The short version: hidden games on Steam sit in a filter, not a vault, so you find them by switching your library view to show the Hidden category and then unhide them from the same right-click Manage menu you used to hide them. It takes under two minutes once you know where the filter lives. Hiding a game tidies your library, it does nothing to stop your friends, family members, or third party sites like SteamDB seeing what you own.
Why games end up hidden on Steam in the first place
Nobody hides games by accident, not usually. You hide a game because you don't want it cluttering your main library view, because you're sharing a screen on a video call and don't fancy explaining why you own three tower defence games from 2019, or because a family member uses the same PC and you'd rather they didn't see your entire back catalogue of point and click adventure games. Steam's hide function has been there for years, it's just badly signposted, which is why so many people hide something and then cannot find it again three months later.
There's also a second, less obvious reason. Some players hide games that were free giveaways or bundle filler they never intended to play, just to make their library feel more curated. That's a fine reason too. Steam doesn't judge, and neither will I.
How to see hidden games on Steam, step by step
The current Steam client (desktop, Windows or Mac) uses a category filter system rather than a separate hidden folder. Here's the exact path:
- Open the Steam client and click Library at the top.
- Look for the filter icon, it's the small funnel symbol near the search bar, usually top right of the games grid.
- Click it, then look under the Categories or Store Tags section for an entry marked Hidden.
- Tick the Hidden box. Untick anything else that's already selected, like Installed, so it doesn't confuse the results.
- Your library grid will now show only the games you've previously hidden.
If you're on an older version of the client that still uses the classic library layout, the path is slightly different: click the Games menu at the top of the window, then choose Hidden games from the dropdown. Same destination, older signposting. Developers and gaming creators with a real result to share can write a guest post about gaming.
On the web version of Steam, at store.steampowered.com, go to your profile, click Games, and there's a filter dropdown that includes hidden titles alongside owned, wishlisted and not played. It's slower to load than the desktop client but works if you're on a shared or public machine and don't want to install anything.
How to unhide a game once you've found it
Once you can see the hidden game sitting in your filtered list, right-click it. You'll get a Manage submenu, and inside that there's a toggle labelled something like Hide this game or Remove from hidden games, depending on your client version. Click it, and the game pops straight back into your main library view the next time you clear the filter. There's no confirmation dialogue, no waiting period, it's instant.
A quick number worth knowing: Steam doesn't cap how many games you can hide. I've seen library screenshots online with 400-plus games hidden out of a total collection of under 600, which tells you something about how many people use hiding as their main organisation system rather than an occasional tidy up.
A worked example: the shared laptop problem
Say you run a small marketing agency and you've got a communal laptop in reception that staff use for demos, for client screen shares, and occasionally for a quick lunchtime game. Over eighteen months, half a dozen different employees have logged into the same Steam account (not ideal, but it happens) and each one has hidden a couple of games they didn't want showing up during a client call. Fast forward to now, nobody remembers which games are hidden or why, and you want to do a clean sweep before selling the laptop on.
The fix is the same five-step process above: open Library, click the filter funnel, tick Hidden, review the list, then decide game by game whether to unhide or leave it. In this scenario you'd probably find a mix of harmless things, an old visual novel someone was embarrassed about, a demo of a horror game, maybe a free-to-play shooter nobody wanted colleagues to know they'd installed. None of it matters much, but the point stands: hidden games accumulate quietly, and if more than one person uses an account, that list becomes a small archaeological dig.
What hiding a game does not do
This is the part most guides skip, and it matters more than the actual how-to. Hiding a game removes it from your own library view. That's all it does. It does not:
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- Stop the game showing in your public Steam profile if your profile privacy is set to public, since profile game lists and library filters are entirely separate systems.
- Stop friends seeing it in their activity feed if you launch it, because "currently playing" status ignores your hidden setting completely.
- Remove it from third party ownership lookup sites like SteamDB, which reads purchase and playtime data directly from Valve's API and has no concept of your personal hide toggle.
- Stop it counting toward achievements, playtime stats, or storage on your drive.
If actual privacy is what you're after, rather than just a tidier grid, you need to go into your Steam profile settings separately and set Game Details, or your whole profile, to Friends Only or Private. Hiding a game and setting your profile to private are two unrelated buttons, done in two different menus, and conflating them is the single most common mistake I see people make with this feature. Plenty of people hide a game thinking they've made it invisible to the world, then get caught out when a friend mentions playing something they thought nobody could see.
Steam Deck and the mobile app
On Steam Deck, the process sits inside the same Library section but via the controller menu: highlight a game, press the three-dot options button, and Hide game or Manage is in that list. Finding hidden games on Deck means going into the Library filter panel (the same funnel icon, adapted for controller navigation) and selecting Hidden from Categories, exactly like desktop.
The Steam mobile app is more limited. As of the current app version you can view your hidden games list under your Library tab filters, but you can't always toggle hide status from the phone itself for every title, it depends on the client version rolled out to your account. If the option isn't there, unhide it from desktop or the web version instead and it syncs across everywhere within a minute or two.
A quick troubleshooting note
If you've followed every step above and a game still doesn't appear under the Hidden filter, check two things. First, that you're logged into the correct Steam account, since family sharing setups mean a household can have two or three separate accounts all showing slightly different libraries. Second, that the game hasn't been removed from your account entirely, which happens occasionally with delisted titles or refunded purchases, and looks identical to a hidden game at first glance but won't show up under any filter because it's gone.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see all my hidden games on Steam at once?
Open your Steam Library, click the filter funnel icon near the search bar, tick the Hidden category under filters, and every game you've previously hidden will appear in the grid. Untick it again to go back to your normal view.
Does hiding a game on Steam delete it or uninstall it?
No. Hiding only affects what shows up in your library view. The game stays installed, keeps its save data and playtime record, and can be launched normally from the search bar even while hidden.
Can my friends still see a game I've hidden on Steam?
Yes, if your profile privacy settings allow it. Hiding a game only changes your own library view, it has no effect on what appears in your public profile, friends' activity feeds, or third party sites like SteamDB. For real privacy you need to change Game Details to Friends Only or Private in your profile settings separately.
Why can't I find the hidden games filter on Steam?
Usually it's a client version issue. On the current desktop app, look for the small funnel icon by the search bar in Library and check Categories for Hidden. On older layouts, it's under the Games dropdown menu instead. If it's still missing, restart the Steam client, since the filter panel occasionally fails to load fully after an update.
