Skip to main content

How to appear offline on Steam

Gaming on PC at desk with RGB lighting.
Axville / Unsplash

No one can deny that Steam is the most fully-featured storefront for PC gaming. With regular Steam sales that discount the best PC games, every gamer has a Steam account. That likely means you have a full Friends list of people wanting to play or chat all the time. That's usually great, but sometimes you just want to settle in for some solo gaming without people sending messages or asking to play. An easy way to avoid that is to appear offline.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • A Steam account

How to appear offline on Steam

If you want to go incognito and appear offline on Steam, all it takes is a few clicks from the home screen and you can play whatever you like without anyone knowing.

Step 1: Launch Steam.

Step 2: Click the Friends and Chat button in the bottom-right corner.

The steam home screen.
Valve

Step 3: Click the dropdown arrow to the right of your username.

Step 4: Choose Offline to appear offline. You can also select Invisible if you want to be able to start conversations with specific people while appearing offline to everyone else.

A steam friends list menu.
Valve
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
How to get Lattice in Marvel Rivals
Asgard in Marvel Rivals.

You can expect almost every free-to-play game like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, or Marvel Rivals to have multiple currency types for its monetization. The game needs to make money somehow, right? Since all heroes, maps, and other substantial updates will all be free, that leaves cosmetics that will cost you one of the game's two forms of cash: Units and Lattice. Lattice is the gold, premium currency that allows you to buy the greatest things in the game, such as the battle pass. Some games give you alternate ways to earn all its currencies, while others force you to open your wallet if you want those goodies. Let's see how Marvel Rivals handles its premium currency.
How to get Lattice in Marvel Rivals

Lattice, Marvel Rivals' premium currency, can be obtained in only two ways. The first is to just purchase it using your real-world cash. Here are the current Lattice bundles you can purchase and how much they cost:

Read more
How to get and redeem the Model 42 Iron Man costume in Marvel Rivals
Team up abilities in Marvel Rivals

In celebration of the launch of Marvel Rivals, a free Iron Man costume is being given away to all who claim it. Called the Armor Model 42, this black-and-gold skin will make your Iron Man an intimidating force on the battlefield during cross-platform battles. Unlike all the other skins in the game, you can't earn this one just by playing. Instead, you need to do a little work to find and redeem a special code. Fear not, because we can help you through the entire process.

Read more
All Marvel Rivals Team-Ups and how they work
Team up abilities in Marvel Rivals

Heroes are strongest when they work together. This is true in the comics and movies, but also in Marvel Rivals. Besides choosing your favorite character based on their role or what awesome skin you've bought with Lattice, you also need to pay attention to something called Team-Up Abilities. Just like those exciting moments on the page or screen, these special abilities let you combine the skills and abilities of two heroes to devastating effect. Because the roster is so huge and many Team-Up Abilities can be triggered with two or three heroes, it is easy to forget who synergizes with who and what their ability will even do. Let's refresh ourselves on all the Marvel Rivals Team-Up abilities and what they do.
All Marvel Rivals Team-Up Abilities and what they do

There are two main ways Team-Up Abilities work. Some are passive and will activate so long as the two corresponding characters are within range of one another, but sometimes it works as long as both are simply on the same team. The other type needs the "leader" character to activate them with a button prompt.
Ragnarok Rebirth
Heroes needed: Loki, Hela, and Thor

Read more