When it comes to video games, PC gaming provides many benefits over console gaming. For starters, a gaming desktop or laptop can accomplish more tasks than just gaming, such as daily computer use, media playback, and even doubling as a home server. However, consoles have traditionally been more living room friendly. Though a keyboard and mouse set up is often preferred by many gamers, there’s something relaxing about kicking back on the couch, controller in hand, for a bout of video games. With game streaming, you can enjoy your PC games on your phone or in the living room. Learn how to install Steam Link on Android, iOS, and the Raspberry Pi!
What is Steam Link?
Steam Link is an app that lets you stream your PC games from Valve’s Steam video game platform to compatible devices. Whereas cloud game streaming services such as Amazon Luna enable gameplay from remote servers, Steam Link instead requires local installation where your gaming PC acts as a server from which you can stream to client devices. Any game in your Steam library that’s installed to your host PC can be accessed on Android and iOS phones, tablets, and streaming devices as well as Raspberry Pi single-board computers (SBCs). Additionally, you can play non-Steam games using the Steam Link app. Unlike NVIDIA’s GeForce Now or Google Stadia, Steam Link is a method of streaming your purchased games to phones, tablets, smart TVs, and set-top boxes. Using the Steam Link app, you can stream in your own home as well as outside of your home network.
What do You Need for Steam Link Game Streaming?
Getting started with the Steam Link app is pretty simple. You’ll need the app itself, available on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and for the Raspberry Pi. A compatible controller such as the Steam Controller, an Xbox One game pad, or any number of popular game controllers is needed. And a host PC running Steam is required as well. Android 5.0 phones, tablets, streaming devices, and smart TVs are compatible with the Steam Link Android app while Apple iPhones and iPads running iOS 11.0 or later, as well as Apple TV tvOS 11.0 or newer devices work just fine.
What you’ll need for a Steam Link game streaming set up:
- Host PC running Steam
- Steam Link app
- Compatible Steam Link app device (Android 5.0 or newer phones/tablets/streaming devices/smart TVs, iOS and tvOS 11.0 or later hardware, or a Raspberry Pi)
- Game controller (Steam Controller, Xbox One controller, Amazon Luna controller, or another Steam-compatible game controller)
How to Install Steam Link on Android
On your Android 5.0 or later phone, tablet, Android TV box, or smart TV, fire up the Google Play store and search for Steam Link. Once you’ve navigated to the Steam Link Android app page in the Google Play Store, select install. Wait for the app to download.
Then, open up your apps list and find Steam Link. Make sure that you’ve got a PC on the same network as your Android device that has Steam installed and running. Open the Steam Link Android app.
The Steam Link app will search your local network for your Steam library and should find it shortly and display a list of any compatible computers on your local network running Steam.
Pick your rig, then in Steam on your host PC enter the four-digit PIN that pops up.
Steam Link will proceed to run a quick speed test to make sure that both the server (your host PC) and client (your Android device) have a strong enough connection.
When all is finished, just select start playing to begin browsing your Steam collection.
I’ve successfully installed and used Steam Link on my Samsung Galaxy S9+ Android Phone, NVIDIA Shield TV Pro streaming box, WeTek Play 2 Android streamer, and Hisense H8F 4K UHD smart TV. What’s more, since you can run Android apps on Chrome OS, you can install Steam Link on Chromebooks for streaming your personal PC game collection to Chromebooks.
How to Install Steam Link on iOS and tvOS
On iOS and Apple TV, you’ll need to begin by launching the Apple App Store. Search for the Steam Link app and once you find it, hit install.
After that, open the Steam Link app on your iOS or tvOS device. Double check that you have a computer on your network running Steam.
Wait for Steam Link on iOS or tvOS to scan your local network for any PCs in the vicinity. Once it’s found your computer or computers, select your desired machine. A four-digit code will pop up in the Steam Link. Switch over to your host PC and enter the PIN.
When you’ve completed that step, Steam Link will complete a network test and make sure that both your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV and client machine have strong enough Internet connections. When everything’s set, choose Start Playing, then you can browse your collection and start enjoying Steam Link on iOS or tvOS.
How to Install Steam Link on the Raspberry Pi
Steam Link runs incredibly well on the Raspberry Pi. While the Raspberry Pi 3, Pi 3 B+, and Raspberry Pi 4 all work, I suggest using a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB or 8GB model.
If you’re running a Debian-based Raspberry Pi compatible Linux operating system such as Raspberry Pi OS or Ubuntu, open up a terminal window (CTRL + ALT + T) and perform a software update and upgrade of current packages:
sudo apt-get update && upgradeNext up, install Steam Link:
sudo apt install steamlinkNow, Steam Link is installed on the Raspberry Pi. You can head to the Games menu and launch the Steam Link app on the Raspberry Pi. Or, in a terminal window, run:
steamlinkLaunching the Raspberry Pi Steam Link app for the first time downloads the app and creates a desktop shortcut.
On RetroPie, installing Steam Link is a bit different. Navigate to the RetroPie tab and from there head to RetroPie Setup > Update RetroPie Setup Script. Then, select Manage Packages > Manage Experimental Packages > Steamlink to install Steam Link on RetroPie. Once finished, restart your Raspberry Pi board. Upon rebooting, you’ll find Steam Link under the Ports menu on RetroPie.
Make sure that your host PC is on and Steam is running. Fire up Steam Link on the Raspberry Pi and wait for Steam to locate your computer.
Then, pick your PC or PCs. Enter the four-digit PIN that Steam Link displays over on your computer in Steam. Then, you should be all set up to begin playing Steam games on your Raspberry Pi.
How to Play non-Steam Games With the Steam Link App
It’s easy enough to play virtually any title from your Steam Library using the Steam Link app. But what about non-Steam games? Luckily, that’s simple enough to accomplish. Open up steam and navigate to Games > Add a non-Steam game to my library.
Then, a list of programs installed on your computer should populate. Check the box next to any and all games or programs you want to add, then hit Add selected programs. When that’s complete, any non-Steam games installed should be available from within the Steam Link app.
How to Install the Steam Link App on Android, iOS, tvOS, and Raspberry Pi – Final Thoughts
Steam Link is super easy to install and use. While the initial installation does require being on the same network as your host PC, you can connect out of network so long as your computer is running Steam. As such, for out-of-home game streaming, this is a great solution. Whether playing on my TV, projector, phone, or tablet, Steam Link runs like a champ and simplifies game streaming.
For more ways to make your Steam games portable, check out the best Steam Deck docks.
Recent Comments