My steam friend can see which games I am playing while my settings are on private

[Ultimo36]

I set my games visibility to private (so nobody could see what game I am playing), as well as my inventory. I see the crossed out eye symbol showing me that friends can't see which game I am playing. Then my friend asks me about the game...

I asked him how he knows and all he said was "don't worry about it", and later told me it has nothing to do with steam (so im guessing external software or websites).

Can someone elaborate on this and verify if there are external methods as well as whether setting my entire profile to private will fix the issue.

Thanks.

[ReBoot]

If your friend is right and it's got nothing to do with Steam, there's no point digging in how your private Steam profile gets reevealed. Are you using Discord or similar? Those can also broadcast what you're playing.

Why don't you ask your friend of the details? If they really are your friend, they'll tell.

[Ultimo36]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

If your friend is right and it's got nothing to do with Steam, there's no point digging in how your private Steam profile gets reevealed. Are you using Discord or similar? Those can also broadcast what you're playing.

Why don't you ask your friend of the details? If they really are your friend, they'll tell.

Yeah I sometimes use discord in the background. He said he has like 3 methods of finding out, but he could be bluffing. It is an odd friendship...

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Ultimo36:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

If your friend is right and it's got nothing to do with Steam, there's no point digging in how your private Steam profile gets reevealed. Are you using Discord or similar? Those can also broadcast what you're playing.

Why don't you ask your friend of the details? If they really are your friend, they'll tell.

Yeah I sometimes use discord in the background. He said he has like 3 methods of finding out, but he could be bluffing. It is an odd friendship...

Discord will display many games you launch unless you change those settings as well. Discord isn't tied to Steam visibility and only detects that X game has been launched.

[Ultimo36]

Originally posted by Fiddle:

Originally posted by Ultimo36:

Yeah I sometimes use discord in the background. He said he has like 3 methods of finding out, but he could be bluffing. It is an odd friendship...

Discord will display many games you launch unless you change those settings as well. Discord isn't tied to Steam visibility and only detects that X game has been launched.

This has been a lot of help, thanks for the feedback, just wondering if anyone else can think of anything like a website that shows my activity based on Steam ID or something like that?

[Hanomaly]

Again, remember, Discord can tell what you're playing... even a Steam game. Even if your Steam profile is 100% private, because Discord just sees the .exe you launch. It doesn't respect Steam privacy.

If you are playing any sort of multiplayer game, obviously that game may be broadcasting that you're playing to other players on your in-game friends list... or in game guild/squad.. or something similar. i don't play very many multiplayer games, but, it's possible your friend has an alt account that spies on you that way.

But really?
If i had a friend that told me they have "3 ways to spy on what game i'm playing" and wouldn't tell me, i'd just end my friendship with them right then. Someone like that is a pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ friend for trying to circumvent your privacy, i think... and also for playing "coy" and not even letting you know how your privacy is being leaked.

If it's a game you play a lot... they could have just *guessed* and maybe want you to think they have "special powers" that they don't really have. Even then i wouldn't want a friend who tries to convince me they have super powers, or a psychic connection to me to know what i'm doing... or a friend who'd straight up lie to me when all they did is make a random guess.

But your life is your life.. if you like friends like that, i guess that's up to you.