Question 1

What does AFK Hours actually do?

Accepted Answer

It keeps games from your library marked as “playing” on your Steam account, from our servers, while you're away. Steam counts the hours exactly as if the games were running on your PC.

You pick the account and the games from the dashboard, press Start, and close the tab. Nothing runs on your computer.

Question 2

Do I need to install anything or keep my PC on?

Accepted Answer

No. Everything runs on our servers. Your PC can be off, your Steam client closed. You manage it from any browser, including your phone.

Question 3

How many games can idle at the same time?

Accepted Answer

Up to 32 per account: that is Steam's own limit for games reported as running at once. The Free plan is limited to 3 games.

Question 4

What happens when I want to play myself?

Accepted Answer

We step aside the moment you launch a game on that account, and resume about ten minutes after you quit. It is always on: you never get the “logged in elsewhere” interruption from us.

Question 5

Do trading cards drop while idling?

Accepted Answer

Yes: card drops are decided by Steam from playtime, and idling counts as playtime. On the paid plans you can also turn on the card farmer in an account's settings: it reads your badges page and plays every game you own that still has drops, including games that aren't in your list (several at once until they reach two hours, then one at a time, the way Steam drops them). Your list waits meanwhile and comes back by itself when nothing is left. We never touch, collect or sell the cards; they land in your inventory as usual.

Question 6

Can I use it on several Steam accounts?

Accepted Answer

Yes, up to the number your plan allows (1 on Free, 1 on Starter, 5 on Pro, 15 on Ultra). A given Steam account can only be linked to one AFK Hours account.

Question 7

Can I idle a free-to-play game that isn't in my library, or a game shared with me?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Under your game list, add it with “Add a game by App ID” (the number in the game's store page URL). Free-to-play games are claimed on the account when the session starts, so the hours count from the first minute. Games shared with you through Steam Family count as long as their owner isn't playing them. DLCs, tools and soundtracks can't be idled. In the account's settings, "Free games" can also claim every game the store gives away for a limited time, so the account collects them while it idles.

Question 8

How does the achievement unlocker work, and is it risky?

Accepted Answer

On Pro and Ultra, open Achievements in the menu: pick the account and the game, tick the achievements to unlock (or untick the ones to lock again), then apply now or spread them out, one every 10 to 60 minutes. It goes through the account's own Steam session, the same way the Steam client reports achievements, from our servers.

Steam does not ban accounts for it; tools doing exactly this have existed for fifteen years. Two honest limits: games that keep their stats on their own servers refuse the change (you are told which), and some communities look down on it. Use it with judgement, and never on a game with anti-cheat rankings you care about.

Question 9

Can Steam show my own text instead of a game?

Accepted Answer

On the paid plans, yes: set a “Now playing” text in the account's settings. Steam shows it on the profile as a non-Steam game, ahead of the real ones, and it takes one of the 32 slots, so 31 games stay. Without a text, “Game shown first” picks which of your games appears. On the Free plan Steam shows “afkhours.com” while it idles; the hours still go to your games.

Question 10

Can I appear offline while idling?

Accepted Answer

Yes. “Status on Steam” in each account's settings sets how friends see it: Online, Away, Busy or Invisible (appears offline); messages get through in every case. The same settings pick the device Steam shows next to the status (a PC, Big Picture, the phone app or the web) and what happens to friend requests and group invites that arrive while it idles.

Question 11

Can I hide the games I idle from my recent activity?

Accepted Answer

On paid plans: “Hide recent activity” in the account's settings marks your list private on Steam. Other people no longer see those games in your recent activity, your games list or as “In-Game”, and friends no longer see your activity in them. You still see them on your own profile. Your “now playing” text stays on show: pick the Invisible status to appear nowhere. While it is on, those games drop no cards and their hours are hidden, so the card farmer switches off. Switch it off to make them public again: only the games we made private change, never the ones you made private yourself. If you remove the account from AFK Hours, switch it off first, or the games stay private until you change them on Steam.

Question 12

Can I idle only at certain times?

Accepted Answer

On Pro and Ultra: an idle schedule in the account's settings sets the days and hours, in your time zone. Outside them the account shows “Waiting for its time slot” and starts again on time by itself.

Question 13

Can it stop once a game reaches a number of hours?

