PlayPort 🎮

Use your Android phone as a wireless gamepad on Linux — no drivers, no dongles, no BS.

PlayPort is a client-server virtual gamepad system for Linux. The server runs on your machine and creates a virtual uinput controller. The Android app connects over your local network and streams button presses and analog stick input in real time.

Works with any application that reads standard gamepad input — emulators, Steam games, native Linux games.

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How It Works

[ Android App ] ──── TCP (binary protocol) ────► [ Linux Server ] ──► /dev/uinput ──► Game
                ◄─── UDP broadcast discovery ────

• UDP broadcast — the Android app auto-discovers the server on your LAN, no IP config needed
• Persistent TCP connection — a single socket stays open for the session, no per-packet overhead
• Binary protocol — input events are 2–4 bytes, not strings. Zero parsing overhead
• uinput kernel driver — the server registers as a real kernel-level gamepad, indistinguishable from hardware

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Requirements

• Linux distro with uinput support (most distros support it)
• Rust toolchain (cargo)
• Android device on the same LAN as the server
• PlayPort Android Client

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Setup

1. Load the uinput module

sudo modprobe uinput

To verify it loaded:

lsmod | grep uinput

Note: On some kernels uinput is compiled in (CONFIG_INPUT_UINPUT=y) rather than as a module. If modprobe fails but /dev/uinput exists, you're already good.

2. Set permissions

sudo chmod 666 /dev/uinput

Or add yourself to the input group permanently:

sudo usermod -aG input $USER
# log out and back in for this to take effect

3. Build and run the server

cargo build --release
./target/release/playport

By default the server listens on port 8007. You can specify a different port:

./target/release/playport 9000

4. Connect the Android client

Install the Android client, open it, and tap Search for Server. It will auto-discover the server via UDP broadcast and connect automatically.

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Protocol

PlayPort uses a compact binary protocol over TCP.

Type	Bytes	Layout
Button	2	[msg_type: u8] [button_id: u8]
Axis	4	[msg_type: u8] [axis_id: u8] [value: i16 LE]

Message types:

Value	Meaning
0x01	PRESS
0x02	RELEASE
0x03	AXIS

Button IDs:

Value	Button
0x00	A (South)
0x01	B (East)
0x02	X (North)
0x03	Y (West)
0x04	LB (TL)
0x05	LB2 (TL2)
0x06	RB (TR)
0x07	RB2 (TR2)
0x08	D-Pad Up
0x09	D-Pad Down
0x0A	D-Pad Left
0x0B	D-Pad Right
0x0C	Select
0x0D	Start

Axis IDs:

Value	Axis
0x00	LS X
0x01	LS Y
0x02	RS X
0x03	RS Y

Axis values are i16 in little-endian, range -32768 to 32767.

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Ports Used

Port	Protocol	Purpose
8005	UDP	LAN server discovery
8007	TCP	Input event stream (default)

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Troubleshooting

Server crashes immediately on startup → uinput is not loaded. Run sudo modprobe uinput and try again.

Android app can't find the server → UDP broadcast is blocked on some networks (university/corporate WiFi). Make sure both devices are on the same network and broadcast is not firewalled.

Device shows up but no input is registered → Run evtest to verify events are reaching the kernel:

sudo evtest
# select the PlayPortDevice from the list

Buttons get stuck (not releasing) → This is a known edge case when the TCP connection drops mid-session. Reconnect the Android client to re-establish the session.

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License

MIT