Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
Yes. Free and open source under the MIT licence. There is no paid tier, no account to create, and no telemetry. It is published by MASTERPANEL LLC as an open-source project.
Can I use my existing SDA maFiles?
Yes — including encrypted ones, provided you also supply manifest.json. It exports back to the same format too, so moving away later is a supported operation rather than a rescue mission. How importing works.
How do I know this is not itself a scam?
Do not take our word for it — that is the entire design. The source is public and the build is reproducible from it, so you can compile the code yourself and check that the result matches the binary we publish, byte for byte. Every release carries checksums and a signature. The steps are here, and they work whether or not you trust us.
We would rather you were sceptical of us and safe than trusting and robbed.
What happens if I lose my vault passphrase?
The vault cannot be opened. There is no reset, no master key and no support process that gets around it, because every one of those would be a back door into everyone else's vault too.
What you do have is the recovery file written when each account was enrolled, and your revocation codes. This is why the application insists you write them down.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Code generation is entirely offline — it is a calculation from a stored secret and the current time. Confirmations, sign-in and enrollment have to reach Steam, since they are conversations with Steam.
Is it affiliated with Valve or with SDA?
No. It is independent: not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Valve Corporation, and not connected to the authors of Steam Desktop Authenticator. It shares no code with SDA. It reads the same file format so that nobody is trapped by their choice of tool.
Will it steal my items while I am not looking?
Automatic confirmation is off unless you turn it on, is set per account, and can only ever act on market listings and trades. That limit is a fixed list in the source, not a preference — an account recovery confirmation is held back and reported to you no matter how the application is configured. The security model explains why that distinction matters most.
Which platforms does it run on?
Windows 10 and 11 are the primary targets. Linux is supported. There is no macOS build planned at present.