iOS 16 lets users pair Switch Joy-Con or Pro controllers with their Apple devices

Users of Apple devices (well, most of them) can now rejoice that they will soon be able to pair their Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons and Pro controllers with their phones. Apple’s iOS 16 was released on June 6, followed by beta testing through the Apple Developer Program shortly after, and that’s how it was discovered.

This could be especially good news for those of you who are used to using the Delta emulator on your phone, which lets you play GameBoy and Nintendo games on your iOS device. Delta users can now pair a Switch controller with their phone and use it to play a variety of simulation games from Nintendo.

One of the people involved in the test, an iOS developer named Riley Testut, shared their findings on Twitter. They even showed how to play Super Smash Bros. with a Delta emulator and a connected controller.

The discovery was later confirmed by one of Apple’s engineering managers, Nat Brown, who tweeted that users “test” Then shared instructions on how to use one Joy-Con at a time. Fortunately, switching between a single controller or a pair of controllers seems to require just a few button presses rather than any fine-tuning.

When iOS 16 finally rolls out, iOS devices will officially support controllers for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S, as well as the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. However, the following iPhone and iPad models will not use the latest iOS update:

• iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
• iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
• iPhone SE (1st generation)
• iPad Pro 11 (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation)
• iPad Pro 12.9 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th generation)
• iPad Pro 9.7
• iPad Pro 10.5
• iPad (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th generation)
• iPad Air (3rd and 4th generation)
• iPad Mini (5th and 6th generation)

Will you be testing your controller with your iPhone or iPad when iOS 16 is released? Or have you already tried your Joy-Cons in beta?