In a spate of great video game news today Valve and Apple worked out their differences such that Steam Link has now come to your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It works just like the Android app except Valve has simply allowed you to stream your steam games to your iOS devices due to Apples policy of not allowing other competing stores on it's hardware. All that said, I tried it out on my iPhone and Apple TV and Steam Link works flawlessly.
You can pair a MFI controller with Steam Link on your Apple device, Steam controller in bluetooth mode or use touch if you prefer. I was surprised to find touch isn't too bad and many games already have somewhat serviceable controller configurations for them. The touch controls are a bit janky but they work so if you are playing a very slow turn paced game you might be able to kick back and play it in bed or on the couch on your phone. That said, I was itching to try my Steam Controller and it worked perfectly. Steam in home streaming has also improved quite a lot such that even if both devices are on wifi things work fairly well with minimal lag. The video isn't always great but it works way better than when I tried it over a year ago on the same wifi hardware. Valve recommends at least one device plugged in to your wired network, but again, if both are in 5G wifi at least on my home ultra fast wifi things worked quite well. Hat tip to Valve here it seems they haven't stopped working on their in home streaming and it really shows. I've wanted to play Portal 2 again and on my couch in the living room using the new Steam Link app on my Apple TV seems like a really good plan.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-link/id1246969117
You can pair a MFI controller with Steam Link on your Apple device, Steam controller in bluetooth mode or use touch if you prefer. I was surprised to find touch isn't too bad and many games already have somewhat serviceable controller configurations for them. The touch controls are a bit janky but they work so if you are playing a very slow turn paced game you might be able to kick back and play it in bed or on the couch on your phone. That said, I was itching to try my Steam Controller and it worked perfectly. Steam in home streaming has also improved quite a lot such that even if both devices are on wifi things work fairly well with minimal lag. The video isn't always great but it works way better than when I tried it over a year ago on the same wifi hardware. Valve recommends at least one device plugged in to your wired network, but again, if both are in 5G wifi at least on my home ultra fast wifi things worked quite well. Hat tip to Valve here it seems they haven't stopped working on their in home streaming and it really shows. I've wanted to play Portal 2 again and on my couch in the living room using the new Steam Link app on my Apple TV seems like a really good plan.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-link/id1246969117
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Oh snap, I totally missed this announcement. That's one fewer box connected to the TV!
I just played shovel knight on my phone and I’m not feeling as kind as you with regard to touch controls but I’m amazed at the performance. They really have tweaked the hell out of their streaming performance.
Ok so the touch controls aren't good. That said they kinda work which is WAY better than I thought in that they would be entirely horrible. They aren't great, maybe border on bad but not a dumpster fire horrible. Which is totally what I love about Valve. They give you choices and options even if they aren't great to let you choose what you want to do. If people want to play Civ 6 stream to their phone over touch and find it awesome, go ahead. I really appreciate that because other companies wouldn't let you even try. Valve does.
Ok that’s entirely fair yeah. I agree with your more detailed take on it. The fact that I could make it through half a level in Shovel Knight is noteworthy even if it did make me want to throw my phone. 😂
Hahahaha, right.