Forum Discussion

Tuckkbob's avatar
5 years ago

Steam's "Invisible" (appear offline) status not working

Product: Apex Legends
Platform:Steam-PC
Please specify your platform model. PC
AMD or Nvidia Model Number GTX 1060 Max-Q
Enter RAM memory size in GB 16
What is your gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name? Tuckkbob
Please provide your squad mates' gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name if possible.
Are you using any software with an overlay? Yes
If yes, can you list them here? Steam
If you disable this software, does that have any effect? No
Which Legend were you playing (if applicable)?
Which Legends were your squad mates using (if applicable)?
Where did the issue occur? In the lobby (waiting area before the match)
Which part of the map or menu were you in? If you don't remember the exact name, please describe the area or what you were trying to do in the menu. Doing anything in Apex Legends (lobby, ingame, etc)
What were you doing when the issue occurred? E.g. respawning a squad mate at a beacon, using an ability, a squad mate left the game. Always
Did your squad mates also experience the issue? I don't know
How many matches had you played in a row before the issue occurred? 0
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm) Beginning 11.4.2020
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
How severe is your issue? Minor impact to gameplay
What happens when the bug occurs? Other users on my friends list can see me online and invite me to games, even when appearing offline on Steam.
What should be happening instead? Players should not be able to see me online on their friends menu when I appear offline on Steam.
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Set your online status to "Invisible" (appear offline) on Steam Start up Apex Legends Your friends will be able to see you ingame, as well as your status (e.g. "Playing Squads on Kings Canyon"), and invite you to join their lobby.

Simply put, Steam's "appear offline" functionality does nothing in Apex Legends, and friends will still be able to see me ingame even when I appear as invisible. I understand that Steam's friends list system may not have much impact on Apex Legends as it uses a different login server, so if that is the case then this is just unintended consequence and could be fixed with a separate "appear offline" functionality ingame.

2 Replies

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  • Does anyone know if this issue has ever been addressed, or if anyone in the community has found a workaround to be able to actually appear offline in Apex Legends?  I have been suffering from this problem for a long time.  I used to be on Origin a long time ago, and "appear offline" or "invisible" didn't work for me on that launcher either.  If I need to switch back to Origin, or use EA's launcher, or whatever I need to do to be able to appear offline when I play Apex, that would be great. Please somebody let me know. I am pretty sure appearing "Invisible" and "Offline" works for me in every other game I play other than Apex.  This is a big problem for me, because I have bad headaches and other health issues, also bad social anxiety at times, and sometimes I just want to be left alone and play by myself because I feel bad.  Or maybe I just want the challenge of playing with random teammates that day.   Sometimes I've had a long day and don't feel like chatting with my friends.  Maybe I want to play ranked with some randoms I met, but I also don't want to hurt my friends' feelings.  The reason why shouldn't matter.  If we don't want our friends to see that we are playing, then that should be our choice.  I get the feeling that this is an intentional move by EA/Respawn because Apex is a social game and they want people squadding up and having fun together.  Look, I totally get that.  But you have to please understand that not everyone wants to be social with the same group of friends 24/7.  Also, some of us have more than a couple friends, and that leads to even more people with hurt feelings for no reason when you get hit up to play with two different squads at the same time and have to choose one or go with whoever asked you first, etc.  Sure, you can explain and if they are good friends they will understand, but I shouldn't have to explain to my friends why I don't want to play with them.  Even if they don't ask or make a big deal of it, it still feels like I owe them an explanation.  There is no need for this.  I should be able to choose to play offline without making my friends think I don't like them anymore or something (as this is not the case).  As others have said here and in other forums, I really hope I am just missing a setting or something, but when using both "Invisible" and "Offline" settings in Steam, I still get invites from friends.  Even though I can't even view my Steam friends list when "Offline" in Steam, my friends can still see if I am playing Apex.  And no I am not appearing online in Discord, and I don't game on a consistent schedule, so they shouldn't know when I am playing.  Unless my gamer friends are living in my attic and spying on me, I'm pretty sure I am appearing "online" still in game while my status in Steam is set to either "invisible" or "offline".  Neither work.

    If anyone from Respawn or EA sees this post, respectfully, can you please at least consider implementing one of the following:

    1.) Make it so that your "in game" status always matches your "in launcher" status.

    2.) Create an option in the game to change your online/offline status within Apex. 

    I can assure you that you would be making way more Apex Legends players happy than you can imagine if you made this change.

    I know you all are busy and I appreciate all the hard work you do for this game we love.  If you find my points to be even somewhat valid, can you please consider forwarding this message to whoever has the ability to fix things like this?

    Thank you for your time.

  • EA_rephii's avatar
    EA_rephii
    Icon for EA SPORTS FC™ Team rankEA SPORTS FC™ Team
    3 years ago

    Hey @SLAY3R8888,

    the post is already very old - therefore I close the thread at this point in accordance with the forum rules regarding necro-posting.


    If your problem persists, or you have a current concern, please make a new post.


    Please always pay attention to the date of the last post, and when the thread was created. Thank you!


    /closed

    ~rephii

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