Xbox Controller Assist is a feature that allows players to use two controllers to control one in-game player. You can do this either to share controls with a second player, or to use two controllers yourself to create a customised accessible controller set-up. The feature originally launched with the name ‘Copilot’ before changing to ‘Xbox Controller Assist.’
The feature is available on Windows 10/11 PCs and Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One consoles. In this article, we will be looking at how to use the feature on a compatible Windows PC. For information on using the feature on an Xbox console, please see our article on this, here: Xbox Controller Assist on Xbox Consoles.
Compatible controllers include ‘standard’ Xbox Wireless Controllers, Xbox Elite Controllers, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick (XAJ) and the Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC). Other controllers that are officially licensed by Xbox, such as the 8BitDo Lite SE Wireless Controller for Xbox, may be supported with this feature, too. Once Controller Assist is set up, games on your PC that support game controllers should recognise your two controllers as one player in-game.
To set up Controller Assist, you will need to follow the steps below:
Step 1 – Download the Xbox Accessories App
If you do not have the app, you can download it from the Microsoft Store:
Step 2 – Open the Xbox Accessories App
To open the app, you can type ‘Xbox Accessories’ into the search bar on your Windows 10/11 PC and select the app when it appears in the list:
Step 3 – Connect Your Two Controllers
If you have not yet connected your controllers, connect them to your PC. You can connect them via Bluetooth if they are wireless. Xbox states, ‘Note If your controllers are connected to your PC via Bluetooth, you need to plug one into your PC with a USB-C or micro-USB cable to configure this setting using the Xbox Accessories app.’ We have found that we need to connect both controllers via USB initially to set up Controller Assist. After setting it up, you can then use the controllers wirelessly via Bluetooth:
Step 4 – Open ‘More Options’
Once your controllers appear within the app, navigate to the image of the controller that you want to use as your primary controller. Then, select the on-screen button with the three dots that is below the image of the controller to open ‘more options’. In this example, our primary controller is an Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC):
Step 5 – Turn On Controller Assist
Navigate down the options on the left of the screen and select the button that says, ‘Turn on Controller assist’. You will need to have the controller connected with a USB cable to be able to see and select this button:
If you have three or more controllers connected to your PC, you will need to choose which controller will be the assist controller. If the controller has vibration functionality, it will vibrate briefly when highlighted in the list to help distinguish it:
Turning Off Controller Assist
Once you have set up two controllers with Controller Assist, they should remain paired until you turn off Controller Assist. If you need to turn off the Controller Assist feature, navigate back to your primary controller within the Xbox Accessories app and go to ‘more options’ (the on-screen button with the three dots) and select, ‘Turn off Controller assist’ (you will need to connect your controllers via USB to do this):
We hope that this article has been useful in using the Xbox Controller Assist feature on Windows PC. For up-to-date information on the feature and for further support, please see the page on the Xbox support website: https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/help/account-profile/accessibility/copilot.
For information on using the feature on an Xbox console, please see our GameAccess article, here: Xbox Controller Assist on Xbox Consoles.
For more information on gamepads, please use our ‘Gamepads‘ sub-category under ‘Equipment’. For more information on the Xbox Adaptive Controller, please use our ‘XAC‘ tag. Finally, for more ideas on how to play cooperatively, please see our ‘How to play cooperatively on console‘ video.