Even though the PS5 has more functionality than its predecessor, one feature that was accessible on the PS4 was missing from the PS5; that was a web browser. It appears that Sony’s latest system does include a web browser, though getting to it isn’t easy.
Quick steps
- Go to Settings: Users and Accounts: Link with the other Services on the PS5
- Select Twitter from the submenu
- Instead of linking your Twitter account, log in to it via the PS5 internet browser window that appears.
- Use your Twitter feed to access links to the other sites.
How to use the web browser on the PS5
If you’ve ever been frustrated by the PS5’s lack of a dedicated browser, worry not. Sony’s flagship system does contain an in-built browser that can be used to explore the web, though it’s pretty limited and only accessible in a certain way.
While there are a few minor hurdles to overcome to use the PS5 internet browser, we’ll explain to you how to do so and how you may use it to explore the internet in a roundabout fashion.
Steps
- Go to the PS5 settings menu by pressing the cogwheel symbol on the PS5 dashboard’s upper right.
- Within the Users and Accounts submenu, select Users and Accounts, then the ‘Link with other services’ option. You’ll then be presented with a list of social media applications to which the PS5 can connect. To continue, select Twitter.
- The PS5 browser window is going to open, but we don’t want to join our Twitter account here because doing so would close the PS5 web browser after it has been successfully linked, returning us to the Settings menu. Instead, we want to click the ‘Sign up for Twitter’ button at the upper right of the window, then ‘Log in’ on the next page. After that, instead of being redirected to the PS5 settings page, you’ll be able to access your Twitter feed by entering your sign-in credentials.
- Finally, to visit a website, click any external website link contained in tweets in your feed.
Accessing websites with the PS5 web browser is inevitably unusual, and it’s unlikely that it was meant as a fully supported capability. However, because of the structure of Twitter’s account connection system, it’s incredibly simple to skip the process and get straight to your feed.
If you missed out on having an internet browser on the PS4, you can still get one on the PS5, but in a more obtuse way. The search field, which is used to enter URLs, is similarly locked and cannot be dealt with directly, thus the best choice here is to browse your Twitter feed.
It’s worth noting that the PS5 web browser’s capabilities are quite limited. While it can show images correctly, it will occasionally return a broken image. Furthermore, while YouTube videos can be seen via the PS5 internet browser, they cannot be viewed on full screen. For that, the specialized PS5 YouTube application is a better choice.