This guide is for players who want to buy games at a reasonable price without checking the store every day. You will learn the basics of the Steam wishlist, how to set up sale and release notifications across the client, the mobile app and email, how to sort and filter quickly during a sale, and how to keep the list useful over time.
The wishlist is a free, built-in feature, and at heart it is simply a list of games you care about. Its value is not in how many games you add. It is in letting Steam watch prices for you, so you only make decisions when something actually changes.
What the Wishlist Does
- Tracks games you want: both released and upcoming titles.
- Sale alerts: when a wishlisted game is discounted, Steam notifies you according to your notification settings.
- Release alerts: when an upcoming game launches or enters Early Access, you can be notified.
- Tells friends and family what you want: if your privacy settings allow it, friends can view your wishlist and send you a game as a gift.
- Shapes recommendations: Steam uses your wishlist when tailoring the store front page.
Adding and Removing Games
- Open a game's store page on the website, in the client or in the mobile app.
- Click "Add to your wishlist." The button changes to show the game is on your list.
- To remove it, click the same button again, or remove it from the wishlist page.
- When you buy or claim a game, it is removed from your wishlist automatically.
Store pages also have a "Follow" button. Following gives you news and update posts for that game, but it is not the same as wishlisting. For sale alerts, make sure the game is on your wishlist.
Setting Up Notifications: Three Channels
On its own the wishlist is just a list; notifications are what make it work. Steam renames and moves settings from time to time, so treat the steps below as general directions and follow what you see on screen.
Client and store notifications
- Sign in to the Steam client or the store website, click your account name in the top-right corner and open your account details or preferences.
- Find "Notification Settings," which lists categories such as wishlist items on sale and wishlist items released.
- Choose which of these should appear as notifications in the client.
Mobile app push notifications
- Install the official Steam app on your phone and sign in.
- In the app's settings, open the notification options and enable push alerts for wishlist sales and releases.
- Make sure your phone's system settings are not blocking notifications from the Steam app.
Email notifications
- On the store website, open your account details and find the email preferences.
- Make sure options such as wishlist items on sale and wishlist items released are enabled.
- Add Steam's official sending address to your contacts so the emails do not end up in spam or a promotions folder.
A safety note about alert emails
Steam's alert emails are informational and never require you to enter a password. When you get a sale alert, the safest habit is to open the client or type the official address yourself rather than signing in from a link in the email. Scam emails often imitate these alerts; our account security guide (Steam Account Security) explains how to tell them apart.
During a Sale: Sorting and Filtering
Once your wishlist has more than a few dozen games, checking them one by one during a sale is slow. The wishlist page has sorting and filtering tools. The most useful ones are:
- Sort by your rank: you can reorder your wishlist so the games you want most are at the top. During a sale, start there.
- Sort by discount: bring the deepest current discounts to the top for a quick scan.
- Sort or filter by price: match the list to your budget.
- Sort by reviews or release date: surface highly rated games, or older releases that are more likely to be discounted.
- Filter by type or platform: for example, show only full games and hide DLC, or show only games that support your operating system.
Exact option names change with Steam updates, so go by what the wishlist page shows.
Keeping the Wishlist Useful
If you wishlist everything, every sale will bury you in alerts and the alerts stop meaning anything. A simple routine:
- Before each big sale, spend ten minutes reading through the whole list.
- Remove games you have lost interest in, already bought elsewhere or know you will not play.
- Make your top ten the games you actually want to play soon.
- For the top few, look up past discount history and note the price at which you will buy (see Tracking Steam Prices with SteamDB and Our Deal Pages).
- When the sale starts, check the top of the list first. Buy if your price is met; otherwise keep waiting.
Our popular deals page (Popular Deals) is a useful complement for spotting well-reviewed discounts that are not on your list yet.
Privacy: Who Can See Your Wishlist
Wishlist visibility is tied to your Steam profile privacy settings. In your profile's privacy settings you can make your game details visible to everyone, friends only or nobody. If you want friends to gift from your wishlist, friends-only works well; if you would rather keep it to yourself, choose private. Check Steam's official support pages for the current rules on exactly which setting controls the wishlist.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming "Follow" means sale alerts: following and wishlisting are separate features.
- Alerts silently blocked: phone notification permissions and email spam filters can both hide alerts.
- An overstuffed list: too many alerts every sale leads to ignoring them all. Regular pruning beats adding everything.
- Buying the moment an alert arrives: an alert only means a discount exists, not that it is a good price. Compare against the price you noted.
- Signing in from email links: get in the habit of opening the client or typing the official address.
FAQ
Q: Is there a limit to how many games I can wishlist?
Steam does not make a point of a wishlist limit, and ordinary use will not run into one. The real limit is your attention: a shorter list makes alerts more useful.
Q: A wishlisted game went on sale but I got no alert. Why?
Check that notifications and email preferences are enabled, then look in your spam and promotions folders and your phone's notification permissions. Also confirm the game is actually on your wishlist rather than only followed.
Q: Will the wishlist alert me when a paid game is free for a limited time?
Steam generally treats a limited-time free offer as a price change, so a wishlist alert may come through, but it is not guaranteed every time. Our free games page (Free Games) lists current free-to-keep offers and works well alongside your wishlist.
Q: Can friends buy me games straight from my wishlist?
Yes, if your privacy settings let them see it. They simply choose to purchase the game as a gift for you.
Q: Does wishlisting help developers?
Yes. Many developers look at wishlist numbers to gauge interest in a game, so wishlisting an upcoming title you are looking forward to is a simple way to show support.