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I like being able to use Steam Chat from my Mobile Device. I usually do this through the imo.IM app, because it also works with my various other messaging services and I find it convenient and attractive, and it does not sign me out over very long periods of inactivty, whereas the official Steam app often does.

However, logging into my Steam friends list through imo causes Steam on my computer sitting at home to be logged out. Is there any way to allow Steam to support the sign-on from multiple locations? I'd like to be able to chat from my mobile device while continuing to use a connected Steam from my computer at home; having a log in to chat cause my downloads to stop running is particularly annoying...

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    Steam mobile app and web chat don't log you out like that (unlike another instance of Steam client). Maybe imo should reimplement their Steam chat...
    – BlaXpirit
    Jan 23, 2014 at 14:24
  • I start the Steam app on my phone very rarely (just tried it now, first time since at least Dec. 24th) and it doesn't log me out in between. Do you frequently change your Steam password?
    – TZHX
    Jan 23, 2014 at 14:26
  • @tzhx no. It might not log me out, per se, but I end up not getting messages. It's effectively the same. Jan 23, 2014 at 14:43
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    I would never, ever trust a 3rd party application with my Steam password. Stop it right now. Use Steam Webchat if you cannot access the Steam Client for whatever reason. Jan 23, 2014 at 14:56

2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately, no

I believe imo.IM's Steam functionality is based off SteamRE, which is a project to reverse engineer the Steam protocol. Since the Steam protocol is not something that is made available to third parties it's likely that this connection is established as though a second Steam client has just logged into the service, which will log you out.

It's worth noting that such third party "solutions" are not officially supported by Valve or Steam.

If you wish to use Steam on your mobile device you should stick with the official Steam for mobiles application, which will allow you to stay signed in on your home computer while logged in on your mobile device.

Something important you should consider

Using a third party application to access Steam is technically against the terms of service you agreed to when you signed up and created your Steam account, and may get you banned.

Quoted from section G (ii):

host or provide matchmaking services for the Software or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Software, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Software, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, websites or services, without the prior written consent of Valve;

(My emphasis)

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  • This is news to me! I was unaware it was an unauthorized client, and that explains a lot of the behavior. Ah well. So much for that. :/ Jan 24, 2014 at 0:34
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There is no official way to access Steams messaging features through a third party app at all.

I know 3 ways to communicate with Steam friends: Steam client, Steam mobile client and Steam web chat, all of them controlled by Valve.

It's not allowed to have two Steam clients logged into the same account at the same time. However, both Steam mobile app and web chat don't log you out of the Steam client.

So... I'm pretty sure the imo.im developers reverse-engineered the Steam client and mimick it in their application, like they probably did with Skype...

So maybe if they redo it and reverse-engineer the web chat, for example, it might be able to work together with Steam for desktops.

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  • There is a steam chat app for windows phone which uses web chat, I can confirm it works even with notifications!
    – ave
    Nov 19, 2014 at 17:08

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