Steam is the world’s most popular digital PC games store — an online platform for downloading games straight to your computer instead of shopping at traditional retail outlets. The platform was launched to great success in 2003 thanks to the parent company, Valve, releasing it alongside one of the most highly anticipated PC games of all time: Half-Life 2. The company strategically ensured that Half-Life 2 couldn’t be played without downloading or registering the game on Steam, which was a controversial move but also the world’s first push into digital distribution. Since then, Steam continued to grow rapidly as dated formats like CD and DVD became obsolete.
Today, lots of Mac users are still wondering: does Steam work on Mac? Truth is, for many years, Mac users had very little access to the most recent games. Although Steam was originally Windows exclusive, it eventually began to support Macs too — with a catch.
Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games. Points Shop News Steam Labs. MacOS on Steam Browse the newest, top selling and discounted macOS supported games New and Trending Top Sellers.
Set up your Mac for gaming
Unveil the best gaming gems among Setapp’s 180+ Mac apps. Best of all, you can get them all in one package.
How Does Steam Work On Mac?
The main reason for Steam not initially supporting Macs was them containing proprietary hardware that game developers struggled to cater for. Macs generally didn’t have the same gaming-oriented hardware that Windows PC users enjoyed, such as high-performance CPU chips and video cards. Additionally, Windows made it easier for game developers to interface with their hardware using widely supported API tools such as DirectX.
The lack of games on Mac wasn’t only due to hardware and software, but also the business model as a whole. In the early 2000s, Apple was more concerned with their suite of creative applications and music software rather than games. As gaming became more popular, the company struggled to enter the market through their own App Store, as competing products had already captured market share.
Thankfully, Macs shifted away from their own hardware to common X86 platforms used by Windows PCs, which included Intel chips and leading video card brands like AMD and Nvidia. Suddenly, gaming on Macs became viable — in an effort to reinvent the industry Apple is releasing Arcade this fall, its gaming subscription service for all the Apple devices. But while we are yet to see what is Apple hiding up its sleeve, Steam has already jumped on the opportunity to make it work.
How to install Steam on Mac
Now is a better time than ever for gamers on Mac, thanks to greater Steam support and more powerful hardware parts. So if you’re wondering how to download Steam for Mac, you’re in the right place. Follow the instructions below and you’ll be ready to get your Mac games download going in no time:
Navigate to steampowered.com
Click the Install Steam on the top right of the screen
On the next page, click Install Steam (make sure the Apple logo is next to the button, the browser should have automatically detected you’re on a Mac)
When the Steam download for Mac is finished, click on steam.dmg
From the new window, drag steam into Applications
The install should now be complete. Test it by opening Steam from your Dock or Applications folder.
There are a few considerations to keep in mind if you’re thinking about installing Steam on Mac. First, you’ll want to ensure you meet the minimum requirements. Second, most of the popular games use a traditional two-button mouse configuration, whereas many of Apple’s mice only have one by default. You can usually update the settings of your mouse, including the Apple Magic Mouse, to use a two-button style in your System Preferences. Finally, you’ll want to ensure your Mac is optimized for the best gaming performance.
How to download games on Steam
Despite Macs now having a more viable hardware platform for game developers, you’ll find that not all best Steam games for Mac are the same as Windows. Game developers still have to make accommodations for their games to run properly, most often quality assurance testing and specific Mac updates. In such an environment, here’s how you can find the best Mac games on Steam:
Open Steam from your Dock or Applications folder
Create a new account or log in if you already have one
All featured games (on the first page) should be Mac-compatible (identified by the Apple logo)
Double-click on any title to learn more about it
Click “Add to Card” and then “Purchase for Myself”
Choose Install Game Now
The Steam downloader will automatically start in the background and notify you when complete. Your game will then become available from the Library tab.
A helpful trick for first-time users is to take advantage of the Wishlist function, which adds games to a watchlist and notifies you when they are on sale. You can find the Wishlist button on the game page, near the “Add to Cart” button.
Additionally, you might want to begin your gaming journey with some free games for Mac. In Steam, navigate to the Store tab, then Games, and then Free-to-Play. You can download any of these following the same instructions as purchasing games.
If you find certain games are running slow, especially online, you may want to troubleshoot your internet connection. Mac users have a fantastic option for identifying internet issues in an application called WiFi Explorer.
WiFi Explorer automatically scans your network for coverage conflicts and then suggests tips for resolving them. In just a few seconds, you can see how well your WiFi network is performing, the strength of the signal when you move around your place, and your signal-to-noise ratio — so you can go back to gaming ASAP.
