Turn Your PlayStation Portal Into a Second PS5 Controller in Minutes

Here is a fun curveball for late 2025: the PlayStation Portal is not just a niche Remote Play toy. It can moonlight as a second PS5 controller, and it actually works well enough to save you from buying another DualSense if you already own the Portal.

What the Portal was meant to be (and what people are using it for)

Sony launched the Portal in late 2023 as a Wi‑Fi streamer for your PS5, basically a handheld window to whatever your console is doing on the TV. Turns out that same connection lets the PS5 treat the Portal as an active input device. In plain English: once it hooks up over your local network, it behaves like a controller with a screen attached.

From the PS5's point of view, the Portal is just another live controller that happens to have a display.

How to set it up as Player Two

1. Make sure your PS5 is on or waking from Rest Mode.
2. Connect the PlayStation Portal to your PS5 over Remote Play (local Wi‑Fi).
3. Now turn on a standard DualSense.
4. When the DualSense asks for a user, pick a different profile (or sign in) so it registers as a second player. Both devices will stay connected to the same console at the same time.

Yes, people have tested this

Tech creator Dan Does Tech Stuff demoed the setup in late 2024 with a local Tekken 8 match: the Portal controlled one fighter, the DualSense handled the other, and both inputs were read in real time. The good stuff carries over too — haptics, adaptive‑style trigger feedback, and gyro aim all work while you play. The TV shows the game as usual, and the Portal mirrors the same image on its own screen.

Where it shines (and where it doesn’t)

This is all riding on your local Wi‑Fi, not a direct Bluetooth controller link. On a solid home network, the added latency is small and usually a non‑issue for slower or casual couch co‑op. If you live in sweaty fighters or twitchy shooters, you will feel any wobble in your network more clearly than you would with a directly connected DualSense.

One quirk: the Portal often insists on being Player 1. That seems tied to how Remote Play establishes the main control session. You can still do local multiplayer just fine — you may just need to juggle which profile gets assigned to which controller when you log in.

Ergonomics and battery are also part of the trade. The Portal is bigger than a regular pad, so the wider grip may or may not be your thing. Battery life is good for a session or two, but remember you are powering a screen plus controls. And no, you cannot shut that screen off while using it as a controller — both the TV and the Portal display will stay on.

The bottom line

If you already own a PlayStation Portal and need an extra controller, this is a surprisingly practical solution. If you are starting from zero, buying a Portal just for this is not the budget move. But as a bonus feature, it is clever, it works, and Sony could probably stand to mention it out loud.

Would you actually use the Portal as your Player Two? Or is the screen-on-all-the-time thing a dealbreaker? Tell me.