Sony PlayStation 5 is superior in almost all facets compared to PS 4 Pro. The new console has more than 10 TFLOPS of computing power and can render games in 4K resolution, supporting HDR and Ray Tracing. However, the superb gaming machine has one thing less than its predecessor. Sony deliberately left out the Internet browser from an otherwise incredibly feature-rich gaming system.
While the company doesn’t want users to go online and browse the web from PS5, there is a way to access hidden web browsers and get limited functionality.
Playing with system settings
If you want to access the PS5 browser, the first step is to go into system settings. Then, from the settings menu, load User’s Guide. In contrast to other menus on the PS system, guide loads inside a web browser interface with the URL manuals.playstation.net.
There is no way to manually type in the other addresses or access that URL from other systems. User’s Guide is an informative and intuitive collection of valuable articles, but we want to browse the web using this interface.
To reach the goal, you will have to scroll down to the Users and Accounts menu on the console. Then choose the Link with Other Services option. The not-so-secret-anymore backdoor to the hidden browser lies behind a link to a Twitter account.
Clunky but still browsing
The idea behind the PS5 software is to offer a closed ecosystem with third-party apps integrated into the system. So, for example, if you log on to your Twitter account, you will be back in the system menu. That is why you should ignore the standardized way Sony envisioned Twitter login, and you should choose the Twitter icon in the top corner. The icon will lead you to the social network standard Web interface available in all browsers.
You can now log in and get access to Twitter. Now, you are in the hidden PS5 browser, but you still can’t enter custom URLs. Instead, you can search Twitter and click on links on other profiles and posts. Luckily, most companies, people, and entertainment providers have their Twitter accounts, and you can reach a considerable amount of web pages. A great place to start is the Twitter search bar.
Challenges with the PS5 web browsing
From what we noticed, PS5 hidden browser works nicely with image and text dominant pages, while it struggles with multimedia and interactive pages. You will be good if pages you’re looking for support HTML 5. If you’re tired of great PS games and want some leisure with online gaming, avoid links to Flash and Web GL gaming pages, but you can play casual games in Canadian online casino or other igaming sites.
Most users could use the browser for video streaming, and Vimeo and YouTube will work fine, but on the other hand, there is a much more user-friendly YT app in the system menu.
Another possible issue with the PS5 browser is security. Since Sony deliberately hide the browser from users, it probably doesn’t have robust safety and malware protection.
Sony said they don’t have plans to include a full browser for PS5, and since they know about this hack, perhaps we could expect a patch to close this functionality in upcoming software upgrades.
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