Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT

by Adafruit

An ESP32-S3 Feather board with an integrated TFT display, providing a compact solution for display-based projects.

USB-C Native USB

Buy · $24.95 Pinout Datasheet ↗

52.5 × 22.8 mm

ESP32-S3

MCU

240MHz

clock

4MB

flash

512KB

SRAM

27· 6 ADC

GPIO

BLE 5.0+ WiFi

radio

Pinout

27 pins · 2.54 mm pitch

View:

Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT pinout diagram

Pin	GPIO	Labels	Status	Capabilities
1	1	TXT1PWM	uart	touch · uart
2	2	RXT2PWM	uart	touch · uart
3	5	T5PWM	safe	touch
4	6	T6PWM	safe	touch
5	7	TFT_CSSSPWM	safe	spi
6	8	A5T8PWM	safe	adc · touch
7	9	T9PWM	strapping	touch
8	10	T10PWM	strapping	touch
9	11	T11PWM	strapping	touch
10	12	T12PWM	strapping	touch
11	13	LED_BUILTINT13PWM	strapping	touch
12	14	A4T14PWM	strapping	adc · touch
13	15	A3PWM	safe	adc
14	16	A2PWM	safe	adc
15	17	A1DAC1PWM	safe	adc · dac
16	18	A0DAC2PWM	safe	adc · dac
17	21	TFT_I2C_POWERPWM	safe	-
18	33	PIN_NEOPIXELPWM	strapping	-
19	34	NEOPIXEL_POWERPWM	strapping	-
20	35	MOSIPWM	strapping	spi
21	36	SCKPWM	strapping	spi
22	37	MISOPWM	strapping	spi
23	39	TFT_DCPWM	strapping	-
24	40	TFT_RSTPWM	strapping	-
25	41	SCLPWM	strapping	i2c
26	42	SDAPWM	strapping	i2c
27	45	TFT_BACKLITEPWM	strapping	-

Start with these

11 pins with no boot or system involvement

TXT1RXT2T5PWMT6PWMTFT_CSSSA5T8A3PWMA2PWMA1DAC1A0DAC2TFT_I2C_POWERPWM

Freely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.

Fine - with a little care

sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial

Pin	Label	What to know	Role
T9	FSPIHD	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
T10	FSPICS0	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
T11	FSPID	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
T12	FSPICLK	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
LED_BUILTIN	FSPIQ	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
A4	FSPIWP	IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.	Other
TFT_DC	MTCK (GPIO39)	Default JTAG TCK - keep it free if you debug over JTAG. It is not a flash or PSRAM line on standard modules: those sit on GPIO26-37.	Other
TFT_RST	MTDO (GPIO40)	Default JTAG TDO output for debugging. Using it as GPIO will interfere with JTAG debugging functionality.	Other
SCL	MTDI (GPIO41)	Default JTAG TDI input for debugging. Should be reserved for JTAG or left unused if JTAG is to remain available.	Other
SDA	MTMS (GPIO42)	Default JTAG TMS signal for debugging. Using this pin for other purposes will disable the JTAG interface (unless JTAG is rerouted to USB).	Other
TFT_BACKLITE	GPIO45	Determines flash/PSRAM power voltage (3.3 V vs 1.8 V) at boot. Must match hardware configuration; using as GPIO can upset flash supply setting.	Strapping

Only if you know the tricks

wired to flash or USB - expect a fight

Pin	Label	What to know	Role
PIN_NEOPIXEL	SPIIO4 (GPIO33)	The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries.	Flash
NEOPIXEL_POWER	SPIIO5 (GPIO34)	The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries.	Flash
MOSI	SPIIO6 (GPIO35)	The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries.	Flash
SCK	SPIIO7 (GPIO36)	The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries.	Flash
MISO	SPIDQS (GPIO37)	The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries.	Flash

These are recommendations, not hard rules - with the right pull-ups, timing and boot-state awareness most pins can be made to work. When in doubt, start green.

Pinout notes All 27 pins on the Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT are usable GPIO, spaced at the standard 2.54 mm pitch. Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to…

All 27 pins on the Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT are usable GPIO, spaced at the standard 2.54 mm pitch.

Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO42 and SCL on GPIO41; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO1 and GPIO2 cover serial logging and flashing.

