Cloverplay

Demos

Downloads & links

• Download it from the Play Store
• Download it from XDA Labs (for $1.99)
• Download a two-day trial from here
• XDA DevDB thread
• Source code

Usage

Once you install Cloverplay, open the app and grant it root access. Then enable the accessibility service:

Then, just open Game Pass or Stadia, open a game, and start playing. The joysticks will appear whenever you press your finger down (left half of the screen will display the left joystick, right half will display the right joystick).

If you want to hide the controls while playing, e.g. to interact with the app (see gotchas below), press and hold the down arrow at the bottom. To reshow them, press and hold the same button again.

The best way to hold the device is as such: assuming the device is in landscape mode, place your index fingers on the top rim as if there were shoulder buttons there. Move the index fingers onto the screen to press L1/2 and R1/2, and use your thumbs to control the joysticks and buttons.

If you feel like your index fingers are stretching into uncomfortable positions or your thumbs are pressing the wrong areas of the screen, experiment with adjusting the button positioning using the preferences described below. (The default settings have been tuned to a Pixel 4XL-like device but assumes that both bezels are the same size.) Some examples of cases you may need to adjust the positions and sizes are if you have particularly small or large hands, a smaller phone screen, or uneven bezels.

Gotchas

Cloverplay works by displaying an overlay on the screen via an accessibility service, and it detects when the screen rotates while you're in the Stadia and xCloud apps. This comes with some things to note:

• During the duration that Cloverplay's service is enabled, all apps will see two gamepads as being connected, even if the apps in question don't support the overlay. Workaround: Disable Cloverplay from within the app if you need to avoid this.
• The Stadia app can occasionally crash when switching to it from another app or opening a new game. (Don't worry, your game stays running still until you re-open the app.) This itself is a Stadia bug, where native C++ code the app has segfaults, but Cloverplay seems to trigger it a bit more frequently? The circumstances of this are unknown, but it's something that is worth noting. Workaround: Simply re-open the app afterwards. If you want to just use Stadia's native on-screen controls, disable Cloverplay while playing Stadia.
• You cannot access your notification bar. From what I can tell, pre-Android-R you can't easily tell if the navigation bar is shown without an activity, which an accessibility service does not have. Workaround: Hide the controls first by pressing and holding the down arrow on the bottom of the screen.
• You cannot interact with the screen beneath the controls. For instance, in Stadia if you press the mode button or back, you will not be able to interact with the buttons. Workaround: Hide the controls first by pressing and holding the down arrow on the bottom of the screen.
• The app does not detect if an official Stadia or XBox controller is active. This means that if you plug in your Stadia controller, the touch controls will still appear. Workaround: Turn off the Cloverplay accessibility service while your physical controller is connected.
• If you rotate the Stadia or xCloud app into landscape, the controls will appear. Because Stadia is written in Flutter, it's difficult to tell when game streaming is active. Thus, for the moment, Cloverplay simply checks the device rotation. Workaround: Hide the controls or turn off the service temporarily. (Note that this will be improved eventually, but as for an MVP, the current technique is good enough to cover 99% of use cases.)

Preferences

You can access these by tapping the three dots on the top right of the Cloverplay app -> Preferences. They're saved instantly; just go back to exit and return to the Cloverplay app.

Left/right margin

Sets a margin in DP units for the left / right side of the controls. This is particularly useful if your device has non-symmetrical bezels (e.g. the Pixel 4), as you can pad out one side to make it even to the other.

Joystick radius

Sets the radius in DP units of the joystick. This is useful if you find the current size to be too small.

Spacing between ABXY

Sets the space between the A, B, X, and Y buttons.

Round button (ABXY, L3, R3) size

Sets the size of the A, B, X, Y, L3, and R3 buttons.

Bottom button padding

Sets the amount of space on the bottom of the screen beneath the buttons.

L2, R2 side padding

Sets the extra padding to the left of L1 and to the right of R2.

[EXPERIMENTAL] Multi-button press

Pressing the ABXY buttons near the areas between them will allow you to press two buttons at once. Note that this is experimental

Show on GeForce Now

If you have GFN as well and want your controls to be consistent with Cloverplay, enable this option, and the Cloverplay overlay will activate on GFN.

FAQ

How does this compare to Stadia's built-in touch controls?

Cloverplay touch controls were designed with a very different layout in mind compared to Stadia's controls. Although Cloverplay existed prior to Stadia adding touch controls, I decided to continue supporting Stadia, as I personally prefer the layout and button sizes in Cloverplay instead.

How do I report a bug?

Please comment in the XDA thread linked above.