Methods, devices, and non-transitory process-readable storage media automatically configure or reconfigure input mechanisms to provide user inputs to simultaneously-active applications with input mechanisms that conflict. An embodiment method performed by a processor of a computing device may include recognizing that an overlapping control condition exists between simultaneously-active applications when a first control element of a first application and a second control element of a second application are configured to receive respective user inputs via a common input mechanism. When the processor determines that an overlapping control condition exists, available input mechanisms of the computing device may be identified, and one of the identified available input mechanisms may be reconfigured to provide the user inputs for one of the first control element or the second control element while the overlapping control condition exists. When the overlapping control condition no longer exists, the processor may return control inputs to normal configurations.