Valve’s Steam Link Finally Makes Its Way to iOS

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Steam Link is now available free of charge for iOS and Apple TV users, nearly a year after it was rejected by , Valve announced on Wednesday.

The app lets users play their Steam library of games on mobile devices or smart TVs while connected to a host computer via a WiFi network or wired Ethernet. It includes support for Steam controllers, 4K resolution, and more. Steam Link was originally released as a hardware peripheral, but discontinued it in 2018 in favor of the app version.

While an Android version of Steam Link launched in May 2018, Apple revoked its initial approval of the app. It cited “business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team,” Valve said in a statement at the time. Valve appealed the decision by saying the app was similar to LAN-based remote desktop applications already available on the App Store. But, Apple didn’t budge — until now.

Although Apple hasn’t given other reasons for the app’s initial rejection, it’s possible it sees Steam Link as competition for its recent push into gaming via products like Apple Arcade , which was officially unveiled in March. Billed as the first game subscription service for mobile, desktop, and living rooms, it’s launching with more than 100 new and exclusive titles. Subscribers can download and play as many games as they want, and all of the titles will feature cross-play between Apple devices, along with offline play. Apple Arcade launches sometime this fall.