How to Turn Off Friend Notifications and Overlay on Steam

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Quickly mute "Friend is now playing" or "Friend is online" notifications on Steam
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Does Steam send you notifications of when your friends go online and what games they are playing? If you don't want this "Notification Toast" to disrupt you in a game, you can easily disable it in your settings. You can also disable the Steam Overlay if it keeps popping up in-game. This wikiHow will show you how to disable all friend notifications on Steam using your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.

Things You Should Know

  • To disable friend notifications on Steam, click "Steam" → "Settings" → "Notifications" → toggle off "Show Toast" and "Play Sound."
  • Alternatively, click the menu next to "Show Notifications Toasts…" and select "When I'm not in-game" or "Never."
  • To disable Steam Overlay, click "Steam" → "Settings" → "In Game". Toggle off "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game".
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

Disabling Friend Notifications

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    Steam is available to download on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
    • If you aren't already logged into your account, enter your username and password now. You can change your password if needed.
    • Use this method to disable notifications from friends while you're in-game.
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    You can find this in the top-left corner of the window. A drop-down menu will open.
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    This will be towards the bottom of the menu. A new window will open.
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    This will be in the left panel, underneath Security .
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    Underneath the Friend Notifications header, you'll see a list of options. Show Toast refers to a notification badge, while Play Sound refers to a small sound.
    • Toggle off Show Toast for When a friend joins a game and When a friend comes online . If you'd rather not hear a notification sound, you can also toggle off Play Sound for these options.
    • If you also want to mute notifications from messages, toggle off the options for When I receive a direct message and When I receive a chat room notification .
    • Alternatively, click the drop-down menu next to Show Notification Toasts… and select Anytime , When I'm not in-game , or Never .
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

Disabling Steam Overlay

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    If you aren't already logged into your account, enter your username and password now.
    • When you have the Steam Overlay enabled , you can access Steam's community features while in-game. However, if this causes issues with your game, you can disable it. [1]
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    You can find this in the top-left corner of the window. A drop-down menu will open.
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    This will be towards the bottom of the menu. A new window will open.
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    This will be in the left panel, underneath Cloud .
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    This is the first option at the top of the page.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/3978-072C-18DF-FBF9

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