Steam Beta adds Bluetooth device battery info for Steam Deck, various desktop PC updates
www.gamingonlinux.com
Another round of Steam Client Beta updates are here with Steam Deck and Desktop PC seeing lots of improvements and bug fixes, and it's especially nice for people using Bluetooth on Steam Deck.

Steam Deck Specific changes:

  • Show battery information for connected Bluetooth devices under Settings->Bluetooth and in the Quick Access menu.
  • Added a per-device toggle to Settings->Bluetooth that controls whether a device is allowed to wake Steam Deck from sleep.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause the UI to show stale data for Bluetooth devices.

Rest of the changelog is here and is mostly desktop client improvements

  • Amanduh@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    The bluetooth wakeup sounds nice since my power button refuses to work sometimes

    • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      I always use it when docked. Important to note that the LCD version does not support Bluetooth wake though.

    • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Kinda sucks with multi-homed devices like my pixel bud pros because it constantly wakes up the deck until i disconnect them, so this is nice fix being able to toggle devices.

        • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          6 months ago

          Maybe try this, in desktop mode make sure the SBC-XQ codec is selected for your headphones, it’s night and day difference for me (or can try LDAC if XQ isn’t available)

      • Amanduh@lemm.ee
        0·
        6 months ago

        I use my deck every day whether I’m just half playing an idler or plating something more engaging but my power button is struggling. I’ve done a bunch of the “fix it at home” things so I just hope it doesn’t become completely unusable… I could send it back for repair but then I’d be without my deck for weeks…

  • Midnitte@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    I think the device needs to support battery reporting right?

    Hopefully great for Xbox Controllers. Anyone happen to have a screenshot of how it looks?

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      I’ll check it when I get home if no one else has. I know the Decky plugins controller tools worked for checking the battery in my stadia controllers before, so I’m hoping this will have replaced the need for that plugin.

  • Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Doesn’t this essentially integrate similar functionality to what one of the Decky plugins had been used for? Great that it’s an official feature now, in any case.

    • Vahtos@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Sort of, if you mean the controller tools one. I believe when that was working it would show battery percentage. The Bluetooth plugin does not. So this is more general.

      It also brings the feature of waking the deck via Bluetooth which is super convenient if you use it docked.

      I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but they have been making a lot of changes targeted at the docked experience lately, and I have a theory that is because they are getting close to announcing a Steam Deck Controller.

        • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Maybe, not all controllers work with the Deck’s Bluetooth wake up. The controller specifically needs to support BLE (Bluetooth low energy) because that’s what the deck uses while it’s asleep. I know Xbox controllers support it, but I’m not sure if dualsense does.

      • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        The new list of Bluetooth devices in the quick access menu replaced the regular Bluetooth plugin too I think.

        I need to do more testing when I get home, but I think I can uninstall both the Bluetooth plugin and controller tools now.

        edit: And the plugin for managing what devices wake on Bluetooth connection, so 3 plugins total.

          • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
            0·
            6 months ago

            Looks like it does, I can use the list of Bluetooth devices in the QAM to quick connect to Bluetooth devices that don’t auto connect, and the controller’s battery shows up in both the QAM device list and the full Bluetooth menu.

            My stadia controllers don’t support BLE and can’t wake the deck, but I have a Bluetooth keyboard that can. Going to Bluetooth menu in settings and selecting the keyboard gives me an option to disable wake functionality for it.

            So yeah, looks like I can uninstall all 3 Bluetooth Decky plugins I use.

      • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        Wake via Bluetooth isn’t new, the OLED model has always supported it (the LCD doesn’t due to hardware). This just lets you disable it for specific devices that you don’t want to wake the Deck.

        • Vahtos@programming.devEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Oh that’s unfortunate. I have the LCD model and didn’t realize it can’t do this due to hardware.

    • cron@feddit.de
      0·
      6 months ago

      The battery info was already working for me on desktop mode. It even has a nice bubble when the battery of the controller is low.

      Glad that this is coming to game mode, too.

  • AutoPastry@sopuli.xyz
    0·
    6 months ago

    Per-device Bluetooth wake is huge for me! My main earbuds have Multi-Service Support and if I forget to turn off Bluetooth on my deck it always wakes up when I take the buds out for something else

    • cellardoor@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      Same, recently on a work trip I finally got in to my hotel and found my steam deck hot and on 1% battery. My headphones had woken it from sleep earlier in the day and it had sat there burning itself away. This is great news.