The Backbone One iPhone controllers are very effective, and if you bought a USB-C model for an iPhone 15 on Prime Day – it was on sale for €90 instead of €120 – you may have had a surprise: out of the box , the controller is not compatible with iPhones. In fact, and the manufacturer announced this, an update is necessary and the controllers currently available in stores are not necessarily up to date.
The main visible difference is the presence of a USB-C socket (right).
This is the case with our model: it came with firmware 1.1.4 and therefore did not work with an iPhone. In this case, there are two solutions: contact support for a change… or find an Android smartphone equipped with a USB-C socket, which is quite common.
Initially (right) the controller didn’t work on an iPhone. Switching to Android allowed the firmware to be updated.
The firmware update is a bit unusual: the Backbone application (mandatory) is actually significantly less sophisticated and complete on Android than on iOS. To be honest, there aren’t even any menus for updating the firmware, the whole thing actually happens automatically and is barely visible. In our case, we installed the smartphone in the holder, granted the various permissions to the application and waited a few minutes. Then we unplugged and reconnected the controller to check if the update was complete. That was indeed the case, it was quietly moved from version 1.1.4 to 1.2.4 and iPhone compatibility requires at least version 1.2.2. Since there are no special menus, you just have to wait and hope that the application does its job in the background, without any special notifications.
With updated firmware it will be recognized on an iPhone.
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Once the firmware is up to date, the controller is perfectly recognized by the Backbone application and the various games we were able to try. The controller therefore has the same advantages and disadvantages as the Lightning version: the whole thing is responsive, solid and complete, but the controller remains a bit expensive (120 €). Likewise, some may criticize the lack of vibrations and a gyroscope, as well as the asymmetrical arrangement of the analog sticks. The USB-C version fixes two shortcomings of the Lightning version. The first is obvious: USB-C is more practical and more durable. The second comes from the socket: The output power is significantly lower with the USB-C version and that’s a good thing, because the minimum level on the Lightning controller was much too high.
Finally, according to the brand, the controllers should be delivered quickly with firmware suitable for iPhones, which means there is no need to update on an Android smartphone.