Modder Turns an iPhone into a Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Portable input devices are all about compact keyboards and mice that allow you to type as well as navigate on the move with your laptop or tablet, but let’s be honest, an iPhone normally goes unnoticed in this conversation… until one incredibly creative modder, KoStard, threw a wrench in the works.

You don’t have any spare peripherals, and the on-screen selections are a bit clunky. So, KoStard devised a clever solution: repurpose the iPhone itself as a wireless controller. It’s all built around two crucial components. On the iPhone, a custom app launches a full on-screen keyboard with unique keys, symbols, and punctuation, and the screen also serves as a touchpad. Flick your fingers around on the trackpad to operate the cursor, tap two fingers to right-click, and scroll with two fingers; all of this is transmitted via Bluetooth Low Energy for near-instant transmission.

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At the other end of the equation is an ESP32-S3 dev board, a tiny, low-cost microcontroller that connects directly to the target machine over USB. KoStard programmed it to present itself as a standard USB HID device, so the computer or television perceives it as a standard keyboard and mouse, with no drivers or setup required; simply plug it in and go. It receives Bluetooth signals from the phone, decodes them on the fly, and sends the inputs directly back.

The results in this demo video appear to be relatively smooth. That iPhone pairs easily, typing on a connected Mac appears instantaneous, and cursor movement feels completely natural. Special keys work as predicted, and gestures translate perfectly. For typical tasks like entering passwords on a streaming device or running a home theater system where the conventional remote simply isn’t cutting it, this combo is a game changer.
This project is actually opposite of one of KoStard’s previous endeavors, in which he upgraded outdated USB keyboards to Bluetooth using comparable ESP32 hardware. This time, the phone is the broadcaster, while the adapter serves as the bridge. The code is fully open source on GitHub, so anyone who wants to take on a challenge can build or change it.
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