PSA: Dont upgrade to Android 11 if you use Game Streaming (Or Gamepads) on your device

[killerrin]

What is the issue with Gamepads in Android 11?
So it turns out that in Android 11 there is a critical bug that prevents Game Pads from working in a good portion of apps/games. Upon updating your gamepad will basically either stop working, or begin to only selectively work in games. Issues range from:

• Gamepads not being recognized in Android (USB and Bluetooth)
• Gamepads working in some games but not others
• Gamepads selectively working
  • Only Face Buttons (ABXY) work
  • Only Triggers work
  • Only Analogue Sticks work

Of course, once I ran into issues I immediately began googling and game upon this on the Google Issue Tracker: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/163120692

And it turns out that this is a known issue with Android 11 affecting multiple devices (Pixel, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note, OnePlus, ect), controllers (Xbox, Dualshock and other Third Party Controllers) and either not working or working selectively for many different games like:

• Call of Duty Mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• Grid Autosport

And as for Game Streaming Services, these aren't working either

• Xbox Game Pass (XCloud)
• Steam Link
• GeForce Now

Which basically hints at Google having royally fucked up Gamepad support in Android 11. And as things look. Google doesn't seem too interested in actually giving this a speedy fix considering its been an active issue for months.

Potential Fix
There is a potential fix which is hinted at in the issue tracker, but it only seems to work for some people in the thread. And that is to go into your device and disable every single accessibilty setting. Upon doing so, controllers apperently work again. I personally haven't been able to verify this since it doesn't work for me. But according to others it apperently works. So if you are affected, it might be something to try.

Edit: On a suggestion from Shadow I decided to try recycling my Accessibility permissions and low and beyond my Kishi works again! Thanks for the idea!

Unfortunately this confirms that Google basically screwed up something in the Accessibility settings with Android 11 since this never should have been an issue to begin with. But atleast my controller has been brought back to full functionality!

What I've personally run into
I've personally run into this issue myself after installing Android 11 on my Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, My Razer Kishi controller and my Xbox One Controller are both only selectively working in games. It was perfectly fine before I had updated a couple days ago. But now that I've updated I'm running into the issues of gamepads being unresponsive. What I'm seeing ranges between it outright not working, or it deciding to work but ignoring inputs from the controller.

Where it works:

• I'm the Android UI
• In the Testing App linked above
• In Minecraft Android edition

Where it doesn't work:

• Xbox Game Pass App (After you begin streaming a cloud game all thumbstick/directional buttons/triggers stop functioning)
• GeForce Now (same issue as Xbox)
• Steam Link (doesn't recognize any inputs)

So yeah. If you are a heavy user of Game Streaming or in general playing with a Gamepad on your Android device, or just spent $100 on a controller specifically for game streaming and you don't want it to break just yet... Dont update to Android 11 unless you want your games to stop working.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Maybe Android makers like Samsung have a point when they don't do day 1 Android updates.

As long as I get the regular security updates I'm good. Phones these days have every feature I could want, so the major feature updates just aren't necessary to me anymore, even when they aren't changing things for the worst like this.

 

[MattB]

That sucks. I haven't had problems with my pro controller so far on my s20+ but I'll definitely try to see how it goes.

 

[Deleted member 3038]

Maybe Android makers like Samsung have a point when they don't do day 1 Android updates.

As long as I get the regular security updates I'm good. Phones these days have every feature I could want, so the major feature updates just aren't necessary to me anymore, even when they aren't changing things for the worst like this.

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In Google's defence, they have been trying extremely hard to improve the Android update experience and fill in the gaps that they have been severely lacking in. The reason why most of these yearly updates for android introduces a ton of bugs is that there just isn't any easy way for developers to get access to those beta builds 6+ months before release. Android 11 only had something like 10 Devices with compatible Android 11 images, and 6 of them were google devices. Over 34% of all android devices in the market currently are samsung devices, and samsung is not participating in the beta program at all, which means that at most, over 34% of all developers have no simple way of testing out their apps on real life hardware.

 

[jorgejjvr]

is this going to be fixed?

anyhow, good to know, thanks

 

[Dolce]

Android 11 seems to be garbage on my OnePlus 5T anyway so I'm just waiting on 10.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

So just to be clear things still work normally on Playstation Remote Play?

 

[killerrin]

is this going to be fixed?

anyhow, good to know, thanks

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Going off what I've personally tested... Other than Minecraft Android Edition and the Android UI; basically every single Game Streaming Service and Game doesn't work with Gamepads on Android 11.

So far Google is ignoring the issue and haven't acted upon it, despite it having been reported for months.

So just to be clear things still work normally on Playstation Remote Play?

