Apple blocks Steam Link app for iOS

Apple has denied permission for Valve to release its Steam Link app on the company’s devices.

This means that iPhone, iPads and even the AppleTV will be unable to use the recently announced Steam Link mobile app, allowing games to be streamed from a local PC to any screen.

Valve has said that Apple previously granted the Steam Link app permission, with the company pulling their approval only after Valve had announced the app publicly.

“On Monday, May 7, Apple approved the Steam Link app for release,” Valve allege in a statement. “On Wednesday, May 9, Valve released news of the app. The following morning, Apple revoked its approval citing business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team.”

This is lent credence by a GamesBeat report which claims that Valve provided them with an Apple TV running the app to show how well it worked on iOS devices.

Valve appealed the decision according to their comment, explaining that "the Steam Link app simply functions as a LAN-based remote desktop similar to numerous remote-desktop applications already available on the App Store. Ultimately, that appeal was denied leaving the Steam Link app for iOS blocked from release. The team here spent many hours on this project and the approval process, so we’re clearly disappointed. But we hope Apple will reconsider in the future.”

There are several screen sharing apps already available on the App Store, so it’s curious to see the reasons that Valve’s Steam Link app has been denied. With that in mind we’ve asked Valve and Apple for comment and if any is offered we’ll update the story.

Meanwhile, the app is available on Android devices.