Steam is cloud-based gaming storage where you can buy or download a bunch of games. You can play any PC game if it’s available on steam while chatting with your friends. If your friends are online then you can also play with them as well.
But how do you know whether your friend is active on Steam? If you want to find out if your friend is online on steam then you can check their online status or game played time status or game achievement.
If you can manage to know all of these statuses then you can tell if someone is online on steam. However, do keep in mind that, your friend can also appear offline or hide their game with “invisible” mode on steam.
So, today you will learn to find out if someone is active on steam or not with the help of simple methods.
Table of Contents
Is Steam Safe to buy Games?
Yes, steam is safe to buy games. When you purchase a game on steam from a browser or a steam client then all your provided data or card info is encrypted. This means, no one can see or steal your financial data or information from steam.
Steam is just like other e-commerce platforms where you can buy games instead of clothes or other merchandise. So, it uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security technology to keep its user and website data safe between a web server and a browser.
There are also no viruses or similar to that on steam. When an app or game is added for a sell then steam scans or tests for viruses before selling it for clients or users. It ensures that any of their users won’t face any trouble with a game while playing as well as their PC.
So, Steam is safe and can be trusted for purchasing games.
How to Check If Someone is Online on Steam 2024 [4 Methods]
To know if someone is online on steam then simply check their active status from the “Friend & Chat” section. There you will see all the active or online status of your friends which are added to your friend list.
You can check which game they are playing currently on steam and their game achievements. If your friend is online then you will see changes on your “game play time status.”
Every time you refresh their profile then their recent activity or last game played status will change.
So, you can easily find out the online status of your friend.
Now, let’s see how you can implement the things which I have said above to find steam chat online.
Method 1: Check Online Status from Friends & Chat
If you have recently added someone or made a friend on Steam then you can check their online status. So you can play a game with them if they are active.
It will be easier to know their live status rather than to call them.
Besides, if any members of your family or relative are playing games without your concern then you can report them by checking their online status.
So, one of the simple and straightforward ways to find out if my friend is online on steam is from the “Friends & Chat” section. It is a friend list section of your account where you can see the entire active, offline, and in-game status of your friends.
- Open the Steam app on your PC.
- Login to your account if you are using it after a while.
- Click on the Friends & Chat option from the bottom right corner.
- Check the online status of your friends under the Friends or In-game section.
This way you can find out if your friend is online on steam. If your friend is active then you will see green status beside their name. You can also tell which game they are playing right now under the In-game section. But if they are offline or invisible then you can’t see their online status.
So, if you can’t see your friend which you are looking for in your friend lists then move to the next method.
Method 2: Check Your Friend last Played Game Status
If you can’t find your friend online status from “Friends & chat” then you can look for their game hours played status. If you know which game your friend play all the time then you can simply go on it and check the hour game status.
Suppose you and your friend play COD (Call of Duty) all the time together. The time both of you spend on the game will change on your game status too. So, if you play the game for 5 hours then you will see “5 hours last played” beside the game.
Other than this, you can also see your friend’s last game played for hours too.
So, simply visit the game your friend might be playing. If you see the game played hour time changes from time to time then your friend is online on steam. But if the game playtime doesn’t change the second time you see then your friend is offline.
You can also check all the remaining games you think your friend is playing or can play to find out if your friend is online on steam.
- Open the Steam app.
- Select the Friends & chat section from the bottom right corner.
- Tap on their Profile or name.
- Check the game playtime of every game they play.
If you can see changes in the game played hour time then your friend is available.
Method 3: Check Your Friend Game Achievement Progress
The next method to find out if your friend is online on steam is to check their game achievement progress.
When you play some game on steam then you can see the “Achievement Progress” section of that particular game. As you play the game the achievement progress will also likely to full or increase.
To be more precise, if you unlock any achievement during the gameplay then your “Achievement Progress” bar will start filling up.
So, if you see the achievement progress bar of your friend is slowly moving forward or filling up then your friend is online.
But do remember that, the achievement won’t fill up too quickly as you think. It will take time and also depend on the gameplay of your friend. So, you may have to look every 30 minutes to 1 hour of the game achievement progress bar.
- Open a steam app on your PC.
- Select the Friends & chat option from the bottom right corner.
- Go to your friend profile section.
- Look for every game they game.
- Check their Achievement progress bar.
So, if the achievement progress bar is increasing then your friend is playing the game. It means they are active but hide their profile or make it invisible.
Method 4: Send a Message to Your Friend
If none of the above-mentioned methods work for you and you want to find out if your friend is online or playing games on steam then simply send a new message.
When your friend playing a game and doesn’t unlock any achievement yet then you can’t know whether they are online or not.
Besides, the gameplay time hour can also take time to update which will make it even hard to know the online status.
So, if you want to play a game with your friend right now (urgent) or have something to ask then you can send him/her a chat message. It will help you to know about their active status on steam.
