Steam, a widely popular website helping gamers from all over the world, is not exempt from having occasional bugs. One of the typical problems is the addition of friends on the site, while there appears an inscription ‘an error has occurred while adding a friend.’ It becomes an issue when you cannot play some games that are multiplayer or want to interact with players in other games on Steam. In this article, you will learn how to read possible causes for this error and follow different steps to fix it.
Why Does the Steam “Error Adding Friend” Occur?
Now, to fully grasp the nature of this solution, it is first crucial to know how this error occurs. Several reasons can trigger the “error adding friend” issue on Steam, including:
- Account Restrictions: If your Steam account is rather fresh, then certain features will be unavailable for a while – for example, adding friends. This restriction is put in place to check Cases of spam and phishing.
- Privacy Settings: At times, your privacy settings or the settings of another person may not allow you to send or accept friend requests.
- Steam Level: Steam has a levelling mechanism, and no user is allowed to use various options, such as a friend list until he attains level one.
- Blocked Users: For instance, if you are the one attempting to add the other person or the person you want to add has blocked you, this won’t work.
- Friend Limit: Steam users can have at most 250 friends if they do not possess a premium account or those badges that give them the freedom to have more friends. If either of you has hit the limit, then it may result in an error.
- Server Issues: In some cases, it may be that the Steam servers are currently offline, which causes this problem.
Solutions to Fix the “Error Adding Friend” on Steam
With the knowledge of causes, it is now right to find the best ways to correct the error as highlighted below.
1. Verify Your Steam Account Status
Currently, it is very hard for new users to add friends on STEAM especially those who have not spent even 5 USD on STEAM. This may be due to creating the account a while back and never completing a transaction or creating the account and never making any purchases. Follow these steps to lift this restriction:
- Purchase a game: Any kind of purchase on the site will promote the account to a better status and gain access to more privileges.
- Add funds to your Steam Wallet: You can also deposit at least $5 to meet the requirements.
After that try to add friends again when your account is not restricted anymore.
2. Adjust Your Privacy Settings
Privacy controls within Steam can be awkward to manage and can even cause friend requests to be blocked by accident. Here’s how to modify these settings:
- Click on your portrait at the top of the page to open Profile Setting.
- Click on Edit Profile, then click on Privacy Settings.
- In the ‘privacy settings,” change ‘Game Details’ and ‘Friends List’ to ‘Public’. This allows other users to be able to see you and send you friend requests more easily.
Ask them also to check their privacy settings as well to make sure that both of you can see each other.
3. Check Your Friend Limit
Steam restricts the number of friends you can accept, and it ranges between 250 friends for the normal account. Here’s how you can check and manage your friend list:
- Launch Steam first and go to the Friends & Chat button located at the bottom right of the window.
- Go through your friend list and unfriend some people you do not talk to anymore to open up some space.
If you’ve reached the limit, change the type of your Steam account or gain badges to expand the number of friends you can add.
4. Check for Blocked Users
This could be because either you have blocked the other person or the feature was mistakenly disabled by both you and the person you are attempting to add. Follow these steps to check your blocked list:
- Now go to your Friends & Chat tab.
- Please go to Settings by clicking the gear icon and then swipe to the tab titled Manage Blocked Users.
- If the friend you’re trying to add is on this list, then unblock them.
You can also request your friend to look at the block list to find out if they have blocked you by mistake.
5. Send a Friend Request via Steam Profile URL
If you’re still facing difficulties adding friends via the traditional method, try sending a friend request through the Steam Profile URL:
- Inform the person you wish to add to the platform to forward you their Steam Profile URL.
- Click on it in your browser or the Steam client to open.
- Go to their profile and click on the “Add Friend” button.
This other method is useful if there seems to always be a problem with the typical friend request function.
6. Wait for Steam Server Maintenance to End
Sometimes, the error can arise due to the shutdown of Steam’s servers, or they are just under some kind of maintenance. Adding friends is but one of the features of the social network Steam, which occasionally ceases to function due to updates and maintenance.
To check if Steam’s servers are down:
- Check the official Steam Status or use a Steam status checker website such as Steamstat.us.
- If the servers are down, you just have to wait until Steam sorts it out, and you can try again later.
7. Contact Steam Support
If none of the foregoing solutions are workable, it is necessary to get in touch with Steam Support. Give them specifics of your problem and they can help you solve the problem.
To contact Steam support:
- Visit the Steam Help page (https://help.steampowered.com).
- Click on “Friends, Chat, and Voice” and then follow the guidelines that will be displayed to report your problem.
Conclusion
The “error adding friend” on Steam is a very frequently spotted problem, albeit luckily it is possible to fix it in several manners. From knowing your account status to changing the privacy level and removing the blocked users, the above-stated procedures can help you find your friends easily. As for the final solution to the issue- you would better contact Steam Support if you are still experiencing the issue even after trying all the above measures.
Offering you the causes of this error and the directions to follow, you should start diagnosing this problem and start playing games with your friends.