Steam app chat problems [iOS]

[Absinthe Minded]

So i recently noticed there was a "hotfix" of some sort as I haven't seen an update for the Apple app store in months. Now the homescreen will display the message from my steam friends and not just that I have received a message (good change) but also even when I'm on my computer, my phone is constantly buzzing with the messages received on my PC.

I have closed the app by double tapping the home button and manually closing it but it doesn't make a difference.

Its an iPhone 4 on which I have not installed iOS 7.

Any help would be appreciated or comment if you have been experiencing a similar problem!

Thanks!

[Kutta]

If you go to the iOS app's Settings menu, click "Steam Preferences" at the bottom, you'll see a bunch of options to control push notifications. There are multiple levels of chat notification. The last option (which is NOT the default) is "notify me for all new chat messages", which sounds like what you are seeing. This behaves similarly to iMessage and other messaging apps where you will get notified on all subscribed devices.

The default notification level is to notify you when you receive new messages on that device for a short period of time after using the application on that device. If you haven't used the app for an hour or two, your iOS app will log off of chat and you should no longer receive push messages.

[2point4]

I've tried changing every push related option and no matter which setting I use I get push notifications. The only way to get them to stop was to manually log out of the application (I chose to uninstall instead). This was for both Android and iOS devices.

[Kutta]

I'd like to help you track down why you're seeing unexpected behavior if possible; I haven't seen this issue widely reported since the change last Wednesday (Oct 2nd).

Looking at your accounts, it seems that both of them are configured to receive push notifications while your app is running and for a short while after (~1 hour). One thing you can try: from the iOS app flyout menu, scroll to the bottom and select Go Offline. Then chat on your desktop Steam client and see if the iOS device still receives push notifications (it shouldn't). If you ARE receiving pushes in those circumstances, please let me know.

2point4: Has the behavior in the Android app changed since Oct 2nd or has it always worked this way for you?

[2point4]

I was annoyed by the incessant spam that I couldn't disable and also the lack of features and functionality of the app so I uninstalled it from both of my devices. An Android phone running 2.3.4 and an iPad Mini which was running iOS 6.something at the time.

But just curious...to which change are you referring? The Android app was last updated March 1, 2012.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

And the iOS app was last updated January 29, 2013.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-mobile/id495369748?mt=8

And for the record, I used the Go Offline option as well and still received push notifications about items on my wishlist being on sale (about six months ago just before I uninstalled), though I know you were directing this at the OP.

[Kutta]

This was a recent server-side change (no app update required) to make chat push messages more useful, since previously they just said "Chats" and not who the message was from nor what the message was. For iOS users, this behavior mimics that of other messaging applications (e.g. iMessage, What's App). (

Android users were actually not affected by this recent change as the Android app has always been able to fetch text message contents due to differences in the way Android vs. iOS apps behave)

About the "spam", there's a settings menu in both applications to control what messages you receive from Steam. You can individually disable chat messages, wishlist messages, and other notifications. So if you just want to use chat and not be notified of wishlist messages (or vice versa) it's easy to configure that. Looking at your settings it appears you are opted-in to all of these message types, which would explain why you're receiving them.

[Absinthe Minded]

I like the changes for the most part, and will try what you suggested in the Push Notification menu. One thing I have noticed (and this is why I made the post) is that before, I would get notifications on my phone on my way home. But as soon as I was responding via my PC, the notifications on my phone would end. Just a suggestion!

[Kutta]

Before this change you would only ever get a single notification ("Chats") if you received messages while the app was in the background on iOS, regardless of how many messages people sent you.

I'll look into adding a mode where we only send you push messages that you have not yet read on any device or Steam app. I think that would give you the behavior you're looking for.

Also: you can easily disable sounds for push notifications on the Steam app without disabling push altogether. That would stop your phone from buzzing or making noise at all but you'd still get the contents of the message pushed to your device.

[2point4]

Originally posted by Kutta:

Looking at your settings it appears you are opted-in to all of these message types, which would explain why you're receiving them.

I guess the apps weren't pushing the changes I made over to your servers. The last setting I had on both my Android and iOS devices was everything off. Furthermore, I'm not receiving any spam now as I've had the apps uninstalled for ~ six months.

[TDGv1.2]

I am not getting new messages through the Steam app on my iphone. I checked the push notifications and i have it set to "Notify me for all new chat messages" and I don't receive them. I am at a loss as to why this is happening.

[2point4]

So for fun I reinstalled the iOS app yesterday. Today a game on my wishlist is on sale and so, as expected, I got a notification about it. My settings for push notifications are as follows:

Notify me about Steam sales: unchecked
Notify me when wishlist items go on sale: unchecked
Do not notify me about any chat messages.

I didn't change any settings when I reinstalled the app as I assumed that like most iOS apps my previous settings are saved from the last time I had it installed, and as far as I remember these settings I just shared were the settings as they were just before I uninstalled it last time. However, from what you're saying there aren't really any local settings and these are just saved on your servers and pulled from the servers when the settings page is requested. If that is the case then there appears to be a bug somewhere. For what it's worth, I'm not jailbroken or anything. My iPad is stock and I have about 50 apps installed.

You mentioned that I am opted in to all the push notifications but the local settings here show different. I've just re-uninstalled the app because I'm not fond of notifications that can't be disabled but I just wanted to verify that it is still misbehaving, which it is.

[Kutta]

2point4 - thanks for the report. I'll look into it and see if I can reproduce a case where someone sees that they're not opted-in but is still receiving messages. In the meantime you can also disable push notifications for the app in Apple's Settings menu (go to Notifications and find the Steam app and disable stuff there).

TDG: do you have push notifications disabled in iOS settings for the Steam app? You'd need to go to Apple's Settings app -> Notifications, then scroll down to the Steam app. You can control where and how you see notifications from our app (e.g. show/hide in notification center, sound on/off, badges on/off, etc).

[Kutta]

2point4: by chance, after you changed your Notification settings (steam sales, wishlist), did you scroll to the bottom of the page and hit Save Settings? If you just uncheck the boxes and hit 'back' then your settings won't be saved.

[2point4]

I didn't change any settings. I reinstalled the app and the next day I had a notification that a game on my wishlist was on sale. I went to the settings section and saw that my settings were as I described. Unchecked, Unchecked, Do not notify... I didn't set those after I installed this time (I believe I set these long ago when I had first installed the app), they were that way upon completion of this install. Because the settings appeared to be the way I wanted them, no changes were necessary and I didn't have to click the save button because no changes were made.

[Kutta]

I've been talking with some users on the old Steam powered user forums and in each case their issues were solved by changing their notification settings and hitting Save Settings at the bottom. That Steam preferences page is actually Web UI, not native UI in the app, so the settings are coming straight from the server in the form of a web page. But unlike the other settings pages, you need to hit "Save Settings" at the bottom to confirm your selection. I'm going to look into changing the behavior of the page to make it more straightforward.

[2point4]

But then it sounds like the settings are saving server-side, no? If I had uninstalled the app long ago and reinstalled it last week and it pulled those settings from the your servers when I brought up the web UI, then it sounds like the settings were saved. I can't tell you whether or not I pressed save six months ago, but it seems awkward that server-side settings are saved but not actually applied unless a button is pressed.

Anyway, thanks for the info.