by In this quick guide, we will be showing you how to update your Steam Deck to the latest version of SteamOS.
One of the biggest advantages of using the Steam Deck is how well Valve maintains it through regular software updates.
There is almost a constant stream of improvements and fixes that are introduced to SteamOS. These improvements can be the addition of new features, improvement to performance in certain games, or even compatibility updates so you can play even more games on your Deck.
Valve also provides a blog where they post all the updates, they make to the Steam Deck. It is a great source for seeing what has changes with your Deck and also what might be coming in a future update.
Luckily, Valve has also made updating your Steam Deck a very straightforward process that can be done in just a few short clicks.
If you are feeling brave, you can even change to “beta” builds to get updates to your Deck even faster.
Updating the Steam Deck in Simple Steps
By default, your Steam Deck will automatically check if a new update is available from time to time. You will notice a little cog with an exclamation mark appears in the top-right corner of your screen when a SteamOS update is
However, you can speed up this process by manually checking for and applying updates to your Steam Deck yourself.
Over the following steps, you will see how to easily update your Steam Deck to the latest version of SteamOS.
Opening the Settings Panel
1. To check for updates on the Steam Deck, you must change to the system settings page.
You can get to this page by first opening up the Steam menu. This menu can be opened by pressing the STEAM button on your Deck or clicking “STEAM MENU” in the bottom-left corner.
2. After opening up the STEAM Menu, you will want to navigate to and select the “Settings” option.
3. Now that the settings page is open, you must change to the “System” menu using the sidebar.
Using the System Settings Screen to Update the Steam Deck
4. Once on the system page, all you need to do to search for new updates on your Steam Deck is click the “Check for Updates” button.
It should only take a couple of seconds for the Deck to contact Valve’s servers and check if a new version of SteamOS is available.
5. If a new version of SteamOS is available for your Steam Deck, the button should now update to say “Apply“.
Underneath the button, you should also see a textbox explaining what is new in this pending update. It is worth reading the patch notes to see what has been fixed or improved in the pending update.
Once you are happy to update your Steam Deck, click the “Apply” button.
6. Once your Steam Deck has downloaded the latest version of SteamOS, the button will change to “Restart“
The new update won’t come into effect until you restart your Deck. You can restart your device by clicking the “Restart” button.
Conclusion
By this point in the guide, you should hopefully have a good understanding of how you can update your Steam Deck.
Updating ensures that you should have the best performance, compatibility, and features that the Deck has to offer.
You can even push ahead and use beta, and release candidate builds if you want to get the latest improvements as fast as possible.
Please drop a comment below if you have any questions about updating your Deck.
If you found this quick guide to be helpful, we recommend checking out our many other Steam Deck guides.