If they replay your message then a person is available. But if you can’t receive any message from them then a person might be offline or busy playing a game.
- Open a steam account on your device.
- Click on the Friends & Chat option from the bottom right corner.
- Select your friend to whom you want to talk.
- Send a new message.
When you receive a replay of your message then your friend is online but makes their profile offline or invisible. When someone appears invisible or offline on steam then a person can still play a game and chat with their friends.
Also Read: How to Use Voxal Voice Changer on Discord
How to Appear Offline on Steam 2024?
Steam does let you add tons of friends and play a game with them. You can also chat with them by sending messages besides playing games. But sometimes you may also want to have some privacy within yourself. You also want to play games in peace without getting disturbed by anyone.
In that case, you can go invisible or appear offline. Once you hide your profile active status then your friends will not know that you are active on steam. This will give you a lot of peace and a little moment with your account.
Note: When you go “Invisible” on steam then your profile status will be hidden but you can still chat with your friends and play games. But if you go “Offline” then you will be signed out from your friends & chats which means you can’t access your friend’s list and can’t talk with them.
Hide Online Status on Steam on PC
If you are using the steam app on a Windows laptop then here are the following steps to change steam online status to offline.
- Open the steam desktop app.
- Click on the “Friends & Chat” option from the bottom left corner. It will take you to your profile section and also shows your list of friends.
- Now, you will see your username from the top side beside your profile picture.
- So, click a small drop-down arrow button just beside your username. It will open the online, offline, invisible, do not disturb mode of your account. Plus, you can also edit your steam username from that section.
- Next, either select the “Invisible” or “Offline” option.
Now you are offline on your steam account. From now on your friends won’t be able to see activate status on their steam. Besides, if you want to again online on steam then simply select the “Sign in” option.
Hide Online Status on Steam on Android and iOS
If you are using the steam app on Android and iOS then here are the following steps to change online status to offline.
- Open the steam app on your device.
- Tap on “three lines” from the upper left corner of the screen.
- Now, tap on the “Settings” option from the menu. It is located at the bottom left corner.
- Finally, tap on the “Go Offline” option.
Why Friends on Steam Hiding From You 2024?
Steam is all about chatting with friends and sharing information while playing games. You can also simply talk with someone just like a messenger if they are on your friend list.
One of the most challenging things on steam is to make friends. If you are a new member or steam user then you can’t directly make new friends unless you meet some of the requirements of steam as a beginner.
If you are somehow able to make friends on steam then you will see that lots of them are hiding their profiles on steam. So, why are your friends hiding their profile on steam from you?
Your friend normally hides his/her profile on steam if they don’t want to talk with you anymore. You can simply hide your active status on steam if you don’t want to get bothered by someone while doing your task.
When you hide your profile on steam then your friend will see the offline or unavailable status on your profile. But you can still play games and chat with your other friends. If someone wants to see whether you are active then they either have to visit the game which you might be playing or send you a new text message.
Other than this, your may friends also don’t want to show his active profile to his family member or relatives. Most of the time you can find someone on steam through their username and ID code. So, if your friend and his relatives both are friends then it would be kind of boring to stay online all the time. Relatives can easily ask lots of questions if they find you active.
Besides, your friends might be also offline or didn’t have used a steam account for a long time.
Therefore, it depends on your friend’s situation regarding your steam friend appearing offline. A person either doesn’t want to talk with you or doesn’t want to share active status or doesn’t want to get disturbed by someone or didn’t use steam anymore.
Can You Appear Offline on Steam But Still be Online 2024?
Steam provides a good feature for its users if they don’t want to get bothered by someone while playing games. To be more precise, if someone is constantly disturbing you on steam by sending messages every time you appear online then you can solve that issue.
In other words, you can appear offline on steam but still be online to chat with your friends and play games. Yes, if you hide your profile on steam or go offline then your profile status will be offline. All your friends on steam will see the offline or invisible status on your profile.
However, you can still do all tasks that you normally do on steam while online. It is like a secret mode on steam that prevents gossip or talkative friends away from you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Steam invisible Show Game?
No, steam invisible doesn’t show games when you are playing.
How to Know If Someone is Invisible on Steam?
If someone is invisible on steam then you will see an “offline” status on their profile.
Why Steam Showing Online but Not in Game?
If your game detail on steam is set to private then your game will not show online on steam. So you have to set your steam game detail status on “Friends Only” to see online status while playing a game.
Can People See What Game I’m Playing if I’m Invisible on Steam?
No, people can’t see what game you are playing when you go invisible on steam. Your profile status will show “offline” to your entire steam friends.
Final Verdict
The online status on steam depends on the person. If your friends hide their profile and appear invisible on steam while playing games then you will see the offline status on profiles from friends lists.
So, if you want to find out if your friend is online on steam even though they have to hide their profile then do follow the above-mentioned methods. But the most simple way is to directly ask them or leave a message.
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