Steam Deck gets a minor new OS update, but the big improvements are pending still

While it might not be making as many headlines as it did early on, Valve’s seminal PC gaming handheld, the Steam Deck, is still going strong. It’s just received a new operating system update, in fact, delivering a few key improvements while the infamous SteamOS 3.6 looms in the background.

The June 13th update for the Steam Deck’s “Stable” update channel is now out, as per Valve’s recent announcement, and it’s got some really interesting improvements. Highlights include the per-device wake-up toggle being added to the OLED Deck’s functionality roster, as well as the ability to check a specific Bluetooth device’s battery level. This is all well and good, of course, but it’s also worth remembering that the SteamOS 3.6 update has been hovering about in the “Unstable” update channel for some time now, and it doesn’t seem to be that much closer to release than it was weeks ago.

SteamOS 3.6 is still in Preview build, no release ETA

Notably, SteamOS 3.6 is supposed to come with a humongous list of performance and stability improvements, as Valve itself explained last May, but the update simply isn’t ready to be pushed into the “Stable” pipeline just yet. There’s no estimated time of arrival for SteamOS 3.6, either, and the specific preview build in question has already been bumped up to version 3.6.4 as Valve continues adding more features and functionality into the update.

In the interim, then, we’ve got the June 13th update, which is cool but decidedly unexciting, in the grand scheme of things. Here’s a truncated list of improvements included as part of this update for the Steam Deck:

• Visible battery information for all connected Bluetooth devices (Settings – Bluetooth / Quick Access menu)
• Per-device toggles that dictate whether a connected Bluetooth device can wake the Deck up from sleep state
• Fixed certain instances of needing multiple presses of the Guide and Steam buttons to open the appropriate interfaces
• Added a Magnifier Scale configurator (Settings – Display)
• Improved gyro-to-mouse behavior when using a Bluetooth device
• Various Desktop Mode improvements
• Added a one-time pairing step when streaming from a remote PC to the Deck

Good stuff overall, then, though the SteamOS 3.6 update is obviously the most exciting thing on the docket for the Steam Deck. Note, too, that some of the improvements – such as the granular BT wake-up toggles – are specifically exclusive to the OLED version of the device, as the baseline Deck doesn’t have the necessary hardware to make use of the feature. Most of these features will, still, be available across the board, so I recommend updating regardless.