Teammates, trading sites and cheater checkers all look at your Steam profile. When it is private, your hours and games show as unknown, and people fill the gap with guesses. Here is how to make your profile and your CS2 hours public, and what each setting shows.
Change your privacy settings
- In Steam, open your profile and choose Edit Profile.
- Go to Privacy Settings.
- Set My profile to Public.
- Set Game details to Public.
- Untick Always keep my total playtime private, otherwise your games show but your hours stay hidden.
Steam saves each change right away; there is no save button.
What each setting shows
- My profile: your name and avatar always show. A public profile adds your Steam level, badges and the date the account was created.
- Game details: the games you own and your hours in each, including CS2.
- Friends list and Inventory: separate settings. Trading sites need a public inventory; the rest is up to you.
What stays visible either way
VAC bans, game bans and trade bans are part of Steam's public ban data. They show for every account, private or not, so making a profile private never hides a ban.
Why it matters for a check
On CSWatch, hidden hours or a hidden game library count as unknown, not as zero, so a private profile is not marked as suspicious for that alone. It does mean there is less to go on. A public profile with real hours behind it tells other players far more than a blank one. More on what people look at: Steam profile red flags.
Your own match history is a separate step
A public profile does not share your matches. To see your recent matches on CSWatch and check everyone you played with, add your game authentication code and a match share code under your account. See how to get a CS2 match share code.
See what others see when they check your account. Check your own profile