We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Added a setting to enable 'Switch To Desktop' in the login screen. It can be found in System Settings.

• Fixed a case where opting into the 'Preview' channel could silently fail.

Chat

• Moved Steam chat into the quick access menu, making it easier to access while in-game.

• Introduced new quick chat feature for Steam Deck and Big Picture Mode

  • When in a chat, press and hold the view button to bring up quick chat options.

  • Move thumbstick and release view button to send a quick chat.

  • Quick chats can be edited in Settings > Keyboard

• Focus will no longer jump to room effect replay buttons when scrolling through chat history

• Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent chat history from loading when scrolling up

Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Preview channel, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

Known Issue: Users not currently opted into Preview channel updates may be automatically returned to the Beta channel when attempting to opt-in. This can be worked around by enabling "Advanced Update Channels" in developer settings, and will be fixed in an upcoming Steam Client update.

General

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fix a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game

• Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)

• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games

• Improved VRR frame pacing

• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active

• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers

• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position

• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash

• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode

  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS

• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen

• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session

• Numerous stability and security updates

Bluetooth

• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD

  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available

• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)

• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode

• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity

• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in

• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default

  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode

  • Improved support for rotated displays

  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs

  • Adds support for external HDR displays

  • Adds support for VRR displays

  • Adds support per-display scale factor

  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/

• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings

• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133

  • Security updates

  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option

  • Preliminary support for hibernation

• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114

  • Security updates

  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms

• Greatly improved video memory management with discrete GPU platforms

• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware

• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices

• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go

• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode

• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series

• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us

• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds

• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs

• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw

• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED

• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)

• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default

  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`

• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16

• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching

• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings

• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)

• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable

• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds

• System reports now include more audio debug information

• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Stable channel.

General

• Fixed a case where the client would get stuck in a loading spinner after restarting in Offline Mode.

• Fix a rare crash when downloading games if regional content server ends HTTP/2 connection in an unexpected manner.

• Fix intermittent error when opening overlay.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Fixed a case where the client would get stuck in a loading spinner after restarting in Offline Mode.

• Fix a rare crash when downloading games if regional content server ends HTTP/2 connection in an unexpected manner.

• Fix intermittent error when opening overlay.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Stable channel.

General

• Added notification settings for showing a toast and playing a sound when an achievement is unlocked.

• Merged lockscreen options 'On system wake and power up' and 'Before login screen'. Enabling the lockscreen to display 'On system wake and power up' will show the lockscreen during login.

• Fixed a bug that could result in Proton games showing up as "Not valid on current platform" for users with very large libraries.

• Fixed intermittent error in downloads view when moving game entries between scheduled and queued sections.

• Added the option to attach hardware specs when writing or updating a Steam User Review on a game's store page.

• Added the option to provide anonymized framerate data. When enabled Steam will collect gameplay framerate data, stored without connection to your Steam account but identified with the kind of hardware you are playing on. This data will help us learn about game compatibility and improve Steam. This feature is currently in Beta with a focus on devices running SteamOS.

• When submitting feedback on whether you agree with a Deck Verified rating, if you disagree we'll now ask for the reason. Providing a reason is optional.

• Display the highest resolution capsule image available for the featured game in the Recent Games carousel when online.

• Fixed an issue that could make the currently selected element rapidly gain and lose focus which could also result in gamepad inputs being ignored.

• Fixed an issue that made it impossible to install some games if you have a large game library.

• Fixed an issue that prevented your selected keyboard theme from applying while in offline mode.

• Fixed an issue that could cause the gaming mode footer to flicker or disappear.

• Installed demos that are no longer playable now show "Uninstall" instead of "Play" as their primary action.

• Newly added demos and free to play games will appear at the top of the recent games list.

Accessibility

• Various fixes for high contrast mode.

Chat

• Updated the /store command so that it now uses the new Store trailer player.

Desktop Mode

• Added a warning dialog when a user selects "Tools" in their library filter for the first time that explains what tools are and why they are showing up in the game list.

• Added an icon on tools in the game list with a tooltip to explain what they are.

Steam Families

• Improved setting layout and navigation on desktop, deck and mobile devices.

Remote Play

• Fixed hover behavior when using a tablet stylus.

Steam Input

• Fixed a bug in Gyro To Joystick Deflection mode where a setting of 0 for Minimum Gyro Deflection, and any non zero Minimum Joystick Output would still result in zero output without a significant amount of gyro deflection. This should help gyro users to dial in games' internal joystick dead zone size more easily.

• Added option to apply Gyro to Joystick Deflection range remapping and acceleration settings on an Per-Axis or Circular basis.

• Fixed an issue with Switch Pro Controller Home LEDs turning on when disabled.

• Fix a case where ABXY button options could be missing from configs.

• Improved input latency while controller rumble is happening on third party controllers.

• Button Chord Activator's drop down list of available buttons has been replaced with a multi button selector. This means that newer controllers have full access to extra grip buttons that were previously unlisted.

• Gyro to Joystick Camera's Minimum Joystick Output now matches Gyro to Joystick Deflection's behavior, which is useful for identifying a game's internal joystick deadzone.

• Fixed action set information being cut off in the configuration edit page.

• Added missing buttons to Mode Shift Button selection menu: Left Stick Touch and Right Stick Touch.