Question regarding Steam storing chat logs

[Hesti]

I know that being able to view your own chat logs yourself only goes back a certain amount of time...2 weeks, I think it was. But I'm curious if Steam stores them locally for longer than that, just not accessible or visible to the user. Is it possible that they do? I'd wonder if it's somehow possible to recover chat logs from years ago...I'm kind of curious about conversations with really old friends that I no longer have added.

[InnerPhoenix]

valve cares more on looking cool then having decent functions.

[Hesti]

So yes or no...? Thanks for your unrelated comment.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

İlk olarak Hesti tarafından gönderildi:

I'd wonder if it's somehow possible to recover chat logs from years ago...

Nope.

[Brian9824]

İlk olarak InnerPhoenix tarafından gönderildi:

valve cares more on looking cool then having decent functions.

Nothing to do with decent functions, there are rules they have to follow regarding how long they can keep that data for. All the data they have is visible here - https://help.steampowered.com/en/accountdata/GetFriendMessagesLog

[Hesti]

İlk olarak cSg|mc-Hotsauce tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Hesti tarafından gönderildi:

I'd wonder if it's somehow possible to recover chat logs from years ago...

Nope.

:qr:

İlk olarak brian9824 tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak InnerPhoenix tarafından gönderildi:

valve cares more on looking cool then having decent functions.

Nothing to do with decent functions, there are rules they have to follow regarding how long they can keep that data for. All the data they have is visible here - https://help.steampowered.com/en/accountdata/GetFriendMessagesLog

Sorry for the late reply, I just realized I wasn't subscribed to the thread for some reason. I just wanted to say, thank you. I guess that means anything from years and years ago is gone, then. Oh well.

[lightwo]

The old Steam mobile app kept chat logs indefinitely, but Steam servers don't keep messages for longer than 2 weeks.

If you still happen to have it lying around in its outdated form and on Android specifically, try snatching this and viewing it in a SQLite viewer:

/data/data/com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community/databases/SteamLocal.db

Do note you need root access for this, although jh34ghu43gu claims that USB debugging is good enough:

İlk olarak FP jh34ghu43gu tarafından gönderildi:

Hello, for anyone who hasn't updated yet I have found a method to, at the very least, recover your chat logs without root on android (Using samsung A50 android 11, should work on other androids I imagine). This is for a windows PC but it should be similar for linux.

1) Install android debug bridge (adb) ( https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools )

2) Enable developer mode on phone by going to settings > about phone > software information > tap the build number 7 times

3) Setup a "Desktop backup password" in developer options. Due to a bug it will create empty backups on some android versions if the password isn't set.

4) Download steam 2.1.4 ( https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/valve-corporation/steam/steam-2-1-4-release/ ) and place it in the same folder as where you installed the adb/platform tools. Rename it to something shorter like steam-2-1-4.apk (in the following commands I will be using this name, replace it with your name if you chose something else).

5) Connect your phone to your computer (phone should be unlocked).

6) Open command prompt and cd to the platform tools folder. Since I installed mine on the E: drive I had to do

E:

first and then

cd E:\Program Files\platform-tools_r34.0.3-windows\platform-tools

You can get the location easily by right clicking the address in file explorer and copy as text.

7) Type

adb devices

This should prompt your phone to allow debug access, obviously allow. Type the command again and it should list your phone.

8) Type

adb push steam-2-1-4.apk /data/local/tmp

This will move the old app onto the phone.

9) Type

adb uninstall -k com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

This will prompt you with an "are you sure" message about how you cannot delete the remaining data unless you reinstall the app. This is what we want! Confirm the uninstall with

adb shell cmd package uninstall -k com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

Note: We have to uninstall before downgrading due to permission differences. -k option keeps our data.

