Last year, Valve confirmed that it is working on a redesign of the Steam client and a new standalone mobile app centered around the service"s chat features. And today, the company rolled out the latter to both Android and iOS devices.
The Steam Chat app boasts many of the features that the desktop client"s chat received last year with its overhaul. As such, the mobile app brings in support for group chats, invite links, and other useful traits, see the full list down below:
- Friends List - See who’s in game or online at a glance. Never miss an opportunity to play.
- Rich Chat - Your chats get even better with higher fidelity links, videos, tweets, GIFs, Giphy, Steam emoticons, and more.
- Invite Links - Add new friends on Steam with a link. Generate an invite link you can text or email.
- Customizable Notifications - Mobile notifications mean you"ll never miss a message or game invite. You can customize your notifications per friend, group chat, and chat channel.
- Group Chats - Get everyone on the same page. Groups make it easier to do things like stay in touch with your communities and organize game night with your best friends.
Valve also confirmed that it is working on bringing voice chat to the app in the future, which we assume will function much like Discord"s implementation.
The Steam Chat app is now available to download and use on Android and iOS. This isn"t the only app to arrive out of Valve recently, as the Steam Link app also managed to get reapproved on the App Store last week following an earlier removal.
With this standalone app taking over the chat duties, however, the original Steam app will now focus on bolstering Steam account security, with plans to add further Steam Guard options like QR codes and one-touch login, as well as overall better navigation. It"s unclear if the original app will keep its legacy chat features enabled, or will they be carved out going forwards.