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

Steam Input

• Improved controller setting behavior when a controller is disconnected.

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

General

• Fixed a case where pressing the power button would enter Sleep mode instead of Display-Off Download mode.

• Improved compatibility with WiFi captive portals.

Steam Input

• Changed controller settings to use a menu and details structure instead of tabs to list the connected controllers.

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

Downloads

• Added Remote Downloads Management. This allows you to manage downloads on Remote Steam Clients from the downloads page. You can select different clients by pressing Y on the downloads page.

• The App Details page now has the same options and statuses for remote clients as the local client.

• Both the local and remote clients must be updated to enable this feature.

Store Home Beta

• Fixed "..." context menu in Discounts & Events section

• Increased number of capsules per page in various carousels

• Smoothed the Featured & Recommended carousel transitions

• Updated the Recently Updated section's capsules to link to the corresponding announcement for the game

Steam Input

• Fixed a case where radial menus would fail to dismiss after releasing the joystick on Steam Deck

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

General

• Enabled the refreshed Steam Store home page

• Updated the Store main menu option to navigate to the Steam Store home page instead of the Great On Deck hub

Cloud

• Fixed an issue which could lead to data loss when uninstalling, reinstalling, and playing a game without restarting the client in between

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.

These notes contain all changes since the current stable SteamOS 3.7 release, with the changes added since the previous preview noted in bold

General

• New in 3.8.1 Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected

• New in 3.8.1 Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fixed 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`