Hide online/game status from friends

[Kwil]

Sometimes when I want to just blow off steam, I'd like to play a game without my friends knowing I'm there and joining in.

Is there any way to do this?

[thejuiceweasel]

The only real way is to use your Offline Status. Right-click on the icon in the bottom-right corner, set it to "offline". People won't see that you're online anymore. They will, however, see that you have played some games, because obviously, your gaming time is saved on your profile, which friends see unless you change that in your privacy options.

You also can go to View->Settings->Friends and uncheck "Automatically...", that way you only appear online if you manually change your status to being online.

[Kceno]

d

[Atankwadi]

since its 2017 they changed steam also sry if im late :P u can go to the friends bar in the top left and click and change to offline
u can see comments like these or replys nowadays.