Use more than one PS4 Dualshock controller over bluetooth I have two Playstation 4 Dualshock controllers and am thinking of getting two more. They have both bluetooth and usb connections, but prefer bluetooth to avoid cable salad — and of course to be able to conveniently play games on the big screen from the couch. Am thus far unable to use both wirelessly at the same time.

How to connect and use both controllers using bluetooth at the same time?


Tested on macOS High Sierra (10.13) and macOS Sierra (10.12) on two separate 2015 model Macbooks.
Can pair with both controllers individually, if turning bluetooth off/on between.
Cannot connect with both at the same time.


As soon as one controller is connected, the other is basically ignored. As soon as the first controller is disconnected, the second one can be connected, and vice versa.

Would prefer not to use third-party (especially closed source) software.

Note: using Apple's Bluetooth Explorer (part of Hardware IO Tools for Xcode, Apple Developer login required) I can reset the bluetooth stack, clear device caches, restart blued etcetera. This has not helped in this case, but am also not familiar enough with this advanced tool to know all the tricks.
I've so far been unable to use 2 PS4 Dualshock controllers over Bluetooth with my 2016 Macbook Pro running Mojave. 

Pairing either one with my mac would make the other unable to pair. Renaming the Wireless Controller connection to something more decent did not help.

What helped somewhat was upgrading to the dreaded Catalina - I was able to pair both controllers BUT couldn't play any games with them. The games didn't consistently receive commands from either controller, I was unable to move any of the controlled characters more than a couple pixels on the screen, it was a nightmare. I assumed this was because the controllers kept interfering with one another

What totally helped was replacing one of the PS4 controllers with an XBOX One wireless controller. This worked &amp; fixed all issues, we got no more interferences, and the response time was fine. 

Note: all tested controllers were connected wirelessly via BT, games used were Cuphead and Knights &amp; Bikes running on Steam.