Steer Everything it does
The whole list, grouped by what you are trying to do.
Steer turns a game controller into a way to run your Mac. You do not need most of this. Once you grant the permissions macOS asks for on first run, the defaults work straight away. Everything below is there for when you want it.
Point, click, drag
The part that has to feel right before anything else matters.
Move the pointer
The left stick moves the cursor. It crawls when you nudge it and sweeps when you push it, and you set how fast.
Click and drag
Left click, right click, and real dragging, so moving a file into a folder works the way it does with a mouse.
Scroll
The right stick scrolls. A PlayStation touchpad can be switched to scrolling instead of pointing, and then it glides on after you lift your fingers.
Tilt to aim
Tilt the controller itself to steer the pointer, for fine adjustments without moving your thumb. On a DualShock 4 it is off by default and still in beta. not on every pad
Snap to what is under it
An optional stick mode jumps the pointer to the middle of the button or link it is already sitting on, so you are not fine-tuning the last few pixels.
Worn controllers
Sticks that drift are re-centred automatically, which is the usual reason an old pad feels hopeless for cursor work.
Type
Enough to search, name a file, or answer a message without standing up.
On-screen keyboard
Aim at a cluster of letters and pick one with a face button. Good for a search box or a URL. A keyboard is still faster for an essay.
Dictation
A button starts dictation, through a Shortcut you set up once, named the way Steer specifies. Speaking is often the quickest way to enter a sentence.
Any keystroke
Any button can send any key or combination. Some apps register their global shortcuts in a way macOS shields from any synthesized key press. Where such an app offers a link or a Shortcut, Steer uses that instead, which is how window snapping talks to Rectangle.
Blocks of text
A button can type a saved phrase, an address, or a snippet you use constantly.
Move around the Mac
This is the group that decides whether you ever have to get up.
App menus
Bring the frontmost app's menus on screen and pick with the stick, submenus included. This is how you reach commands that have no keyboard shortcut.
Launch apps
Press to open a ring at the pointer, aim with the stick, press Cross to launch. There are two of these rings, both yours to fill.
Arrange windows
A grid appears, you aim at a cell, and the window snaps to a half, a quarter, or the full screen. Steer asks Rectangle to do the moving, so Rectangle needs to be installed and running. needs Rectangle
Point at the screen
A laser dot you move with the stick, for presenting to a room.
Media and volume
Play, pause, skip and volume, wherever the sound is coming from.
Do more with fewer buttons
A controller has fewer buttons than a keyboard. These are the ways around that, and you can ignore all of them.
Press it differently
One button can do one thing on a tap, another on a hold, another on a double tap, and can repeat while you hold it.
Layers
Hold one of the buttons on the top edge and every other button changes job, the way Shift changes a keyboard. Five of these holds, and a layer can stay on so you are not holding anything.
Two at once, or one then another
Two buttons pressed together can be their own command, and so can one button followed by another. for people who want it
Recorded sequences
Record something you do repeatedly and play it back from a button.
The touchpad
On PlayStation pads the touchpad can be a trackpad, a scroll surface, or split into halves or quarters that act as extra buttons. Pinch to zoom, and twist to rotate. not on every pad
Sticks with other jobs
A stick can be a pointer, a scroll wheel, arrow keys, eight buttons for games, or a way to cycle tabs.
Know it worked, without looking
You are across the room. The screen is not always where your eyes are.
Feel it
The grip buzzes for the rare confirmations that matter, like hitting the volume limit or stepping through a menu. The repeating ones, every scroll tick and every layer change, are off by default.
Triggers that push back
The triggers can stiffen under your finger, so a pull has a defined bite point instead of a smooth slide. Off by default. DualSense and Edge
Lights that mean something
The light bar shows which layer you are holding, unless gyro is on, which takes over the colour instead. The row of small player lights can be set by your own scripts and stays put, including across a reconnect. light bar: PlayStation pads · player lights: DualSense and Edge
A map on screen
Bring up a picture of your own layout whenever you forget what you mapped.
