Steam Update Significantly Changes UI and Adds New Features

Valve has recently introduced the new Steam update for its desktop client and has made a significant user interface.

Steam users will now notice that the desktop client has changed dramatically with various new features that the original version did not have. Valve did say that the changes affect the performance on desktop, mobile, and Steam Deck. Previous updates only improved the functionality of the client like its search feature, but this time, a lot has changed even the visual.

Steam Update Highlights

Steam’s June 14 update introduces a new font on the desktop version of the client and the Notifications tab received a new look on the mobile. Steam Deck users will also take advantage of the changes too. Another upgrade affected the downloads tab and now an icon for the game will appear on the bottom of the client alongside a download bar. Users of Mac and Linux will also get some improvements like hardware acceleration to make it closer to Windows version of the Steam desktop client.

Full Patch Notes

Check out the full patch notes below:

Steam Client Update – June 14^th

New Features and Improvements for Steam Desktop:

Updated Steam Client notifications, with additional settings allowing you to choose which notifications you’ll see, and where you’ll see them
Visual and usability improvements in dialogs, menus, fonts, and colors – including screenshot manager, achievements, and more
An overhauled in-game overlay (accessible via Shift+Tab), with an updated design, new features, and more customizability
New notes functionality with rich text formatting, image pasting, and offline functionality. Multiple notes can be saved per-game, and they are accessible via the in-game overlay, desktop client, and Steam Deck
New pinning functionality – panels from the in-game overlay can now be “pinned” (with adjustable opacity) so they are viewable while in-game
Updated controller configurator is now part of the overlay when a gamepad is connected
Mac & Linux versions of Steam have been updated to enable hardware acceleration

Other changes:
General

Display an error if the user is trying to log in anonymously in the client. This mode is only supported for steamcmd.
Uninstalling a game no longer displays a modal dialog
Fixed “Manage Storage” button opening the storage settings page
Fix soundtrack cover art not appearing in content management panel
Fixed popup menus opening at the wrong DPI in multi-monitor mixed-DPI configurations.
Fixed some context menus opening incorrectly when the opening window is maximized.
Fixed in-client link to support FAQ detailing Windows 7/8/8.1 end-of-life.
Fixed login refresh dialog not showing in overlay when a game is launched by a second Steam session while a game is running
Fixed issue where viewing app properties caused the Steam client to be unusable
Fixed download rate limiting not working in some cases
Fixed error when navigating the game list with arrow keys and landing on a category header.
Fixed issue where clicking on store or community links in a news post within the client would not navigate to the website
Fixed a crash that could occur if toggling bandwidth limits while a game download is in flight, or if cloud syncs while a game download is in flight.
Fixed issues in sign in UI when switching between entering a Steam Guard code and entering a backup code
The game is ready for preload & game released spotlight in the library will no longer show for users who own the game through family sharing
Fixed close button on the Update News dialog starting at the top of the dialog, then moving down to the bottom when the content loaded
Fixed category capsules overflowing into the app details page when the window is very narrow
Added new Achievements popup accessible from the game details page
Fixed “View Updated Items” context menu items in the Downloads section for games that have updated Workshop items
Moved 24hr time setting from Friends & Chat to Interface
Stopped forcing 12-hour clock display if the user did not explicitly select the 24-hour clock. The default is locale dependent.
Fixed incorrect UI state when a game is purchased while the user is in a timed trial
Updated URL for store checkout process.
Added a tooltip to “Other” section in storage settings to explain what it contains
Fixed occasional crash when toggling a game’s favorite status through the play bar on the game details page.
Added a setting to let a user decide whether Ready to Play should include streaming and whether the local computer should be the default in details. This defaults to true on desktop and false on Steam Deck.
Fixed game list unnecessarily flickering to top when selecting a game that’s in a collection.
Fixed artwork modal sizing height based on screen width, fixes close button being off-screen on taller images.

Friends & Chat

Fixed issue where “Invite to Play” was not available in the Friends List for some games (e.g. CS:GO)
Fixed issue where going idle would cause Friends & Chat to reconnect when offline
Fixed chat tabs sometimes overlapping window controls if a lot of tabs are open.
Rearranged and reworded several items on the friends list context menu to make them more clear.
Fixed the friend menu causing a black bar on the underlying chat or group window in some cases.
Improved performance of the interface in the overlay when animated Steam avatars are enabled

Big Picture Mode

Removed support for -oldbigpicture command-line option
Fixed some styling issues in the Quick Access Menu > Friends List
Fixed some issues with notification toasts appearing in the wrong location in multi-monitor setups or with different DPI settings
Apply text filtering preferences in Guides in the Overlay
Removed soundtracks from All Collections since it has its own tab
Fixed an issue where two settings pages could be visible at once
Fixed the switching of monitors when going in/out of BPM at start up
Fixed overflowing friends list when sharing a screenshot
Expand the hitbox of buttons in the footer to make them easier to click
Fixed showing notifications in the Big Picture Mode game overlay
Improved performance of dual trackpad typing in the Virtual Keyboard
Fixed crash when after funding the Steam Wallet when attempting to make an in-game purchase in the Overlay
Fixed issue where the Main Menu and Quick Access Menu stopped working after selecting a custom startup movie
Any button press will now cancel the Wake custom startup movie
Fixed a black screen freeze when clicking on a store widget within a news post
Changed game invitations to show the launch option dialog instead of using the first option in the list. If the user has selected an option and asked to remember it, that option will be used instead of showing the dialog.
Fixed issue where selecting a group chat showed an endless loading throbber until another chat was selected
Added support for Mouse4 (Back) as B button in the interface
Fixed opening the “Reorder controllers” dialog in the main Big Picture Window when a game is running
Search will now return tags in addition to games. You can search for categories like “Free to Play” or individual tags like “survival” or “zombies”.
Enabled additional toast notifications that were previously only visible in Desktop mode
Restored display of Special Offers in the What’s New section of the home screen.
Fixed a navigation issue in the Quick Access Menu showing the last section, instead of the Performance section, when selecting the Battery icon in the header
Fixed inability to click on Steam notification toasts (eg. wishlist, comment).

