Perhaps you’ve had your Deck for a while and want to see how the battery is holding up.

The following advice is valid for both theSteam Deck OLEDandSteam Deck LCD.

With each charging cycle, the battery capacity lowers, if only by a tiny fraction of a percent.

Steam Deck OLED with its screen in focus, against a dark background.

Valve

After enough charge cycles, the battery’s health can degrade considerably.

Checking your Steam Decks battery health is fairly straightforward, but you have to do it in Desktop mode.

Once youre in Desktop mode, there are a couple of ways to check the battery’s health.

Checking the battery health percentage of your Steam Deck.

The following menu shows your battery health, just below the charge level, as seen below.

check that to choose performance overlay level 2 or higher because level 1 doesnt show the battery percentage.

To do this, launch the Quick Access menu and go to the “Performance” menu.

Use the “Show Energy Information” option to see battery health percentage.

Once there, confirm that you have the “Advanced View” option enabled.

However, if you manage to accidentally disable it, heres how to re-enable it.

Press the Steam button, go to the prefs tab, and enter it.

SteamOS energy information menu showing battery health info as well as other battery-related data.

Next, choose the General controls tab.

You should locate the Battery Percentage toggle just below the Preferred Language option.

it’s possible for you to enable storage mode in your DecksBIOS.

Adjusting the Performance Overlay Level under Steam OS settings.

To do this, first power down your Deck.

Now enter the “Setup Utility” tab.

Next, navigate down to the “Power” menu and grab the Battery Storage Mode option.

Toggling between Basic View and Advanced View in SteamOS settings.

Press the A button to fire up the option.

After you confirm your choice, your Steam Deck will enter battery storage mode and shut down.

Gaming while plugged minimizes battery usage once the battery reaches about 90% charge, thus reducing battery degradation.

Enabling “Show Perf Overlay in Steam” via Advanced View in SteamOS Performance settings.

Avoid Fully Draining the Battery

Li-ion batteries suffer when fully drained.

In fact, always fully draining the battery before putting it on the charger will degrade it the fastest.

Instead of waiting for your Decks battery to fully drain, charge it whenever youve got the chance.

Accessing Settings in SteamOS.

We dont recommend replacing your default battery unless it suffers from serious issues.

For best tips, check outour in-depth Steam Deck battery optimization guidefor tips to prolong your Decks battery life.

Enabling Battery Percentage toggle in SteamOS General settings.

Press and hold the power and volume up buttons on your Steam Deck to enter BIOS.

Selecting “Setup Utility” in the Steam Deck BIOS.

“Battery Storage Mode” activated under Steam Deck BIOS settings.

Steam Deck confirming Battery Storage Mode setting and powering down the console.