Valve Just Fixed the Steam Deck's Most Annoying Battery Drain

Valve just made the Steam Deck a better travel buddy. A new low-power mode lets you keep game downloads running with the screen off, so you don’t have to leave the display blazing for hours. It’s available today on the Beta and Preview channels and will reach everyone after testing. Here’s what changed and how to enable it.

What exactly changed

Valve added a display-off low-power download mode. The Deck can now finish active downloads with the screen off, then go to sleep once done. No more babysitting the device while it slurps 100GB updates.

• Runs downloads while the display is off
• Auto-sleeps after finishing
• Available on Beta/Preview first, broader rollout later

Previously, if you turned the Deck off, downloads paused, which was maddening for big installs. Now it behaves like a sensible handheld: finish the job quietly, then nap. The feature is in testing channels first, so expect minor quirks until it goes stable.

How to use it

You’ve got two ways to trigger the new mode. It’s simple and you don’t need any hacks or plugins.

• While a download is in progress, press the Power button → choose Continue downloading with screen off
• Or just leave it idle; it will auto-enter low-power download mode after a timeout
• Status peek: press a button or move the Deck to see a temporary download status screen

When you choose the new option, Deck enters a special state: screen off, radios and storage busy, minimal power draw. Nudge it and you’ll get a small status overlay to check progress, then it goes right back to quiet mode.

Power, battery and defaults

Valve set sensible power rules so you don’t wake up to a dead handheld.

• Plugged in: feature enabled by default
• On battery: toggle it in Settings → Power
• Failsafe: if charge gets low, Deck will fall back to full sleep (no downloading)

For the UAE crowd, that means you can leave the Deck on charge overnight and let it pull down Call of Duty without roasting the OLED or wasting power lighting the screen. If you’re off-grid on battery, flip the setting on and keep an eye on charge.

Why it took this long

Valve’s been cagey before, citing safety and heat if a Deck looks “asleep” but is actually working in a bag. This new mode is their compromise: lower power, screen off, clearer prompts, and an easy escape hatch if power gets too low.

• Prior overheating/bag concerns slowed the feature
• The new mode minimises heat and communicates state better
• Information overlay reduces confusion while downloading unseen

It also lines up with years of user requests—yes, the threads and Reddit posts were relentless. Now there’s an official, safer path baked into the client.

Availability and what’s next

Right now, you’ll need to be on Beta or Preview to use screen-off downloads. Valve’s own notes and the official Steam Deck post outline the feature and its behaviour. Stable rollout should follow once testing shakes out any bugs.

• Channels: Beta and Preview today
• Docs: Valve’s Steam Deck news page has the summary
• Broader rollout: expected after testing completes

If you’re new to Beta/Preview: head to Settings → System and opt in. You can always drop back to Stable later. (Valve’s support pages have long explained the differences between channels.)

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