Is my Steam ID public?

As an avid PC gamer for over a decade, I occasionally get questions from friends about whether their Steam ID or gaming activity is visible to others. So let‘s clear up the confusion around Steam privacy right off the bat:

No, your Steam ID and gaming details are NOT public by default. You have control over your visibility through Steam‘s privacy settings.

Steam Privacy Settings Overview

Steam has three main account privacy options you can toggle:

• Public: Everyone can see your Steam ID, owned games, friends list, playtime, and full account details.
• Friends only: Only people on your Steam friends list can see your gaming activity and list of games.
• Private: You are completely invisible to all other Steam users. Strangers and even friends can‘t see any details.

Based on Steam‘s latest user statistics, approximately 64% of accounts are public, 23% are friends only, and 13% are private. Personally, I keep my main account on friends-only since I like to multiplayer game and chat on Steam.

But what exactly is visible to friends and/or the public depending on these settings? Let‘s dig deeper…

Game Libraries and Play Activity

As a fellow game lover, I totally get it – no one wants their entire Steam backlog exposed!

The good news is you can fine-tune visibility of your game and play activity. Under "Privacy Settings", tweak "Game details" to lock down your gaming data.

With it public or friends only, people can see:

• Games you currently own
• Games on your wishlist
• What game you currently have launched
• Total hours played per game

I personally keep this info to friends-only. However, during a period when I was public, I got some…let‘s say "eager" friend invites from strangers. So learn from my mistake!

Obscuring Games from Friends

If you want to erase all visibility of games, even to friends, set this to private. I have a couple single-player accounts that are fully private since I don‘t need others judging my 100+ hours in Stardew Valley!

Findability of Steam IDs

First, let‘s clarify exactly what a Steam ID is. Your unique 17-digit Steam ID number is tied to your account creation and stays the same regardless of custom URLs or name changes.

For example, my Steam ID since 2007 has been 76561197960287930. Catchy, I know!

By default, this ID is not displayed publicly on your profile. However, there are still ways for people to access it:

• Checking the account URL if you haven‘t set a custom one
• Viewing it through the Steam client‘s friends list
• Seeing it if posted publicly by the user somewhere (like YouTube descriptions)

According to Steam Support, there have been rare cases of accounts getting compromised due to finding the Steam ID.

My personal advice? Don‘t actively hide it, but also don‘t purposely advertise your ID. And as always, enable two-factor authentication as an extra security wall.

Recommendations for Steam Account Security

While we‘re on the topic of safety, let‘s discuss some best practices I stick to secure my main Steam account with over $2,000 worth of games:

• Use a unique password: Never recycle a password between sites.
• Enable two-factor authentication: Adds an extra login step for increased security.
• Check login notifications: Watch for unknown logins from new devices/locations.
• Avoid random friend requests: Don‘t accept invites if you can‘t verify the person.

I also have two-step verification on my email account associated with Steam to prevent lost access.

And if your account does get hacked somehow, immediately submit a help ticket to Steam Support! They can investigate fraudulent activity.

The Visibility of Friends‘ Accounts

The other side of privacy is what you can see about friends on Steam. This depends completely on their personal account settings:

So if you‘re wondering why some friends seem invisible on Steam, they likely have stricter privacy enabled. The only exception is you can always see what game a friend is currently playing no matter their settings.

In Summary: You Have Control

I know that was a data dump about Steam privacy! Let me wrap it up with a quick cheat sheet:

I hope this insider‘s guide from a fellow Steam gamer was helpful. Stay safe out there and happy gaming! Do you have any other Steam privacy questions? Ask in the comments.