Accepted Answer

On Pro and Ultra: set hour goals per game in the account's settings. Steam's real hours are read every ten minutes; a game leaves the list once its goal is reached, the account stops when the list is empty, and you get an alert.

Question 14

What alerts can I get?

Accepted Answer

Every plan gets email alerts when something needs you: a session down for more than ten minutes or asking for a new scan, the Free plan's daily cap, a goal reached, achievements done. Pro and Ultra can also post them to a Discord channel (through a webhook you paste, no bot to invite) or send them on Telegram. On top of that, the morning report sums up the last 24 hours around 08:00 your time, only when something happened, by email, Telegram or Discord as you choose. It all lives in your profile, under Alerts.

Question 15

How does “Invite a friend” work?

Accepted Answer

Share your link or your code from the Invite a friend page. When a friend who signed up through it (or typed your code within 7 days) pays for a plan for the first time, you both get extra days of plan; the page shows how many. If you're on Free, yours come as Starter. Milestones add more for you: 7 days at 5 friends with a plan, 15 at 10, 30 at 25.

Question 16

What is the prize of the month?

Accepted Answer

On the 1st, the account at the top of the previous month's ranking wins days of its plan (Starter if it is on Free); the ranking page shows how many. Hours on every game count, and you can stay anonymous on the ranking and still win.

Question 17

Why the QR code instead of a login form?

Accepted Answer

Because a login form would mean giving us your password, and we don't want it. The QR flow is Steam's own device-authorization system: your phone confirms, Steam issues a session token to us, and your password never leaves the Steam app.

If your account uses email Steam Guard (no mobile app), there is a password + email-code sign-in in the linking dialog. The password is used for that one sign-in, on our server, to obtain the same session token, and is then discarded. We recommend the QR code whenever you can.

Question 18

What exactly do you store?

Accepted Answer

Your Steam ID, persona name, avatar and game list, plus the session token Steam issued (encrypted with AES-256-GCM; the key exists only on the idle worker, never on the website). No password, no Steam Guard codes, no card numbers. The full list is in the privacy policy.

Question 19

How do I revoke AFK Hours' access?

Accepted Answer

Two ways, both instant: remove the account from your dashboard, and we delete its session token. Or, on Steam's side, go to Account details → Authorized devices and remove the Windows PC added on the day you linked the account (Steam names it “DESKTOP-” followed by letters and digits). Either one ends our session for good.

Question 20

Will you ever ask me for my password or a Steam Guard code?

Accepted Answer

Never. Not by email, not in a support ticket, not anywhere. If anyone claiming to be AFK Hours does, it's a scam: report it and don't answer.

Question 21

Can my account get banned for this?

Accepted Answer

We can't promise it can't, so we won't. Idling itself doesn't interact with games or servers and doesn't touch VAC in any way; idling services have existed for years with a clean record. But playtime is Valve's to count, their rules can change, and some games have their own policies. You use AFK Hours knowing that, and you can read the terms for the full picture.

Question 22

Do you see my friends' messages?

Accepted Answer

Only if you turn on “Auto-reply to messages” in the account's settings: a friend who writes to the account while it idles gets your text, once per friend per hour, and with “Answer game invites” on, so does a friend who invites it to a game. We don't read, store or forward the messages themselves.

Question 23

I use Steam Desktop Authenticator (SDA). Can I link with it?

Accepted Answer

Not with the QR code: SDA is an abandoned, unofficial project that Steam no longer supports, and it cannot scan or approve QR sign-ins. We don't support it and won't build around it.

Two ways forward: move your authenticator to the official Steam Mobile app (Steam → Steam Guard on your phone), or use the password + email-code sign-in from the link dialog. It works for accounts guarded by email, and the password is used once and never stored.

Question 24

How do I delete my AFK Hours account?

Accepted Answer

Profile → Settings → Danger zone → Delete my account, then type your username to confirm. Your Steam accounts are unlinked and their hours, games and settings erased, any subscription is cancelled at once without refund, and your email address is freed. Payment records stay in our books without your name, as the law requires. It cannot be undone. If your first payment can still be refunded, ask for it from the billing page first: deleting the account ends that right.

Question 25

What's in the Free plan?

Accepted Answer

1 Steam account, 3 games, for as long as you like. While it idles, Steam shows “afkhours.com” as the game being played (the hours still land on the real game); paid plans write their own text. The limit follows the Steam account, so linking and unlinking doesn't reset it.

