Valve's New Steam Link App Blocked By Apple From iOS Release

The cool new Steam Link app Valve announced recently, which allows you to stream Steam games to your mobile device, will apparently be an Android exclusive, at least for the time being. Following its recent announcement and subsequent beta release on Android, Valve has revealed that Apple has reversed its decision and will not allow the app to be released on the iOS App Store.

Valve announced the Steam Link app earlier this month, with plans to release on Android and iOS shortly after that. According to a statement from Valve, Apple approved the app's release just prior to the May 9 announcement. However, a day after news of it was made public, "Apple revoked its approval citing business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team."

This prompted Valve to appeal the decision, according to the company, arguing the app "simply functions as a LAN-based remote desktop similar to numerous remote desktop applications already available on the App Store." Despite this, Valve says Apple denied the appeal, effectively blocking its release.

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Valve doesn't provide any sense of whether it has a path for retooling the app to satisfy Apple; instead, it makes it sounds as if it's entirely up to Apple to change its mind. "The team here spent many hours on this project and the approval process, so we're clearly disappointed," Valve said. "But we hope Apple will reconsider in the future."

We've reached out to Apple for comment and will report back with anything it has to share. It seems possible its decision is related to concerns that the app circumvents the App Store, letting Valve sell games to iOS users without allowing Apple to get a cut, but that's purely speculation at this point.

It's unclear if this decision also means the other app Valve announced--one that would let mobile users stream the movies and videos they own through Steam--will also be blocked. For the time being, Android users can pick up the Steam Link beta on the Google Play Store.