Valve is making it easier to tell if a game will run on your Steam OS handheld
Harley Maranan / Android Authority
TL;DR Valve is releasing a compatibility rating system for third-party devices that run Steam OS.
The rating system will tell you if a game and its features are supported on Steam OS.
This compatibility rating system will roll out over the next few weeks.
There are plenty of handheld gaming PCs out on the market, but only the Steam Deck runs on Steam OS. However, it will soon be joined by the Lenovo Legion Go S, with more to follow. In preparation for the launch of these third-party Steam OS devices, Valve is rolling out a rating system that will let you know how compatible a game is for these devices.
Valve has announced that over the next few weeks, it will launch the Steam OS Compatibility system. This rating system will cover all Steam OS devices that aren't a Steam Deck (this only includes the Legion Go S at the moment). These ratings are based on a subset of the existing Steam Deck Compatibility testing results.
As the company explains, Steam OS Compatibility is designed to give players a glance at whether a game and its features are supported on Steam OS. This includes factors like the game launcher, anti-cheat support, and game functionality. However, this system will not gauge how well a game performs on the device. The game will be marked either SteamOS Compatible or SteamOS Unsupported, depending on whether it and all of its middleware are supported.
Players will only see Steam OS Compatibility ratings if they are using a third-party device. It will be shown in the Steam Store and Steam Client. Valve says that it plans to have over 18,000 titles marked as compatible as soon as the system is available. Additionally, developers won't have to lift a finger as 'results are automatically generated from Steam Deck verification results without additional testing.'
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at
Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Android Authority
an hour ago
- Android Authority
Google's AI Overview now correctly answers it's 2025, but leaves us with major trust issues
Google TL;DR Google Search's AI Overview previously gave confident but wrong answers for the simple search query 'Is it 2025?'. This has now been fixed, and AI Overview gives the right answer. More importantly, Google no longer hides the disclaimer about possible mistakes in the AI Overview answer, which helps remind users to double-check results. Users can continue to add '-ai' to searches to turn off the AI Overview results for a cleaner, more traditional Google Search experience. Two days ago, we at Android Authority were the first to report on an embarrassing AI Overview gaffe where Google Search would incorrectly but confidently give the wrong answer for the simple query 'Is it 2025?'. At the time of reporting, we had tried multiple times to get the correct answer, but Google Search would fail differently, but fail nonetheless. Thankfully, it seems Google has now fixed the answer, as AI Overview now correctly responds that it indeed is 2025. Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority We had reached out to Google, but the company hasn't yet responded with a statement or comments. Nonetheless, Google Search finally returns the right answer, although the source cited for the answer keeps changing. More notably, the disclaimer text 'AI responses may include mistakes' remains visible right in the answer snippet, which was previously hidden behind a 'Show more' tag. This is important as it highlights that users shouldn't entirely rely on the AI-generated response and should ideally double-check the AI Overview answer. Most of us obviously know the answer for such a simple search query, but it's a good example to showcase that we shouldn't rely on AI Overview with blind faith, especially on more complex queries where we may not be able to distinguish the right from the wrong. AI Overview has previously been spotted giving people confident but wrong answers for gibberish idioms, so this mistrust is warranted. If you are frustrated by the lack of credible information in such search results, you can consider turning off AI Overviews for a cleaner, more conventional Google Search experience. If you want to do it on a single query, you can add -ai to your search terms to disable the AI Overview response for that query. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
2 hours ago
- Android Authority
The native Xbox handheld has been delayed, and you can blame Steam OS
