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How can I read my old conversations with my Steam friends?

Facebook and Google Chat (whatever it's called now) let me review old conversations

Colonel Panic
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  • December 2022: Steam does not retain a chat history for you beyond a day or two. The Steam Chat mobile app does not grant access to historical chats any more than the desktop client. – KTry Dec 29 '22 at 03:19

2 Answers2

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Steam does not log your chats, at least not on your local machine, though their new EULA agreement does allow them to review your chat logs, they are stored on their servers or hidden in encrypted files on your desktop as no one has yet discovered them.

It is possible to log your chat via 3rd party support however as it requires some of your steam details, I cannot guarantee it's security and therefore will not post a link to it.

David McGowan
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    Giving a 3rd party your Steam login details (which are required to gain access to your conversations) is **very bad**. Don't even consider doing it. – speakr Sep 09 '12 at 13:06
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    I agree, I'm not sure it needs all your log-in details, I think just your username but it sounds dodgy so while in the interest of full disclosure I have referenced it, I wont post a link to one as showing preference could suggest endorsement which I do not. – David McGowan Sep 09 '12 at 13:13
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    Can definitely access message history now, via mobile app - at least on iOS. This is 2017 though, not 2012 :) – Rob Gray Jan 26 '17 at 01:15
  • @Dmitriy Per your [proposed edit](https://superuser.com/review/suggested-edits/766818): that Steam has added a new method for obtaining recent chat logs is worthy of a new answer – bertieb Jun 23 '18 at 21:10
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If you have the Steam mobile app, you can access previous messages sent to and from Steam friends in chat.

Once you install the mobile app and log in, select the hamburger menu (on iOS and Android, click the friends tab on Windows Phone), and then press chat.

Select the user you want to chat with.

Justine Krejcha
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    iOS user here. I got to it by opening the hamburger menu and then going Friends -> {click on friend in list of friends} -> Send a Message. This included messages sent from my PC (I never use the mobile app for chat). So I'm assuming messages are stored on the Steam servers. – Rob Gray Jan 26 '17 at 01:14
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    This won't show your entire history, just the most recent ~200 messages – xjcl Jul 17 '17 at 09:31
  • This doesn't seem to work at all anymore. – Alexej Magura Jul 13 '21 at 18:44