Make it yours, safely
Changing things should not be the scary part.
Ready-made setups
Profiles that already know Xcode, Figma, VS Code, Mail, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro, plus community setups for apps like Slack, Zoom, Claude Desktop and Cursor.
Per-app switching
The buttons change automatically when you switch apps, and can follow your Focus mode.
Always-on bindings
Pin a few buttons that stay available no matter which app you are in, with one button to suspend them.
Clash warnings
Steer warns you when a mapping collides with one of the system shortcuts it knows: Spotlight, the screenshot keys, app switching, Command-Q and Command-W.
Undo
Steer saves a restore point as you edit each settings pane, so a change you regret is one step away. Command-Z from anywhere in Steer steps back.
Sharing setups
Export a profile as a file, or import someone else's. Anything in it that does more than press keys is shown to you for review before it applies.
Your language
35 languages, including the built-in help.
Wire it to what you already use
Steer does not replace your tools. It gives them a button.
Shortcuts and scripts
A button can run an Apple Shortcut, a script, or open a link. Ready-made setups for Raycast and Handy, and starting points for Keyboard Maestro and Hammerspoon.
Drive Steer from elsewhere
Steer adds its own actions to Apple’s Shortcuts app, and other programs can send it instructions or listen for what it is doing.
Coding agents
The pad can show and feel what an agent is doing, and approve from across the room. How that works.
What it will not do
Worth knowing before you decide.
The login screen
Your password before the desktop loads is out of reach, and so is Touch ID. Anything that proves you are you still needs you.
Pixel work
Retouching and precise vector editing want a mouse or a tablet.
Long writing
Use a keyboard. The on-screen one is for short entries.
Every controller equally
The core works on every controller family listed on the controller page, which marks every gap, including off-brand pads that are matched from a database and still untested.
Questions
The ones that come up most, answered plainly.
Why not a wireless keyboard with a trackpad?
Because it still wants a surface. A keyboard needs a lap or a table, and the trackpad puts your wrist back in the shape that hurt in the first place. A controller is held in two hands with nothing underneath it, and everything is under your thumbs: pointing, typing, your shortcuts, the menus.
Is this a subscription?
No. One payment, yours to keep, with free updates as macOS changes.
Does it lag?
No. Your input takes no trip over the internet: the controller talks to Steer, wired or over Bluetooth, the same radio a wireless mouse uses, and Steer posts the same events a mouse and keyboard do.
Does it drain the controller's battery?
Pointing and typing barely register. Rumble and adaptive triggers do cost battery, which is part of why they are off or kept to a few moments. Turn them on where they earn it.
Can I still use my mouse and keyboard at the same time?
Yes. Steer adds an input device, it does not replace one. Your mouse, trackpad and keyboard keep working, and nothing needs switching between them.
Will I be able to read my screen from the sofa?
Steer cannot fix that: an input app cannot make small text bigger. The Mac's own text size and zoom can. Steer handles the other half, reaching what you can already read.
Why not the Mac App Store?
The App Store can't offer a real, no-account free trial. You download Steer straight from the developer, and Apple still checks each release before it will run (called notarization, the same malware scan the store runs), so you get the safety check without a store in between.
Does Steer rely on undocumented behaviour?
Yes, and it's disclosed rather than hidden. The adaptive triggers, PlayStation and Switch Pro rumble, and the light bar speak each controller's own wire language, worked out from scratch without borrowing anyone's code; the native pinch and rotate gestures, both on by default (pinch can be switched to a keyboard-shortcut form in Settings for apps that ignore the gesture), recreate an event format Apple uses but has not documented. All of it is built with Apple's published developer tools, and no private Apple code is linked in. Scripts and automation you import stay contained and are shown for review before they apply.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. There are refunds within 14 days, and at launch a free trial before you pay at all.
Join the launch list
Steer is finishing up. One email the day the free trial opens.