Nvidia's new desktop app doesn't require you to login: 'your identity isn't essential to this experience'

News
By published

You can access pretty much all of the features included in the Nvidia App without making an Nvidia account.

The Nvidia GeForce Experience login screen.
The outgoing GeForce Experience login screen. (Image credit: Nvidia)

The day has finally come: Nvidia no longer requires a login to access its graphics card software. The new Nvidia App has just been released in beta and effectively replaces the GeForce Experience app, and one of the first things many of you will notice is how you can access ostensibly the entire software suite without logging into an Nvidia account.

"Your identity isn't essential to this experience," an Nvidia spokesperson said of the decision.

Nvidia first introduced a mandatory login for the GeForce Experience app in 2016, and it's been widely criticised as a bad move ever since. There are threads on Reddit and Nvidia's own forums filled with complaints from users, but after nearly eight years it felt like a done deal.

Thankfully Nvidia has seen the light on this issue and removed the mandatory login with its latest software, Nvidia App. Including all the features from GeForce Experience, plus some new ones, the Nvidia App is available to download in beta from today. 

The Nvidia App will eventually assimilate the Nvidia Control Panel and become a single unified piece of software for GeForce GPU owners. Though that's not happening today and the Nvidia App and Nvidia Control Panel remain mostly separate. There are a few features from the Nvidia Control Panel within the Nvidia App right now—namely the per-game and global driver controls.

The new Nvidia App home screen. You can gain immediate access to almost the entirety of the Nvidia App without logging in. (Image credit: Nvidia)

There is one section of the Nvidia App that still requires a login. The Redeem tab, which is used exclusively for redeeming coupon codes and rewards, has to be tied to an account. You can simply ignore this section entirely if you prefer not to create an account, however.

When I heard the news that the Nvidia App wouldn't require a login, I was more excited for that than any of the genuinely new features being added with the Nvidia App. It feels like a step in the right direction. After all, does trillion-dollar company Nvidia really need my email address when it's selling GPUs by the container? That said, I have been playing around with the new Nvidia App over the past week, and there are a few standout additions. Namely RTX HDR, which generates HDR for any non-HDR game. Worth checking out if you've got a decent HDR gaming monitor and not much to play on it. 

TOPICS
Jacob Ridley
Jacob Ridley
Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating into breaking things professionally at PCGamesN. Now he's managing editor of the hardware team at PC Gamer, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC.