Detect Game Controllers

Unity includes the Game ControllerA device to control objects and characters in a game.
See in Glossary framework in the project only if a script in the project references Input.GetJoystickNames. If it’s available, Unity iOSApple’s mobile operating system. More info
See in Glossary Runtime loads the framework dynamically.

To get the list of all available controllers, call Input.GetJoystickNames. You can re-check this list at any time to detect if controllers have been attached or detached.

You can call this API to detect the type of controller that’s attached. Names follow the pattern: [$profile_type,$connection_type] joystick $number by $model. $profile_type can be either basic or extended, and $connection_type is either wired or wireless. When Unity detects at least one controller, you can either disable on-screen touch controls or amend them to supplement controller input.

Example: Detect attached Game Controllers

The following code sample checks to see if any controllers are connected to the device.

using System.Collections;
using UnityEngine;

public class GameControllers : MonoBehaviour
{
    private bool connected = false;

    IEnumerator CheckForControllers() {
        while (true) {
            var controllers = Input.GetJoystickNames();

            if (!connected && controllers.Length > 0) {
                connected = true;
                Debug.Log("Connected");
            
            } else if (connected && controllers.Length == 0) {         
                connected = false;
                Debug.Log("Disconnected");
            }

            yield return new WaitForSeconds(1f);
        }
    }

    void Awake() {
        StartCoroutine(CheckForControllers());
    }
}

Additional resources:

• Input class