Steam for Android Update Brings Material Design, Better Chat History, and More

With Steam being the centrepiece of all things PC gaming, having an app to let you check up on your friends on Steam, buy games, and of course, check out Steam Sales is a big draw. But one of the limiting factors towards the app being as good as its desktop equivalent was that the user interface is quite frankly prehistoric. But this is about to change thanks to a new update.

While the app's Google Play page in India has not been updated yet, the updated v2.0 app has reached other regions already. According to a change log unearthed by the fine folks at Reddit, Steam is getting a cosmetic over, sporting a design sensibility that is based on Google's guidelines for how apps should look and interact with, known as Material Design. And this isn't the all, some of the features this new update promises to bring include better battery and improved chat history.

If you are impatient to try out the new Steam app ahead of its listing in your Google Play region, a signed-apk is available to download and sideload via Android Police. If that doesn't entice you, here's an entire cache of screenshots of what to expect.

Changelog:

• Changing from one screen to another is faster
• Will not use battery when it is inactive
• Will not log in unexpectedly
• If possible, when resumed, the application will return to the screen it was on
• Startup screen can be set
• Chat history from other devices is available
• Chat history for offline friends is available
• Navigation menu has links to Inventory, Library, going offline for chat and logging out
• Material design, higher res images, simplified settings, faster on older devices
• Other fixes

And while the jury is still out on this being pure material design, it's definitely a step up from what we're used to from Steam.