Question 26

How are subscriptions billed?

Accepted Answer

Monthly, every six months, or yearly, by card (Stripe) or PayPal. Longer periods are cheaper per month. The subscription renews by itself until you turn renewal off.

Question 27

Is there a lifetime plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Each plan can be bought once, for as long as AFK Hours exists: Starter $29.99, Pro $59.99, Ultra $119.99. Nothing renews, nothing expires. Already on a lifetime plan and want a bigger one? You pay the difference. If a subscription is running when you buy, it is stopped and nothing more is charged for it.

Question 28

Can I cancel? Do I lose the days I paid for?

Accepted Answer

Cancel anytime from the billing page: Manage → Cancel subscription (turning auto-renew off there does the same). You keep your plan until the end of the period already paid, then the account drops to Free. Nothing more is charged, nothing is lost.

Changed your mind right after paying? Within 72 hours of your first payment, the billing page refunds it in one click: see “Do you offer refunds?” below.

Question 29

I'm on Starter and want Pro now. Do I pay the full price again?

Accepted Answer

No. Upgrades apply immediately and you're charged only the prorated difference for the days left in your period; your renewal date doesn't move. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal instead, so you're never billed twice for the same days. (PayPal subscriptions can't be changed in place: open a ticket and we'll sort it out.)

Question 30

Can I pay with crypto, CS2 keys or TF2 keys?

Accepted Answer

Yes, by hand: write to us from the contact page with the plan and duration you want. We credit the time as a prepaid period once we've received the payment, usually within a day.

Question 31

Do you offer refunds?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Within 72 hours of your first payment by card or PayPal, the billing page offers “Cancel and refund”: everything paid so far goes back to your card or PayPal within a few days, and the account returns to Free right away. It works once per account. After that, EU consumers can still withdraw within 14 days of a payment: open a ticket and the unused part comes back pro rata. Beyond 14 days, a period already started isn't refunded, but stopping renewal is always free. If we can't provide the service for more than a week for reasons on our side, we refund the unused part.

Crypto, keys and skins sit outside the 72-hour promise. EU consumers keep their 14-day right of withdrawal on them: ask by ticket, and we send back pro rata what actually reached us, by a means agreed with you. Network fees are not refunded, and the return transfer's fees come off the amount: you pay $1.49, $1.35 reaches us, we send $1.35 back, and you receive $1.35 minus the network fee.

Question 32

My account says “Needs a new scan”. What happened?

Accepted Answer

The session token Steam gave us was revoked or expired: you changed your password, removed the device in Steam, or Steam rotated it. Nothing is broken on your side. Click “Scan again” on the account and you're back in a few seconds.

Question 33

It says “Paused — you're playing” but I'm not.

Accepted Answer

Something is running the Steam client on that account: a PC left on, Big Picture on a TV, a family member. Steam reports that as playing and we step aside. Close it there and we resume about ten minutes later.

Question 34

Hours aren't showing up on my Steam profile.

Accepted Answer

Steam updates profile playtime with a delay, sometimes an hour or more. Check that the account shows “Running” on the dashboard and that the game is one that reports playtime (a few free tools and demos don't). Your idle minutes on the dashboard are counted from our side in real time.

Question 35

Is Steam down?

Accepted Answer

Check the status page: it shows Steam's login servers as our workers actually see them, minute by minute. During a Steam outage or one of Valve's big maintenance windows your sessions drop, show “Reconnecting to Steam…”, and come back by themselves once Steam is up — the session token survives, nothing to restart on your side. The only thing that needs you is a revoked token (password change, device removed in Steam): then the account asks for a new scan.

Question 36

An account says “Not included in your plan”.

Accepted Answer

You have more Steam accounts linked than your plan covers, usually after a plan ended or went down. The extra accounts are left alone, not deleted: upgrade, or remove another account, and they idle again.

Question 37

It says “Error, retrying”.

Accepted Answer

Steam turned the session down or dropped it for a moment: an outage, a rate limit, a network hiccup. The worker tries again by itself, waiting a little longer each time; there's nothing to do. If it lasts more than ten minutes you get an alert, and the status page shows whether Steam is the cause.

Questions, answered

We never see your Steam password.* Not stored, not logged, not anywhere.

How it works8

Settings and extras8

Security and your account8

Plans and billing7

When something looks off6

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