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Steam Mobile App gets a huge revamp out now for everyone

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Last updated: 12 Oct 2022 at 7:12 pm UTC

After some time being in Beta, Valve has officially released the new shiny new Steam Mobile App for all.

This really is a big upgrade, and one we've all been waiting for. Valve let Steam Mobile die a slow death until this revamp, so let's hope they keep up with it this time. It has a new design, along with it being built on a whole new framework. Major new additions like QR code sign-in, making it easier than ever to jump into Steam on new devices.

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App Features:

  • Two-factor authentication to ensure you’re the only one with access to your account
  • QR code sign in - Scan a QR code to sign into Steam instead of entering a password or…
  • Sign in confirmation - Confirm your regular Steam sign ins with simple “approve” or “deny”
  • Authorized Devices - Manage access to the devices your account has signed in
  • Easy access to the Store, Community, News, etc from wherever you are
  • Your Library with access to your game content, discussions, guides, support, and more
  • Remote download of games and updates on your PC, managed from your phone
  • Customizable Steam notifications: wishlist, sales, comments, trades, discussions, friend requests, and more
  • Trade and Market confirmations – to ensure items don’t leave your account without your approval
  • An improved Store browsing experience for mobile screens
  • Support for using multiple Steam accounts in the app
  • Customizable tabs

Valve makes it clear that Steam Chat will remain a separate app, for some reason. It will also be getting some major upgrades today on Android and iOS "soon".

As for what's next. Valve are bringing the QR sign-in to Steam Deck, adding in new notification types and adding the Authorized Devices list to the Steam Client and browser.

The app is available in the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and as a standalone APK.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Eike 12 Oct 2022
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Would I need to opt out of beta now to not get future beta stuff?
Anza 12 Oct 2022
UX design is quite important. I updated the mobile app and signed in normally. After sign in it opened the Steam guard page. I got bit confused that do I need to do two factor authentication on the phone too.

As I haven't used the application much I have noticed just few things.

  • some of the icons are slightly non obvious, shouldn't take too long to get used to them though
  • notifications are not in sync with desktop (though mobile application has some notifications that desktop doesn't have in the regular notification feed)
  • library doesn't have collections, so if you actually want to browse your library with the application, it could be hard to find what you want
fagnerln 12 Oct 2022
It's a lot better, but it still feels like beta software, it should take a bit more time on the oven.

And i disliked how hidden is the inventory there.
Marlock 12 Oct 2022
The current Steam Mobile app did have chat, despite the separate app existing and being more feature-complete... I use only the Steam Mobile messaging because the chat app has issues on my phone.

Will this update remove the simple chat message features entirely ir is it still there in its minimal form?
anewson 12 Oct 2022
just downloaded it for the promise of one-touch authentication. nice looking app! does say I have some phantom friend requests though.
audiopathik 13 Oct 2022
The live version is still full of bugs, pages not loading or the wrong pages.
Marlock 13 Oct 2022
the perks of disabling auto-updates on google play store...

I have time to decide when it's safe to click the update button.

For my usage, so far the benefits don't seem all that big and the issues seem significant
Termy 13 Oct 2022
Anyone knows if the standalone apk has an updater? Aurora Store being finnicky as it is i tend to avoid playstore stuff as much as possible...
Marlock 13 Oct 2022
Anyone knows if the standalone apk has an updater? Aurora Store being finnicky as it is i tend to avoid playstore stuff as much as possible...
https://store.steampowered.com/mobile
CyborgZeta 13 Oct 2022
I do not like that you are unable to log out of the app if you have Steam Guard authenticator enabled. I do not want, nor need, to be logged in on this app 24/7.
Marlock 13 Oct 2022
That's what happens when the easiest to break and easiest to loose and easiest to hack device (a smartphone) becomes a de-facto standard replacement for e-Token devices...

You can, however, make the app run only when explicitly opened. It will still be logged-in when you open it, but won't eat your battery and resources or nag you otherwise.

Android allows this, despite making sure it's hidden and hard to get it right. In android's configs go to applications. In the list of installed apps that should appear, go to the steam mobile app to open its settings (not the in-app ones, the android system standard ones). Disable all notifications, disable auto-start, disable app permissions, change the power settings to restrict background activity.

It's now a dead paperweight until openend.


Last edited by Marlock on 13 Oct 2022 at 2:00 pm UTC
slaapliedje 13 Oct 2022
At least the new version doesn't take an hour to load my library up... But something should hook it into firefox/humblebundle for easier redeeming of keys...
jkaart 13 Oct 2022
Easy access to the Store
And this true on next big sale happening?!
Termy 13 Oct 2022
https://store.steampowered.com/mobile

care to elaborate how that link is related to my question? At least i can't find any word about an updater function there...
Marlock 13 Oct 2022
https://store.steampowered.com/mobile

care to elaborate how that link is related to my question? At least i can't find any word about an updater function there...
It's a place you can download the apk file (a known good and updated version) manually. If you do that you can install it over the current version. Works more reliably than Aurora.

Doesn't seem to have any auto-update method though.


Last edited by Marlock on 13 Oct 2022 at 4:02 pm UTC
Termy 13 Oct 2022
It's a place you can download the apk file (a known good and updated version) manually. If you do that you can install it over the current version. Works more reliably than Aurora.
That much is apparent from the 'standalone apk' part ;)
Doesn't seem to have any auto-update method though.

That is what i was wondering, i'm way too lazy to manually update stuff...what are we, windows users?
BlackBloodRum 13 Oct 2022
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That's what happens when the easiest to break and easiest to loose and easiest to hack device (a smartphone) becomes a de-facto standard replacement for e-Token devices...

I really wish Valve could add support for Yubikeys[1]. For a service like Steam, where lets face it, some people can have "valuable" accounts to hackers due to a high number of games or inventory (not me) it makes it a prime example of a service that could utilize it well to protect peoples accounts

[1] Yup, I know there are other hardware keys like Yubikey, merely said this one as it's the most well known and the most people are likely to recognize it.
Marlock 13 Oct 2022
AFAIK there are even provider-agnostic methods for this sort of thing, but anything beyond smartphone as token is a rare beast to see actually implemented nowadays, let alone a real agnostic implementation.
trev0r 14 Oct 2022
Looks so much better now
BlackBloodRum 14 Oct 2022
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AFAIK there are even provider-agnostic methods for this sort of thing, but anything beyond smartphone as token is a rare beast to see actually implemented nowadays, let alone a real agnostic implementation.
There are, you can set up a few that work with all hardware tokens.

It's a shame that it's rarely implemented; I say this as a Yubikey user, because it's such a good idea in general. I do however use it where-ever possible (password databases, SSH keys, websites which allow it etc).

It'll far out-beat any 2FA code mechanism too, for two primary reasons:

1) Hardware tokens require you to physically touch them, can't be remotely activated
2) A 2FA code is time based, which means if a user is tricked into logging into a false website which requests the code, it could be programmed to grab and store the timed code, which it can then immediately login to the real account using the code with an automated bot (there are steam account hijackers that do exactly this by sending the user a fake steam page or login service)

Thus, it would be better for the industry to more widely accept hardware tokens, but it is what it is I guess.


Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 14 Oct 2022 at 7:15 am UTC
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