How to uninstall steam on Mac
If you’ve finished a game, or you’re trying to free up space on your drive, you may want to uninstall a Steam game on Mac. But you might be wondering: where does Steam install games? The answer is relatively complex, as Mac structures its application files in such a way that accessing them in the Library can be difficult when compared to the Windows File Explorer. Thankfully, uninstalling games on Steam is easy with its built-in file wizard for Mac. Here’s how to uninstall Steam games on Mac:
Open Steam, then navigate to the Games Library
Right-click on a game and choose Uninstall from the dropdown
Click Uninstall on the confirmation window. The game will be removed automatically from your Mac.
If you’re looking to uninstall the Steam application itself entirely from your Mac, it’s best to uninstall your games first to ensure nothing gets left behind. After that, simply dragging Steam into the Trash wouldn’t be ideal. If you want the most reliable way possible to uninstall Steam on your Mac, you may want to consider using an application designed to do this thoroughly.
Free up space for new games
Get CleanMyMac X, a powerful app uninstaller and Mac cleaner. Win more space for the most interesting Steam games.
CleanMyMac X is a popular tool for Mac users that lets you uninstall applications and wipe their footprint completely from your drive (simply go to the Uninstaller tab, scan your Mac, and remove). Plus it grants you access to one-click optimization and other handy features such as browser privacy configuration.
Now that you know how Steam works, and how to install and uninstall games for Mac, you’re ready for gaming with confidence.
Best of all, WiFi Explorer and CleanMyMac X, which can help you craft the best gaming experience possible, are available for free via 7-day trial with Setapp, a software suite with more than 150 Mac apps to solve tech issues, increase your productivity, and express your creative side as well. Now let’s play!
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
Read onSign Up
Back in the Dark Ages – that is, 1994 – if you wanted to play Doom II on your computer, you had to load a stack of floppy disks one-by-one to install the game.
But that’s only if you had a PC.
If you had a Mac, you were out of luck and had to wait another year to play the most influential first-person shooter of that decade.
Apple has always had a problematic relationship with game developers. Part of this has to do with market share because, at best, Apple has only ever had 10% of the overall computer market.
Given that, it’s never made financial sense for game companies to quickly bring titles to the Mac. Plus, Apple has never demonstrated much long-term interest in gaming beyond it being a means to an end to demonstrate new hardware capabilities.
Delete folders in outlook for mac. In the folder list view, all your folders are listed out including mail folder, calendar folder, contacts folder and so on. You can switch among these different types Outlook folders easily inside the folder list view in the Navigation Pane. In this article, we will show you how to show or hide folder list view in Outlook in details. Select a folder in which you want to create a new folder. From the Home tab on the Ribbon, click the New Items button, and then choose Folder. The new folder will appear nested in the folder you selected in step 1 as Untitled Folder, with the name editable. In Outlook 2016 for Mac, when you navigate to a folder in which several encrypted email messages are displayed in the message list, Outlook freezes or experiences other performance issues. To fix this issue, update Outlook 2016 for Mac to version 15.23 or a later version. Then, disable the preview. Showing the On My Computer folders is required to create a contact group because the group does not sync with the Exchange server. To show the On My Computer folders in the navigation pane, on the Outlook menu, click Preferences. Under Personal Settings, click General. Then, under Folder list, clear the Hide On My Computer folders check box.
This all began to change with the online digital game distribution platform Steam. Steam started selling PC games in 2003, and Mac games became available in 2010.
So, what exactly is Steam? How does it work for users of the Mac operating system (OS)? What are the key features you need to know about? We’ll cover all this and more below.
What Is Steam?
Steam was developed by the Valve Corporation, a gaming company which has released successful series such as Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Portal. Its original purpose was to provide automatic updates for Valve games like Counter-Strike.
Valve saw the potential for online gaming sales and quickly began to make its products available via Steam in 2003. It began selling third-party games in 2005 and Mac games in 2010. By 2013, Steam controlled 75% of the online gaming sales market. In 2017, Steam earned approximately $4.3 billion and had about 4,500 Mac games available out of its more than 15,000 total titles.
Most new titles are $49.99-$59.99 although older titles are often available at deep discounts. There is a selection of free games too. There is not, however, a wide range of legacy titles. If you’re interested in those, you’ll likely have better luck at GOG.com.
Users must remember Steam is a means of distributing and selling online games and is not itself a gaming platform.
Game performance and controls will vary based on the original game developer, the company which ported the game to the Mac, or another third-party application programming interface (API) developer. In some games, controls will be easy to use, but with others, you may be forced to search through settings menus to enable the gameplay you desire.
Using Steam For Mac
The overall experience of using Steam for your Mac is much the same as for PCs: download and play games. There are, however, some elements unique to Mac users we’ll cover below.
