A new beta update is now available for the Steam Deck client. Notable features with this update are the ability to schedule when night mode should turn on and off (no need to install the plugin anymore!), and the option to scale the Steam Deck UI when the Deck is connected to an external display. There’s also a toggle to automatically scale the UI to the appropriate size when connected to said display.

Some other updates include a new Japanese (Kana) keyboard option, an improved Korean keyboard experience, and improved adaptive brightness slider, and a few bug fixes (Chrome should now properly quit while in in Steam and the OSK should no longer pop up unintentionally under the Steam/Quick Access menu). Additionally, the options to choose the SteamOS and Deck client update channels under the System tab in the Settings menu are no longer separate. They have now been combined into one option called “System Update Channel.” The options are now as follows:

  • Stable: stable SteamOS and Deck Client releases
  • Beta: installs the Deck client beta, but keeps SteamOS on the stable branch
  • Preview: Deck client beta and SteamOS beta

I actually kind of like that, as it simplifies the management of opting in to stable or beta channels.

Although Valve hasn’t made an official post about it, Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned on Twitter that SteamOS 3.3 has also been updated with “a temporary revert of the built-in controller driver” and fixes a crash when playing Read Dead Redemption 2 for an extended period of time with the Vulkan backend.

Be aware that Firefox has not been updated with this release. Firefox should ship with the latest Flatpak version with the next SteamOS update though.

See the full patch notes on Steam.