The Steam Deck's rare but troublesome 'loading throbber' issue has been fixed

Steam Deck's loading throbber — (Image credit: Future)

The Steam Deck is often rated for its simplicity and ease of use compared to other handhelds, but it's not immune to bugs. Valve's latest bug fix for the device has fixed a particularly pesky "loading throbber" problem.

According to the latest Steam Deck client update notes, the new client has "fixed a rare case where the UI could get stuck showing a loading throbber at startup while in Offline Mode".

Nobody likes a loading throbber at the best of times, but getting stuck being shown one at startup doesn't sound fun.

It's particularly egregious that there were loading throbber problems with Offline Mode, though. Considering the Steam Deck's often used in places with spotty signal such as long-haul flights, being able to use it without an active internet connection can be quite important.

I've had all kinds of loading throbber problems over the years, from Windows hourglasses to seemingly never-ending in-game spinners. When it persists for too long, probably the most annoying loading throbber is, in my opinion and despite it being relatively small and unobtrusive, the little blue Windows circle. Just the fact the little throbber's there irks me.

But I've never experienced the Steam Deck's loading throbber. If I had, I might think that to be the most annoying of the bunch. Offline Mode, after all, is meant to resolve annoyances, not create more.

Valve does say that, prior to the fix, this persistent loading throbber condition was a "rare" one. I'm not sure how many people were previously stuck looking at Valve's throbber upon an offline boot, but "zero" is better than "some" in this case, so we can be grateful that this throbber's been fixed.

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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.