Over the course of the MacOS Big Sur 11.3 beta, Apple has refined and improved the way iPad and iPhone apps work on M1 Macs. In the latest beta, Apple has added the game control emulation for M1 devices, which allows a keyboard or a keyboard and mouse combination to function as a game controller.
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The new game controller feature was discovered by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser. If you run a iPhone or iPad app, the preferences open a Touch Alternatives and Game Control interface that can be used to make touch-based iPhone and iPad applications work better with Mac controls.
With Controller Emulation enabled, common game control buttons are associated with keyboard keys and mouse buttons. For example, X is linked to Q, the directional stick is linked to WASD and Y is linked to E. L1 and L2 can be obtained by pressing Tab and Shift, respectively, and the space bar is the A button.
With Controller Emulation, iPhone and iPad games with built-in controller support can be accurately controlled with a keyboard and / or mouse when playing the games on a M1 Mac. This feature is designed for those who do not have a game controller, as those who have it can only connect a controller to play.
The MacOS 11.3 Big Sur beta also includes the aforementioned Touch Alternatives panel for pointing touch-based features such as typing, swiping, dragging, and tilting to the keyboard key, and it has a feature to enlarge the iPhone and iPad app windows .
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Control emulation and touch alternatives work independently of each other, and only one of these functions can be activated at a time.
In terms of game controller support, many current Sony and Microsoft controllers are compatible with ‘M1’ Macs, and the beta provides support for the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox One X controllers.