Steam Link App Isn't Coming To iOS

In light of Facebook's most recent and biggest scandal, Apple has often touted its more direct and human-curated system of screening apps that go into its app stores. While that does leave little room for malicious apps to get through, it does have one drawback. It subjects apps and developers to what may at times seem like whimsical standards. That's exactly what Valve's team have run into when the Steam Link app for iOS was, at first, approved but ultimately rejected, preventing iOS users from remotely playing their Steam PC games on their iPhones or iPads.

Earlier this month, Valve announced a somewhat unexpected feature coming to its Steam ecosystem. Via an upcoming Steam Link app, Android and iOS users would be able to play their PC games on their mobile devices, with some caveats. The Android app went into public beta last week. The iOS version, however, may never come to be.

A post on Reddit revealed that, prior to the Steam Link announcement, the iOS version of the app was already approved. But after Valve went public with what the app will be able to do, Apple revoked the approval. Its reason: business conflicts with app guidelines.

That's pretty much a blank term for things that Apple considers to be competing with its own services and products. That could range from something like the Amazon Kindle store to alternative browsers that don't make use of its WebKit browser engine. Valve's developers argue that the Steam Link app is really just like any remote desktop app that do exist on the App Store, which leaves a lot of questions open.

Apple, however, doesn't always answer those questions, if it at all. Valve is appealing the case and, if there are enough users clamoring about it, Apple might reconsider. But, for now, Apple has put its foot down on the matter.