Systems and methods are provided for detecting user input in a mixed-reality environment being rendered with one or more holograms. An input receiver that includes a plurality of input elements is presented. An input controller that includes the individual actuators is identified, wherein each corresponding actuator of the individual actuators is configured to, when interacting with one or more input elements of the input receiver that are mapped to the corresponding actuator and when the input state of the corresponding actuator is an active state, provide user input within the mixed-reality environment. Subsequently, the presence of a triggering attribute of the input controller is detected, and in response to detecting the triggering attribute, the input state of a corresponding actuator is changed from an inactive state to an active state for providing user input.