Steam Update Adds "End of Life" Warning for Certain Systems

Steam got a new update this week that added a warning to many users' clients. The warning in question is a countdown for when certain operating systems will no longer be supported following Steam's announcement shared earlier in the year that it'd be ending support for some devices running older operating systems like Windows 7 and macOS 10.11. Users still have quite a while before they have to make any changes to avoid losing access to the Steam client on those soon-to-be unsupported devices, but the countdown should serve as a constant reminder for what's coming so that nobody can say they forgot.

In case you missed the initial announcement, Steam said towards the end of March that it'd be nixing support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Support for devices running those operating systems will end on January 1, 2024, but the end of support for Mac operating systems macOS 10.11 and 10.12 will happen a bit sooner on September 1st.

If you're on the newer operating systems like the majority of Steam users likely are, you've got nothing to worry about. But if you're not, you'll see a notification from now on at the top of your Steam client to warn you about what's coming. That notice was included in the patch notes for the latest update for those who check out the occasional notes for the Steam client updates.

One user who happened to be running a device with an operating system nearing the end of its life on Steam shared an image of what this notice looks like, too. You can find that and the patch notes for the latest update below:

248 days left...
by u/LeMeduu in Steam

General

• Added "End of Life" alert for Windows 7/8/8.1. Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on Jan 1st, 2024 at 10am. See here for additional details.
• Fixed crash when clicking links in Compatibility Mode alert dialogs
• Reduced CPU usage of the Big Picture Mode window

macOS

• Added "End of Life" alert for macOS 10.11 ("El Capitan") and 10.12 ("Sierra"). Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on September 1st, 2023 at 10am. See here for additional details.
• Fix Steam Overlay crash in some games using Metal graphics API

Steam users have until either September 1st or January 1st to get their affairs in order if they're running on old operating systems, though the counter won't let you forget that anyway.