Beyond plain digital I/O you get 6 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring, 11 capacitive-touch inputs and 2 true DAC outputs.

11 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (T9, T10, T11 and 8 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. TX, RX, T5, T6 and 7 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks.

Getting started

flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes

Tool:

Connect over USB

Native USB - shows up as a port right away, no driver needed. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.

Match & flash

Set the Tools options shown, then click Upload.

Verify it runs

GPIO5 toggles - wire an LED and resistor to it, or change the pin to your board's own LED.

Set these in Tools · leave everything else at default

Arduino IDE 2.x - Tools Copy

Board: "ESP32S3 Dev Module"▸

USB CDC On Boot: "Enabled"▸

Flash Size: "4MB (32Mb)"▸

Flash Mode: "DIO"▸

PSRAM: "QSPI PSRAM"▸

Partition Scheme: "Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)▸

Upload Speed: "921600"▸

▸ every other Tools option - leave at default

Board: ESP32S3 Dev Module
USB CDC On Boot: Enabled
Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb)
Flash Mode: DIO
PSRAM: QSPI PSRAM
Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS)
Upload Speed: 921600

Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32S3 Dev Module

blink.ino Copy

// toggle GPIO5 - wire an LED and resistor to it
void setup() {
  pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(5, HIGH); delay(500);
  digitalWrite(5, LOW);  delay(500);
}

board to selectesp32-s3-devkitc-1⧉ copy

platformio.ini Copy

[env:adafruit_feather_esp32s3_tft]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_qspi
build_flags = -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAM

Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search esp32-s3-devkitc-1 - or type it after board =.

board to selectesp32-s3-devkitc-1⧉ copy

device.yaml Copy

esp32:
  board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
  variant: esp32s3
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
psram:
  mode: quad
  speed: 80MHz

# blink - GPIO5
output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: 5
    id: led_out
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: "LED"
    output: led_out

Find it: search ESPHome's board list for esp32-s3-devkitc-1 (same ids as PlatformIO).

esptool doesn't pick board settings - a prebuilt .bin already has them baked in. This is just the raw flash command.

terminal Copy

esptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
  --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin

--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).

Build details: sketch space 1310720 B · data 327680 B · DIO

Specifications

ESP32-S3 · 52.5 × 22.8 mm · vs other ESP32 chips →

Compute

MCU

ESP32-S3

Clock

240 MHz

SRAM · Flash

512 KB · 4MB · 2MB (QSPI) PSRAM

Radio

Wi-Fi

802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth

5.0 LE

Antenna

PCB

I/O

GPIO · ADC

27 · 6

UART · I²C · SPI

3 · 2 · 2

PWM

8 channels

Power

USB

USB-C

Serial

Native (CDC)

Boot address

0x0

Electrical

Input

5V USB · 3.7V LiPo

Consumption

80-100µA sleep

Regulator

AP2112K-3.3

Display

Screen

TFT · 1.14" · 240x135

Driver

ST7789

Touch

Flashing

Upload · OTA

esptool_py · esp_ota

Flash · Boot mode

DIO · QIO

Sketch · Data

1.25 MB · 320 KB

52.5 × 22.8 mm · pin pitch 2.54 mm

The Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with QIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 1.25 MB with 320 KB available for data.

About this board

Inside sits the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.

At $24.95 it's cheaper than most ESP32-S3 boards, which usually run around $29.

With 27 GPIO broken out, you get more pins to play with than most ESP32-S3 boards offer.

Around the module: 2MB (QSPI) PSRAM, a TFT 1.14" 240x135 display, a STEMMA QT connector, an addressable RGB LED (GPIO33), a battery fuel gauge (MAX17048), battery charging (MCP73831) via JST-PH 2.0, status LEDs (On, Charge, User) and Reset/Boot buttons.

It flashes over native USB - no serial-converter driver needed, which isn't a given among ESP32-S3 boards.

Early units (before March 2023) shipped with an LC709203F fuel gauge instead of the MAX17048

Where to buy

prices are typical street prices

Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 TFT

$24.95per unit, typical

Resources

Board datasheet learn.adafruit.com↗ ESP32-S3 datasheet espressif.com↗ Adafruit product page adafruit.com↗Adafruit learn guide learn.adafruit.com↗

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