How to View Your Friends’ Wishlist on Steam

Steam is the most popular legitimate marketplace for video games in the world. We want to highlight the word legitimate because there are many popular game trading websites out there that are more or less shady.

Apart from being entirely legit, the platform lets you gift games to your Steam buddies. Read on and find out how to view your friends’ wishlist on Steam, pick a game, and gift it to them. Valve recently updated the gifting system and made it even better. We’ll cover the changes, as well.

Viewing Your Friends’ Wishlist on the Steam App

Here is how you can view your friends’ wishlist on Steam:

1. Launch the Steam app.
2. Sign in with your user credentials.
3. Click on Friends and Chat in the bottom-right of the Steam app window.
   
4. Click on the dropdown arrow next to your friend’s username. The arrow will appear when you hover over the friends’ name.
   
5. Select View Profile.
   
6. Click on the Games option (to the right, near the center of their profile screen).
   
7. You will see several tabs here (games they own, recently played games, their wishlist). Click on Wishlist.
   
8. Browse your friend’s wishlist and see what titles they desire.

Important note: As long as your friend’s Inventory settings are set to at least Friends’ Only, you should be able to see their wishlist.

How to View Your Friend’s Wishlist on Steam Web Version

You can also access your friends’ wishlist from a web browser. Here’s how:

1. Head over to the Steam website and log in.
2. Click on your username and the top. In the dropdown menu click ‘Friends.’
   
3. Click on the friend whose wishlist you’d like to view.
   
4. Click ‘Games’ in the menu on the right.
   
5. Click ‘Wishlist’ at the top.
   
6. View the games in their wishlist.
   

Now, you can purchase the game for them if you’re feeling generous.

How to View a Friend’s Steam Wishlist on the Mobile App

Making things even more convenient, you can view a friends’ wishlist on Steam mobile. You will need to have the application downloaded on your phone and logged in. Then, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Steam app and tap on the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner.
2. Tap on ‘You & Friends’ to reveal the ‘Friends’ option. Tap it.
   
3. Tap on the friend whose wishlist you’re interested in.
   
4. Tap on ‘Games.’
   
5. Tap on the dropdown menu.
   
6. Tap on ‘Wishlist.’
   
7. View your friends’ wishlist.
   
   

Proceed with Gifting Them a Game

If there is an exciting game on your friend’s wishlist, preferably a game you are playing already, maybe you’ll want to gift it to them. Follow the steps:

1. On your friend’s wishlist, browse for the game you want to gift them. Click on Add to Cart next to its title.
   
2. Your Steam shopping cart will open. Select Purchase as a Gift. If you already own the game, Purchase for Myself option will be unavailable (greyed-out).
   
3. Select your friend’s name from your Steam friends list. Click Continue to send the gift.
   
4. Add a sweet gift note if you want to make the present even more special. Enter your friend’s first name, your message, sentiment, and signature. Click Continue when you are done.
   
5. Enter your payment info. Note that Steam takes various credit cards and PayPal, but it stopped approving Bitcoin purchases in a recent update because of the currency’s volatility.
6. Finally, review your purchase, make sure that the payment info is correct, and click on Continue to send the game as a gift to your friend.

The game will appear in your friend’s Inventory, and Steam will instantly add it to their account. You will receive an email receipt of the gift. To see if your friend got the game, click on Games in the top-left of your screen, and click on Manage Gifts and Guest Passes.

Recent Steam Gifts Policy Change

Game reselling on Steam was a common practice for years, and many people made a living out of this business. It was all possible thanks to the previous gifting system. Before, games on Steam were sold via game codes. You could have as many duplicate codes as you wanted.

Now, with the recent update to Steam game gifting, this is no longer possible. You won’t lose any duplicate codes you had before the update, but you won’t be able to hoard them anymore. It is Valve’s way of dealing with illegitimate game resellers on Steam, and it is reasonable.

They also simplified how you purchase gifts, which you can now do directly from your friend’s wishlist. This new system is much better and functional overall. Additionally, Valve stopped taking Bitcoin payments due to its extreme volatility.

Alternative to Gifting Games on Steam

Gifting games to your Steam friends is excellent, but it has one flaw. You can’t tell which games your Steam friends want the most. They might have a huge wishlist, and making the right choice can be difficult. That’s why it is perhaps better to give Steam gift cards to your friends.

Here is how you can get them a Steam gift card:

1. Open Steam.
2. Click on Steam in the top-left corner of your screen and select Settings.
3. Next, from the Account tab, select View Account Details.
4. Click on Add Funds to Your Steam Wallet.
5. Select Redeem a Steam Gift Card or Wallet Code.
6. Scroll down and select Purchase Digital Gift Cards.
7. Select the gift card value and select a friend you want to surprise. Click on Continue and follow the on-screen instructions.

Steam will update your friend’s Steam wallet balance, and you will get an email receipt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some more answers to your questions about Steam’s wishlists.

How do I make sure other people can see my wishlist?

If you’ve taken the time to add games to your wishlist, it is pretty discouraging when no one can see it. Fortunately, making your wishlist visible isn’t too difficult. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Click on your username in the upper right-hand corner of the app or website. Then, click on ‘View my profile.’

2. Click ‘Edit Profile’ on the right side.

3. Click ‘Privacy Settings’ on the left.

4. Change your entire profile to Public, or scroll down to Inventory.

5. Make sure that Inventory is set to Friends Only and not Private.

Now, your wishlist is visible to your friends.

How do I add games to my wishlist?

Adding games to your wishlist is really simple. All you need to do is locate the game you want to add. Just under the preview image at the top, click ‘Add to Wishlist.’

Games Are Better with Friends

That was our guide on viewing your friend’s wishlist on Steam and buying them gifts. Hopefully, it helped you, and you managed to buy the right Steam gift for your friend quickly.

Feel free to share your opinions and experiences with us in the comments section below.