Steam Beta adds Bluetooth device battery information to Steam Deck and various desktop updates

Another round of Steam Client Beta updates has arrived, and Steam Deck and desktop are packed with improvements and bug fixes, which is especially nice for those using Bluetooth on Steam Deck.

These only apply to Steam decks from the changelog:

Show battery information of connected Bluetooth devices in Settings->Bluetooth and in the Quick Access menu.

Added a device-specific switch to Settings->Bluetooth that controls whether a device can wake the Steam Deck from sleep.

Fixed a bug that caused the UI to show outdated data for Bluetooth devices.

It’s nice to see changes to Bluetooth, especially since previously you had to use a plug-in to get better settings for Bluetooth devices. As far as I know, the Bluetooth device still only works on the OLED model after waking up.

And the rest of the Steam client beta for everyone on Steam Decks and desktops:

General

Fixed the recent apps section in the taskbar menu being offset when game icons are hidden

Fixed some video playback issues not working in client browsers

Fixed the support browser window not closing after clicking the close button

Fixed Steam client taking window focus when windows are open after crash recovery

Overlay

Significantly improved in-game overlay responsiveness and fixed cases where the UI could freeze or run at 1 frame per second on Windows. This error previously mainly occurred when running a fully GPU-bound game (i.e. newer game + older GPU hardware). This error mainly only occurred when the GPU hardware accelerated scheduling setting was enabled in Windows.

Library

Fixed beta selection menu for games with very long beta names

Fixed the app activity feed to refresh it more reliably

Fixed comments on achievement unlock events sometimes getting lost in the app activity feed

Steam families

Made client settings visible but generally unchangeable when parental settings are applied. Children’s accounts can ask parents to access their settings to make changes.

Added a game timer in the desktop overlay when parental game time limits are applied.

Fixed game time limits sometimes being applied even if “set game time limits” was not selected in the settings interface.

Fixed chat notification sounds sometimes playing even if friends and chat were turned off in parental controls.v

Display a copy count badge on game pods that have more than one copy in the Steam family.

Display game ownership information in game cursors in the library

Fixed family members’ names sometimes not being displayed when offline or disconnected from Steam.

Add “date acquired” for games owned by other family members.

Friends / Chat

Reduced network traffic when connecting and reconnecting

Fixed friends list getting stuck on an empty invite list after completing the last invite

Fixed the “Join Chat” button not working in Steam Community Groups when viewing in the Steam client

Steam enters

Update Steam/Guide button configurations for non-Deck gamepads to match Deck behavior, e.g. Steam+X button to open on-screen keyboard instead of Steam+Select, etc.

Allow external gamepad controllers to load the same guide button configuration they would normally load on a desktop computer

Improved gyroscope behavior relative to the mouse when connected via Bluetooth.

Added -nojoy command line option to prevent Steam from enumerating controllers

Remote

Added a one-time pairing step when streaming from a remote computer

Remote Play Together is always available in the Steam overlay for supported games

Use ScreenCaptureKit to capture your desktop in macOS 14 (Sonoma)

Added support for hardware video encoding in macOS 14 (Sonoma)

Large picture mode

Improve readability of Steam/Guide button chord summary in games

Fixed an issue where non-Deck controllers could block the Steam/Guide button chord summary until the Guide button was pressed

Fixed web browsers displaying blank page entries when navigating backwards

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.