Oliver Cragg / Android Authority TL;DR Microsoft is reportedly deprioritizing work on a native Xbox handheld. Instead, it will focus on improving Windows on third-party handhelds. The native Xbox handheld was expected in 2027 alongside next-gen consoles. The handheld wars are heating up, as Steam OS is finally widely available on third-party handhelds. Early comparisons between Steam OS and Windows on the same hardware have shown a large gap in performance, with Windows' considerable overhead causing it to lag behind. Microsoft has taken note of this, and it's reportedly shifting focus to try to keep up. Yesterday, sources within Microsoft (via Windows Central) revealed that the company announced internally that it will shift priorities away from Xbox handhelds to improve the Windows experience on third-party hardware. Importantly, this will not delay the 'Project Kennan' handheld being created in partnership with ASUS. That device is still slated for release later this year, and it may be the first to feature these Windows optimizations. However, the next-gen Xbox handheld that the company has been working on will be shelved. New rumors indicate this was indeed a native Xbox handheld, and not a Windows-based device. It was previously rumored to release in 2027 alongside the follow-up to the Xbox Series X/S home consoles. This is bittersweet news for Xbox fans, as a native Xbox handheld would have featured improved backwards compatibility with games from the Xbox/Xbox 360 era. A major selling point of the Xbox Series X/S was full compatibility with the entire Xbox catalog, with improvements in framerates and graphics thanks to more powerful hardware. Steam OS is increasingly becoming a threat to Windows handhelds. The Linux-based Steam OS was designed specifically for gaming handhelds, giving it a distinct advantage over Windows. With less overhead and bloat, it outperforms similarly spec'd Windows handhelds with a much more user-friendly interface and experience. The main advantage of Windows handhelds is improved compatibility. In theory, any PC game can be played on a Windows handheld, including the ever-expanding catalog of PC Game Pass games. Windows handhelds were typically more powerful than the Steam Deck, but now that Steam OS has expanded beyond Valve's own hardware, the scales have shifted. Time will tell whether these renewed efforts to improve Windows on handhelds can make a difference. If not, Steam OS may occupy an even bigger share of the premium gaming handheld market. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
3 hours ago
- Android Authority
Google Phone's incoming call screen could get a facelift you can choose (APK teardown)
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority TL;DR Google is testing two interfaces for the incoming call screen in the Phone app. Users may be able to choose between a pill-based horizontal swipe UI or an iPhone-like single-tap UI for answering/declining calls. However, users may not have the choice to retain the current vertical swipe UI, which is a shame. Google has been testing a redesign of the Phone app for a while now, primarily focusing on how users answer or decline calls. Back in September 2024, we spotted Google working to abandon the swipe actions for incoming calls in favor of dedicated accept and decline buttons, similar to the iPhone. More recently, in March 2025, we spotted Google testing yet another new pill-based UI for left-right swipe gestures. Google doesn't seem to have made up its mind on which UI to go with, and that's great for users, as it seems it could give them a choice between the two. Interestingly, this choice could co-exist alongside the Phone app's Material 3 Expressive redesign. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. In the latest Phone by Google app v177.0.763181107 beta release, strings indicate that users can choose between the horizontal swipe gesture and the single-tap buttons on the incoming call screen. Code Copy Text answer_method_preference_list_key Incoming call gesture Horizontal swipe Single tap While we couldn't activate the current iteration of the new UIs right away, we have previously seen both of them. For a recap, this is what the current incoming call UI looks like in the Google Phone app: For incoming calls, you get a single button, which you can swipe up to answer the call or swipe down to reject the call. The upcoming single-tap button layout for the incoming call UI will possibly look like this: This layout is similar to the incoming calls UI on the Phone app on iPhones currently on iOS 18, but OEMs like Samsung swap the button position on Galaxy phones running One UI. You can see both in the images below: Incoming calls UI on the iOS 18.1 Phone app on Apple iPhones Incoming calls UI on the Samsung Phone app on Samsung Galaxy phones The second choice that users could get is this pill-based UI for the left and right swipe gestures: When the call arrives, the Decline text is colored red and the Answer text is colored green, while the phone button in the centre animates to showcase a phone ring. The text changes to black color in a second once the animation is done, but the colors can be transitioned back into once again when you swipe right to answer the call or swipe left to reject the call. You can see the animation in this video below: Either option will require retraining muscle memory for Google Phone app users, though users switching from iPhone to Android will welcome the iPhone-like single-tap UI. Since Google seems to be giving users the choice, nothing is stopping the company from keeping the existing vertical swipe and offering it as a choice, too. We hope the company considers this if it indeed is going ahead with the incoming call UI refresh. We don't know if Google will do so, and we'll keep you updated when we learn more. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