10) Install the old version by using

adb shell pm install -r -d /data/local/tmp/steam-2-1-4.apk

11) We can now backup the app with

adb backup -noapk com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community -f steam.ab

This will prompt you on your phone to enter the backup password from step 3 and will save the backup to steam.ab in the platform tools folder. Note: We could not perform a backup with any version after 2.1.4 because valve disabled non-root backups after that point. Trying to create a backup without downgrading simply creates an empty file.

12) Almost there! To unpack the backup we need the android backup toolkit to convert it into a .tar https://sourceforge.net/projects/android-backup-toolkit/ After downloading, extract the contents of the zip and find the adp.jar file, move it to the platform tools folder.

13) You will need java installed to use the adp.jar Back in command prompt type

java -jar adp.jar unpack steam.ab steam.tar <password>

Replace <password> with the password you used in step 3 or the custom one you used in step 11 (if applicable).

14) You now have a .tar of your steam data which can be opened with something like 7zip! The chat database is in the /db/ folder.

[Hesti]

İlk olarak lightwo tarafından gönderildi:

The old Steam mobile app kept chat logs indefinitely, but Steam servers don't keep messages for longer than 2 weeks.

If you still happen to have it lying around in its outdated form and on Android specifically, try snatching this and viewing it in a SQLite viewer:

/data/data/com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community/databases/SteamLocal.db

Do note you need root access for this, although jh34ghu43gu claims that USB debugging is good enough:

İlk olarak FP jh34ghu43gu tarafından gönderildi:

Hello, for anyone who hasn't updated yet I have found a method to, at the very least, recover your chat logs without root on android (Using samsung A50 android 11, should work on other androids I imagine). This is for a windows PC but it should be similar for linux.

1) Install android debug bridge (adb) ( https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools )

2) Enable developer mode on phone by going to settings > about phone > software information > tap the build number 7 times

3) Setup a "Desktop backup password" in developer options. Due to a bug it will create empty backups on some android versions if the password isn't set.

4) Download steam 2.1.4 ( https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/valve-corporation/steam/steam-2-1-4-release/ ) and place it in the same folder as where you installed the adb/platform tools. Rename it to something shorter like steam-2-1-4.apk (in the following commands I will be using this name, replace it with your name if you chose something else).

5) Connect your phone to your computer (phone should be unlocked).

6) Open command prompt and cd to the platform tools folder. Since I installed mine on the E: drive I had to do

E:

first and then

cd E:\Program Files\platform-tools_r34.0.3-windows\platform-tools

You can get the location easily by right clicking the address in file explorer and copy as text.

7) Type

adb devices

This should prompt your phone to allow debug access, obviously allow. Type the command again and it should list your phone.

8) Type

adb push steam-2-1-4.apk /data/local/tmp

This will move the old app onto the phone.

9) Type

adb uninstall -k com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

This will prompt you with an "are you sure" message about how you cannot delete the remaining data unless you reinstall the app. This is what we want! Confirm the uninstall with

adb shell cmd package uninstall -k com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

Note: We have to uninstall before downgrading due to permission differences. -k option keeps our data.

10) Install the old version by using

adb shell pm install -r -d /data/local/tmp/steam-2-1-4.apk

11) We can now backup the app with

adb backup -noapk com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community -f steam.ab

This will prompt you on your phone to enter the backup password from step 3 and will save the backup to steam.ab in the platform tools folder. Note: We could not perform a backup with any version after 2.1.4 because valve disabled non-root backups after that point. Trying to create a backup without downgrading simply creates an empty file.

12) Almost there! To unpack the backup we need the android backup toolkit to convert it into a .tar https://sourceforge.net/projects/android-backup-toolkit/ After downloading, extract the contents of the zip and find the adp.jar file, move it to the platform tools folder.

13) You will need java installed to use the adp.jar Back in command prompt type

java -jar adp.jar unpack steam.ab steam.tar <password>

Replace <password> with the password you used in step 3 or the custom one you used in step 11 (if applicable).

14) You now have a .tar of your steam data which can be opened with something like 7zip! The chat database is in the /db/ folder.

Thanks, I actually might on an old phone of mine. I'll at least try it.