Seven years after its last significant upgrade, Valve's long-forgotten Steam mobile app is getting a long-overdue overhaul, and the developer is now looking for beta testers.
The Steam mobile app was initially designed to be a scaled-down version of the service with most of the desktop functionality, save for the inability to actually play any games. Steam is an online gaming store where consumers can buy and play video games on their PCs. The software, however, never became widely used. People have expressed frustration with the user interface's disarray and connectivity troubles (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab). Up until this most recent announcement, it was thought to be hopeless.
Valve has stated that the new mobile app is being rebuilt from the ground up on a completely new framework and claims the app has a more current style in a blog post(opens in new tab). The ability to buy titles for your Steam account, verify transactions, and obtain Steam Guard(opens in new tab) tickets will all still be available. New improvements include multi-account support, "smarter notifications," a deeper Library, and QR code login.
signing up
You may sign up for the beta right away, but do it quickly because there are only a few spaces left. In order to determine what people like compared to what they don't like and what needs to be addressed, Valve is requesting feedback from its users. The company claims that since the app would need to function on various operating systems and devices, knowing what has to be repaired is very crucial.
The Google Play Store link Valve has provided (opens in new tab) will prompt you to download the app and sign up for the beta programme. Unfortunately for iPhone users, the beta programme is now full(opens in new tab), however additional spots will be added as time goes on. If there are any fresh spaces available, Valve advises checking back later(opens in new tab).
The Apple TestFlight app must first be downloaded on iOS before the beta Steam app can be downloaded. Valve advises participating in conversations taking place in its community forums in the interim (opens in new tab).
It's crucial to note that upgrading your Steam Client on your desktop to the beta version is required in order to utilise the QR code login feature (opens in new tab). You can change this by selecting the Change option under the Account tab in the Settings menu. After then, you must restart Steam in order to use the beta features. When the app first starts, the QR code choice will be prominently displayed on the login screen.
Using the application
You should be prepared to run into some issues in the beta. On Android, we were able to sign up but had some trouble logging in. It required a few attempts. Login issues seem to be a prevalent issue when browsing the boards. Other than that, everything went quite smoothly. Like any other app, browsing the store was smooth and responsive.
The announcement's list of new features is complete and functional. Along with a Store tab, the bottom bar also has a news feed, notification area, Steam Guard, which houses the QR code feature, and a standard settings menu(opens in new tab). You may access community resources like player groups that you can join and your own game stats like achievements through the updated Library(opens in new tab). The majority of forum posts are good, and many suggestions are made.
If you peruse the forum, you will notice that many users are requesting the inclusion of a chat option (opens in new tab). For this reason, there is already a mobile app called Steam Chat(opens in new tab), but users want Valve to remove it and include it in the new app instead. In this manner, users won't alternate between the two only to chat with pals.
When the updated Steam app will go live is still uncertain. Valve states that up to the beta's launch, it will keep onboarding new participants and enhancing it.
TechRadar has a list of the top Steam games that you should check out if you're having trouble deciding which new game to buy or don't feel like playing anything from your backlog.
