PS5 has a web browser after all — here's how to use it

PS5 has a web browser after all — here's how to use it

According to Sony's official PlayStation 5 "ultimate FAQ," the PS5 does not include a web browser, but apparently that is not true.

The browser is built in to connect only to Sony's online PS5 manual, and our friends at Ars Technica discovered that using the built-in Twitter login feature can force the browser to connect to the wider web.

The PS5's browser is a bit limited: you can't type in new URLs, but you can click on links that already exist; Ars writers use it to load Ars Technica's website, watch clips on Vimeo

"Video sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitch worked fine and sounded fine on the PS5, but each failed when I tried to go "full screen" with a video," wrote Kyle Orland of Ars.

"On the other hand, music streaming sites like Spotify, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp were generally able to load the interface, but our tests did not allow us to actually play music through the PS5.

According to Orland, most web-based games and interfaces built using HTML and JavaScript (and obviously Node.js and Electron) worked fine, but Flash, WebGL, and other high-end scripting technologies failed; Google Docs only partially worked.

We did not have a chance to replicate Ars Technica's findings, but according to Ars, the following should work to "escape" the online manual browser to the wider web.

You cannot type a URL into your browser's address bar, but you can type your name into Twitter's search bar. Use the links in your tweets or Twitter profile to access other websites.

Now that the secret of the PS5's hidden web browser has been revealed, it may only be a matter of time before Sony closes this Twitter "back door" with a system update. Let's use it while we can.

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