Steam Input

Increase responsiveness of the “Joystick Deadzone” visualization
Gyro As Joystick can now optionally output to Left Joystick
Fixed Gyro’s Left/Right Stick Deflection Modifier not working
Fixed Modeshift bindings not being removable when viewing the command on the input
Fixed a case where hitting the “apply configuration” button before a configuration preview was loaded could select the wrong configuration
Fixed a case where an autosave could get lost while editing
Fixed the DualSense configuration preview not showing Mute button bindings
Fixed bug causing DualSense triggers to only read as 0/100%
Fixed error when viewing a configuration in the “Search” tab of the config browser
Added several missing Steam Link App virtual controller-specific settings to the configurator
Added new config export path that works while offline. In personal configuration dropdown the options are now “New Personal Save”, which is this new option and “New Sharable Personal Save”, which uses the existing Steam Workshop backend.
Filter the configuration export options based on whether the device is connected to Steam/Offline
Fixed some flashes when adjusting sliders in the Quick Settings section of the configurator
Fixed moving right in the mode settings page not jumping to the appropriate settings sub-page
Fixed turning off the Dual Sense Edge controller
Added binding listener dialog that lets you bind inputs by hitting a mouse button, keyboard key, or gamepad button
LED Color/Brightness Action reinstated as a bindable action. Find the Action settings inside the Game Pad tab when selecting an action binding (available on controllers with LEDs only)(except Switch Pro).
Fixed cases where alt-tabbing between the stand alone instance of the desktop configurator and a game would not update the in-game layout
Added missing inputs to the “Listen” dialog
Fixed a bug where repeatedly opening the configurator to the same config could cause edits to not stick
Fix Right Trackpad Click in the controller binding listening page being bound to Left Stick Click.
Ongoing rumble is now interrupted when switching away from the app that requested it.
Reduced maximum individual SIAPI rumble requests from 10s down to 3 seconds.
Fixed crash on macOS when using a PS4 controller
Updated Controller Summary page so that it scales better at different sizes
Added mouse position dialog to configurator w/ support for transparency to the game or using your screenshots for position
Fix rotation settings when binding Gyro to Mouse output
Nintendo Switch Pro and JoyCons Gyroscopes now have sensitivities that are roughly equal to all other controllers as we step toward a Natural Sensitivity Scale (i.e. real world rotations result in roughly the same in-game output, regardless of controller used). Steam Input sensitivities on SwitchPro and JoyCon configurations will be automatically updated to compensate.
Fixed Joystick Dead Zones in Calibration Screen triggering a controller-specific default to be used when a game was launched, instead of the value specified, if the value was less than 2048.
Fix for gyro Smoothing settings not updating when switching to shifted modes.
Fixed detection of the Steam Virtual Gamepad on macOS.
Gyroscope as Joystick/DPad/Buttons/Lean were using yaw correction-to-the-average-heading, causing subtle drift over time, especially in games which involved a lot of turning in one direction (driving games, flight sims). This was also used in GetMotionData (Steam Input API) affecting titles which used the sensor fusion quaternion for aiming. The correction toward the average has now been removed.
Deferred Sensor Fusion: Accelerometer correction (i.e. pitch correction from gravity sensors) for these modes is applied opportunistically – when the controller is rotating fast, or the controller is stationary (determined by stationary noise tolerances in the calibration page). This reduces noticeable “ouija effect” during fine aiming in our experiments. Note, none of the above gyro changes affect “Gyro As Mouse”, which only uses Gyroscope readings, not Accelerometer.
The top allowed noise threshold for gyroscope in the Gyro Calibration page has been increased 3 fold to allow abnormally noisy gyroscopes to pass the drift correction/calibration process.

Steam Deck

Fixed issue where a game’s specific uninstall UI was not visible
Added support for notification types shown in the Desktop Client and Mobile app: Wishlist, Trade Offer, Steam Turn, Help Request, Major Sale, and Comment.
Added a bell icon to the header when there are new notifications, and a green indicator to new notifications in the notifications list.

Linux

Fixed an issue that prevented the steam client from immediately reconnecting to the steam servers when resuming the system from sleep.
Fixed an intermittent crash when the OS audio server restarts.
Fixed a case where the per-app Steam Play compatibility tool override dropdown would not appear.
Fixed ‘Delete Proton Files’ not cleaning files that contain : in the path.
Fixed a crash when steam fails to connect to the pulseaudio server.
Added a ‘Compatibility’ tab to Settings where SteamPlay settings can be changed.
Steam will now use the system’s global scale factor as configured in KDE settings. Specifically org.gnome.desktop.interface/text-scaling-factor.
Added a commandline switch to override the window scaling factor: “-forcedesktopscaling <float>”.
Dynamically update the UI’s scaling factor when the KDE system scaling setting changes.
Fixed issue preventing locally installed tools from being used as default steam play option.
Fixed issues with listing and adding flatpaks as non-Steam shortcuts.
Fixed Steam Linux Runtime compatibility tools not being installed to support a title in some cases.
Known bug: Enabling hardware acceleration on Nvidia GPUs may cause Xorg to crash. On this platform hardware acceleration is disabled by default, but it can be enabled Settings->Interface or by opting into the beta branch.
Known bug: dpi scaling may not work correctly when hardware acceleration is disabled.
Use the system file picker instead of the built-in file picker if desktop portal is available.