Disable Steam Friends & Chat Popup on Linux

The new Steam Chat is here, but every single time you open Steam, it popup right in front of your face. I find this behavior annoying. Here’s how to disable it.

  1. cd /usr/share/applications/
  2. sudo <your text editor> steam.desktop
  3. Find Exec=/usr/games/steam %U
  4. Append that line with -nochatui, -nofriendsui, and -silent
  5. Now, it looks like this: Exec=/usr/games/steam %U -nochatui -nofriendsui -silent

Save the file, and now it will never popup anymore.

Update 2019-06-23: You could also copy the .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications. This way, you have your own modified .desktop files without doing sudo and messing up system files.

References

  • https://www.pcworld.com/article/3293009/gaming/how-to-stop-new-steam-chat-friends-list.html
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/91rphf/how_can_i_disable_friends_list_from_popping_up/