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I can't personally test it myself (I dont have a PlayStation). But from what I've read in the Bug tracker people are saying it's broken with Playstation Remote Play also. Pretty much every single Game Streaming service/app is broken.

 

[LightKiosk]

Maybe Android makers like Samsung have a point when they don't do day 1 Android updates.

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There's also a point to be made that Samsung is regularly ahead of the curve on Android feature updates, so for them it's really just more polish and small visual tweaks here and there.

Regardless though, this situation reminds me of when doing a major upgrade breaks GoodLock for a little bit until support slowly comes back.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

So just to be clear things still work normally on Playstation Remote Play?

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If you have a Sony phone or tablet and you use a Dualshock 4, it should continue working because Sony does not use Android's normal gamepad features to support the DS4.

If you use any other brand of phone or controller, PS Remote Play is likely going to break as well.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

If you have a Sony phone or tablet and you use a Dualshock 4, it should continue working because Sony does not use Android's normal gamepad features to support the DS4.

If you use any other brand of phone or controller, PS Remote Play is likely going to break as well.

Click to shrink...

Ah OK so I'm in the clear than since I'm one of those uncommon Xperia phone users.

 

[PianoBlack]

Fwiw hven't had any issues on my Pixel 3a with Android 11 and xCloud, but that sucks. Hope they fix it soon.

 

[Aesthet1c]

Man this is really disheartening to hear. I was just about to buy a Kishi, and I plan on getting an S21 when they announce them next week. I'm sure the S21 will be Android 11, so I might be dead in the water right off the bat.

 

[Alvis]

Eh. I'm sure by the time Android 11 reaches my OnePlus 6 well into 2021 or so, Google/OnePlus will have figured this problem out lol

 

[pwrshll]

I haven't noticed any issues using a Kishi on Android 11 with my S20 Ultra. Minecraft, Stadia, and GFN all worked without issue. I haven't tried a DS4 since the update, but I will when I get home.

 

[killerrin]

I thought that happened to me on my note 20 ultra, but it turns out it was the buttonmapper app I had making the controls a virtual controller messing stuff up on Android 11 whereas it was fine on Android 10. Had to go to accessibility settings and disable controllermapper (or uninstall it). My Kishi works perfectly with the bonus of the home button not going to Android home anymore so it can be used within apps.

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Thanks for this tip. I had an old button mapper app I had installed for my S8 to remap the Bigsby button, and since I did a straight transfer to my S20 from backup when I got the phone months ago the settings had transferred over. So I figured I'd go double check this.

I just went to go check up on my Accessibility settings and I saw I had everything already disabled (Other than LastPass which I need enabled). Though the button mappers were showing up on the list as disabled. I figured I'd try re-enabling them, restarting the phone, then disabling them again, then restarting again... And upon doing so my Kishi started working again!

So great news is I can now play games again. On the downside though this basically confirms that Google royally fucked up something to with their accessibility settings because I had to hard cycle them before it started working again.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[arcadepc]

Is it even possible to upgrade unless you buy a new model? Thought upgrading from 9 to 10 for free was an exception

 

[jalkerway]

Is it even possible to upgrade unless you buy a new model? Thought upgrading from 9 to 10 for free was an exception

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Android updates don't cost money, it's all up to the manufacturers and carriers.
Google phones get at least 2 years of upgrades, and most other big manufacturers/carries will generally push out updates for a while, they just want to make sure all of their custom software/bloatware works still before they send it out so they often are delayed quite a bit. Nothing to do with Android 9 to 10, it's been that way for a while now.

 

[LifeLike]

Ah OK so I'm in the clear than since I'm one of those uncommon Xperia phone users.

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Still rocking my XZ1 compact! Rock on!

 

[Funkybee]

If you have a Sony phone or tablet and you use a Dualshock 4, it should continue working because Sony does not use Android's normal gamepad features to support the DS4.

If you use any other brand of phone or controller, PS Remote Play is likely going to break as well.

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Not specifically an issue for android phone but DS4 seems to completely freeze my Sony's X900H own remote. I also thought that being a Sony peripheral, DS4 would work just fine and I'm not even sure if it's just my unit or it's a known issue. Googling didn't help.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Still rocking my XZ1 compact! Rock on!

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Hell yeah sound it off my fellow Xperia owner! So far I had the Z3, Z5, XZ2 Compact, XZ3 and I'm currently using the Xperia 1.

On topic thou I hope this gets fix soon for the people having these issues but I guess this is the danger of being an early adopter of Android Software.

 

[Wowzors]

Was interested in this after seeing another post on resetera. Does anyone on here have a Pixel 5 (long shot) that they use this with?

 

[Transistor]

Android 11 seems to be garbage on my OnePlus 5T anyway so I'm just waiting on 10.