First, you must install the Steam application on your Intel Mac which runs Mac OS 10.7 (or later). Plus, you’ll need at least one gig of available storage on your hard drive. After that, installation is a seven-step process:
- Go to store.steampowered.com/about.
- Select Install Steam. (Your Mac OS will automatically be detected.)
- Select Install Steam Now. (This will download the steam.dmg installation file to the Downloads folder.)
- Double-click the steam.dmg install file in the Downloads folder or from the Safari toolbar button Downloads.
- Select Agree.
- Drag the Steam shortcut to the Applications folder shortcut after the Finder window is displayed.
- Steam can now be launched from the Applications folder.
Remember: The first time you launch the software you’ll likely see the standard warning about using an application downloaded from the Internet. Don’t worry about this. Plus, there will likely be an automatic update the first time you start the application.
If you already have a Steam account, just log into it. You’re ready to go unless you’re using a new Mac. In that case, a security code will be emailed to you, and you must enter it before you can access the Steam store. Setting up a new account is an eight-step process:
- Go to the Steam homepage and select Login.
- Select Join Steam.
- Choose your username and password. (Your username must be more than eight characters long and cannot contain “Valve” or “Steam” in it.)
- Select Next.
- Enter the email address to be associated with your account.
- You can now print your account details or save them as a PDF.
- Select Finish.
- A confirmation email will be sent to the email address you submitted. You’ll need to select the link in that email to activate your account.
Steam For Mac Os
You can also incorporate an extra layer of security by adding a smartphone number to your account.
As noted above, almost two-thirds of the games at Steam will not be Mac compatible. In theory, as Steam will detect you’re using a Mac, it should filter game lists accordingly. This isn’t always the case, however, so you’ll need to double check each game you’re interested in buying.
Plus, not all Mac games will be playable on every Mac as that will depend on the exact OS you’re running. Even if you see the Apple logo next to a game title, always look at the game’s individual product page to make sure your system meets – or better, exceeds! – the necessary system requirements.
Once you’ve determined your system will run a game, downloading and installing the game is a four-step process:
Steam For Mac Download
- Select Play Game.
- On the resulting dialogue-option box, select the install location on your computer as well as add a desktop icon if you’d like.
- Select Next. (Steam will now locally install the necessary game files on your computer.)
- Select Finish.
To play your game right away, once again select Play Game on the product page. To access your game later, use the desktop icon or go to your Steam online game library.
Installing paid games is much the same as any other application on your Mac after you complete the seven-step purchasing process:
- Select Add to Cart. (This replaces the Play Game option on free games.)
- To pay, select the shopping cart icon next to the wish list.
- Select either Purchase for myself or Purchase as a gift.
- Choose a payment option from credit cards, PayPal, or even Bitcoin.
- Select Continue.
- Agree to the terms.
- Select Purchase.
After confirming your purchase, your game should begin automatically downloading to your Mac, and you can install it as soon as that is complete.
The Steam game library is where you can easily access all the games you’ve purchased, downloaded, and installed. All you need to do is select Play next to a game’s title to launch it. (If you’ve not yet installed a game, the Play option will be replaced by Install.) There are some additional features which you may also find useful.
If you select a game, you’ll be able to see how long it’s been since the last time you played it as well as the total time spent playing it. Any in-game achievements you’ve earned will also show up here. Plus, there will be links to the game’s Steam product page and any relevant community forum pages. You can also use a variety of filter options to sort your library, which will be necessary as it inevitably becomes larger the longer you use Steam.
Additional Steam User Benefits
Remember: Using Steam doesn’t just have to be downloading and playing games on your own. Additional features to create a richer gaming experience include the Steam Community and the Steam Workshop.
Steam Community
As a registered user, you’ll have the opportunity to create your own profile page for other users to see. In addition, there are hundreds of forums dedicated to specific games, platforms, and other game-related topics. You can easily connect with your friends already on Steam as well as make new ones to play online-multiplayer games.
Want to write your own game reviews? Steam lets you do that as well as rate other user reviews. Plus, you can find the latest news for upcoming games, interviews with game developers, game walkthroughs, and game-inspired user artwork.
Steam Workshop
Ever had an idea for your own game? You can make it a reality with the tools available at the Steam Workshop. Want to make mods to existing games or create additional levels and missions? You can do that too. In addition, there’s the possibility to make money from your work if enough players find value in it. Plus, you can always download user-created games and mods for existing games like Skyrim.
Gaming Made Easy with Steam for Mac
Sure, it used to be lonely being a Mac gamer, and there was always the sense you were missing out on the opportunities PC gamers easily had available.
Is Steam Available For Mac Computers
Thanks to Steam, that’s no longer the case, and you can be as big a player as you want in the digital gaming world.
Want to learn about other cool options for your Mac? Check out our Fun Stuff for Macs!