A dedicated web browser app is one of the few PlayStation 4 features Sony hasn’t brought to the PlayStation 5 – at least not officially.
It turns out there is a built-in web browser on the PS5. As you navigate through the PS5’s menu, you’ll come across a range of web browser settings – including options to clear cookies, change Javascript settings, and more. So where the hell is it and how do you use it?
Accessing the browser is not difficult; You can open it in several places from the console’s settings menu, such as: B. by going to the online user manual at. access Settings> User Guide, Health and Safety and Other Information> User Guide. It can also appear in-game to load announcements, user agreements, and other documents.
Unfortunately, the browser doesn’t include an editable URL bar (or most of the other modern browser features) so you can’t use it to navigate to other websites.
That said, there is a way to open pages and browse the web on PS5. The trick is to link your Twitter account and access web pages through your Twitter feed, as follows:
- Press and hold the PS button on the PS5 controller to bring up the menu.
- Scroll over and select that settings Symbol.
- Go to in the settings menu Users and accounts> Link to other services.
- Select Twitter from the list, then “Connect account.” This will open the Twitter login page in the PS5’s browser.
- Sign in with your Twitter account.
Once you are logged in, you can open links from your Twitter feed and the pages or media will load in the browser. Although you still can’t paste a URL, you can use this workaround to link yourself on the web. Note that some pages may not load at all, or load slowly at first – but there are ways that things may be faster (if only slightly).
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Screenshot: Brendan Hesse
- Go to Settings> System> Web Browser.
- turn on “Allow cookies” and “Enable Javascript.”
Disabling these settings is better for your privacy, but they can help some pages display properly and load faster when enabled.
Speaking of privacy, the PS5’s web browser menu also offers settings to prevent cross-site tracking and clear cookies and website data. These settings imply that Sony expects users to open pages beyond user guides and social media login screens despite the current limited functionality of the browser. It is possible that the app could evolve into a full-fledged web browser after a future update, allowing users to browse the web on the PS5 just like they did on the PS4, but for now it’s at least a new way to load links, if you happen to be using Twitter on your PS5.
To be fair, most people don’t need a web browser on their game console – their phones or computers will likely be right next to them while they are playing, and you can always download the YouTube app or other streaming apps like Hulu if you want to watch something on your PS5. That said, there will surely be someone out there who really wishes the PS5 had a dedicated web browser, and that’s the closest thing to that for now.
[TechRadar]