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There's no official 11 for the 5T yet, though, beta or stable. Is it an unofficial ROM like Lineage?

 

[Lagamorph]

I wondered why GeForce Now wouldn't work on my S20+, which has been on 11 for a little while. Games won't even launch from the main library, just crashes out of the game page back to the library screen.

 

[FernandoRocker]

Android 11 seems to be garbage on my OnePlus 5T anyway so I'm just waiting on 10.

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Android 11 is not even available on the 5T, you liar.

 

[FernandoRocker]

This is not a problem with Android 11 and gamepads.

This is a problem only when using some old button remapper apps on Android 11. This thread is just spreading misinformation.

 

[Snarfington]

XCloud, Xbox Remote Play, Stadia, and Shadow all have worked fine for me on Android 11 since it was released with Razer Kishi and an Xbox Controller via Bluetooth on a Pixel 3XL and 5. No problems whatsoever. Unfortunate for people having issues though.

 

[Wowzors]

XCloud, Xbox Remote Play, Stadia, and Shadow all have worked fine for me on Android 11 since it was released with Razer Kishi and an Xbox Controller via Bluetooth on a Pixel 3XL and 5. No problems whatsoever. Unfortunate for people having issues though.

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I am starting to wonder, some of the issues I have seen do sound like people were using button remappers at one point.

 

[Beef Supreme]

My 4a works just fine

 

[Dolce]

There's no official 11 for the 5T yet, though, beta or stable. Is it an unofficial ROM like Lineage?

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No more like the pandemic has done a number on me and I realized I confused 10 with 11.

 

[Transistor]

No more like the pandemic has done a number on me and I realized I confused 10 with 11.

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LOL, ok, that makes more sense. I was thinking "hell, they haven't given it to me on my 7 Pro yet and the 5T gets it? What the hell?"

 

[Berkut]

Fwiw hven't had any issues on my Pixel 3a with Android 11 and xCloud, but that sucks. Hope they fix it soon.

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i heard really bad things about pixel 3a and Android 11. I am actually afraid of updating.

 

[Doz007]

I've been using Stadia and XCloud paired with a controller on my Pixel 3XL running Android 11 for months without any problems.

Could this be a manufacturer specific bug?

 

[jorgejjvr]

I have a galaxy s20 FE, I just got my update for Android 11 today, should I not do it? Is it still a problem?

 

[TromboneTony]

I have a galaxy s20 FE, I just got my update for Android 11 today, should I not do it? Is it still a problem?

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I have the same phone, updated a few days ago and xcloud works fine with an Xbox controller. I haven't tried anything else though.

 

[jorgejjvr]

I have the same phone, updated a few days ago and xcloud works fine with an Xbox controller. I haven't tried anything else though.

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Hmmm I have a rasher kishi, which works over USB c, and i use it for everything, xbox remote play, PS Play, steam link, luna, stadia, Xcloud, etc. Works with literally everything today, kinda worried if it wont work with update. I remote play and stream almost daily

 

[wild_one]

Going through the Google IssueTracker thread, the issue is somewhat complicated. If you only have one controller, and you don't have any sort of accessibility setting enabled for any app, and you don't re-pair the controller, then there isn't an issue, but if any of those conditions are violated then there may be issues with inputs in games that I assume use the Android framework for inputs. That's about what I was able to understand.

 

[jorgejjvr]

Going through the Google IssueTracker thread, the issue is somewhat complicated. If you only have one controller, and you don't have any sort of accessibility setting enabled for any app, and you don't re-pair the controller, then there isn't an issue, but if any of those conditions are violated then there may be issues with inputs in games that I assume use the Android framework for inputs. That's about what I was able to understand.

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is the issue mainly for bluetooth controllers? I use the Kishi which works via usb type c

 

[Retsudo]

I bought a Pixel 4a a month ago, and the Gamepass app and xbox controller have both worked flawlessly so far. Android 11 from the get go.

 

[wild_one]

is the issue mainly for bluetooth controllers? I use the Kishi which works via usb type c

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If I recall appropriately, it can affect directly connected controllers, if you use multiple. I'd have to re-read it to confirm, but that was the impression I got.

 

[jorgejjvr]

If I recall appropriately, it can affect directly connected controllers, if you use multiple. I'd have to re-read it to confirm, but that was the impression I got.

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Hmm I only use the Kishi

 

[jorgejjvr]

I keep reading and finding the issues to be with pixel, but idk, I kinda wanna upgrade my S20 FE, but I want my kishi to work lol

 

[Iucidium]

Android 11 is not even available on the 5T, you liar.

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Probably an AOSP custom ROM.

On-topic: XCloud works fine with controller: Pixel 4 Android 11.

 

[Kenichiwak]

I've been having issues with the razer kishi. I have a note 10+. The controller works fine except now when I press the home button on the controller it launches the game pass app. If I un install the game pass app then it launches back to my homescreen. Previously when I pressed the home screen and I was playing stadia or xbox remote play it would bring up the home menu within the game of the app. For example in stadia it would bring up the stadia home menu. Does any one have a fix? I don't have any accessibility settings on nor button mapper programs.

 

[ArtemisLunar]

I keep reading and finding the issues to be with pixel, but idk, I kinda wanna upgrade my S20 FE, but I want my kishi to work lol

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I don't have any issues using a Kishi and a Note 10 on Android 11, every button (With the exception of the Xbox Button, now mapped into home) works fine on every streaiming app I have tested (Game Pass and PC streaming using Moonligh), heck, it even works on the Android version of Bloodstained, which have awful controller support.

 

[jorgejjvr]

I don't have any issues using a Kishi and a Note 10 on Android 11, every button (With the exception of the Xbox Button, now mapped into home) works fine on every streaiming app I have tested (Game Pass and PC streaming using Moonligh), heck, it even works on the Android version of Bloodstained, which have awful controller support.

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Awesome, good to hear

On another note, what's up with the Xbox button opening the gamepass app or taking you home? Didn't do that before

 

[SirNinja]

I've been having issues with the razer kishi. I have a note 10+. The controller works fine except now when I press the home button on the controller it launches the game pass app. If I un install the game pass app then it launches back to my homescreen. Previously when I pressed the home screen and I was playing stadia or xbox remote play it would bring up the home menu within the game of the app. For example in stadia it would bring up the stadia home menu. Does any one have a fix? I don't have any accessibility settings on nor button mapper programs.

Click to shrink...

This just recently started happening to me as well. Notably it happened while I still had Android 10 on my phone, so 11 isn't the culprit here.

I didn't change any settings or do anything to the Kishi firmware. I'm completely baffled as to why it's happening.

 

[Kenichiwak]

I don't have any issues using a Kishi and a Note 10 on Android 11, every button (With the exception of the Xbox Button, now mapped into home) works fine on every streaiming app I have tested (Game Pass and PC streaming using Moonligh), heck, it even works on the Android version of Bloodstained, which have awful controller support.

Click to shrink...

I would say that is a problem as pushing the home button instead of bringing up the guide button for say the Xbox app kicks you back to the home screen and then streaming app needs to be reestablished.

This just recently started happening to me as well. Notably it happened while I still had Android 10 on my phone, so 11 isn't the culprit here.

I didn't change any settings or do anything to the Kishi firmware. I'm completely baffled as to why it's happening.

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Interesting. Yeah it was a recent issue for me as well however my phone also updated to Android 11 so I wasn't sure if that was the culprit. It's annoying. I tried connecting a Bluetooth controller and the home button was working properly, so I wonder if it is a kishi isolated issue or something else.

 

[jorgejjvr]

I would say that is a problem as pushing the home button instead of bringing up the guide button for say the Xbox app kicks you back to the home screen and then streaming app needs to be reestablished.


Interesting. Yeah it was a recent issue for me as well however my phone also updated to Android 11 so I wasn't sure if that was the culprit. It's annoying. I tried connecting a Bluetooth controller and the home button was working properly, so I wonder if it is a kishi isolated issue or something else.

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On the Xbox app there's a virtual touch screen Xbox button that accomplish the same, same on Remote play and Psplay

Thankfully. Although, I still wish the Xbox button would work as it should, it did before, not sure what changed

I'm on Android 10, one day it worked, the next it didn't.

How can we check it kishi firmware?

Edit: Xbox button on kishi works perfectly on gamepass app on cloud streaming, just not on Xbox remote play

 

[Shadow]

I've been having issues with the razer kishi. I have a note 10+. The controller works fine except now when I press the home button on the controller it launches the game pass app. If I un install the game pass app then it launches back to my homescreen. Previously when I pressed the home screen and I was playing stadia or xbox remote play it would bring up the home menu within the game of the app. For example in stadia it would bring up the stadia home menu. Does any one have a fix? I don't have any accessibility settings on nor button mapper programs.

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Also have the Kishi. I did have that on Android 10 where it'd go to the Home Screen, but it changed when I went to Android 11. This just started happening a few days ago on 11. Very annoying. I just want it to be the home button for the apps I'm in, that's it, nothing else. Did google or Samsung have a background update that changed it maybe?

I wish there would be a whole controller settings in the settings like iOS has it. Kinda hilarious how iOS has better controller support than Android now. It can even remap buttons system wide.