth is a radio chip. Windows can only use Bluetooth through an adapter it can see: built in, or a USB dongle. Your phone's Bluetooth belongs to Android, and there's no standard way to lend it to another computer, which is why forum answers usually stop at "buy a dongle".
A relay sidesteps that. The device never talks to the PC at all; it talks to your phone, and the phone forwards what you press, move and click.
How the relay works
- Your controller, mouse or keyboard pairs to your phone over Bluetooth (or plugs into it with a USB-OTG adapter).
- Controller Gateway on the phone reads the input and sends it as tiny packets over your home Wi-Fi.
- The free Windows app on your PC turns them back into input: a virtual Xbox controller for pads, and normal mouse and keyboard input for the rest.
On a 5 GHz network the hop adds about 1–5 ms, well under one 60 Hz frame.
Set it up in three steps
- Install the free Windows app on your PC.
- Pair your devices to your phone in Android's Bluetooth settings.
- Open Controller Gateway, find your PC and tap Start. Controllers appear as players P1 to P4; a mouse and keyboard appear under Mouse & keyboard.
The full walkthroughs: a Bluetooth controller on a PC with no Bluetooth, and a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse on a PC with no Bluetooth.
The limits, honestly
- Same network. The phone and the PC must be on the same Wi-Fi or home network. It doesn't work over the internet.
- Keep the app on screen. Android only passes controllers, mice and keyboards to the app that's open. Screen dim keeps it relaying with the screen dark.
- Android and Windows only. No iPhone, no Mac, no Linux.
- Signed in to Windows. The mouse and keyboard can't type at the Windows sign-in screen or into admin (UAC) prompts.
- Price. Free to try: 6 hours of play with everything unlocked. Then a one-time £2.99 in-app purchase for unlimited use. The Windows app is always free.
The adapter you already own.
Use your phone's Bluetooth for your PC's controllers, mouse and keyboard. Free to try.