Top 10 PlayStation 5 Tips You Might Not Know

Hopefully, some of you were lucky enough to get your hands on next-gen consoles from Santa this Christmas. If not, maybe bookmark this article for when you do. As you finally unbox your new Sony console, things can be a little overwhelming. Which of these settings are important? Why do I have so much to download? How does the new Share button work?! To answer these questions and more, we’ve put together a list of 10 tips you’ll need to know about your new PlayStation 5.

10 Tips You Need To Know About The PlayStation 5

1. Mute Your Mic

One of the many features of Sony’s new Dual Sense controller is a built-in microphone. This can be pretty convenient, since it saves money on buying a compatible headset, especially if you just got your PlayStation 5 for the holidays. However, starting with the first time you turn on your PS5, that mic is hot. This could lead to some pretty awkward situations in online game lobbies. The good news is, you can set the mic to mute by default. In the system menu, navigate to Settings, then Sound. Choose Microphone, then set Microphone Status When Logged In to Mute. If you feel the need to talk trash afterwards, you can unmute mid-game by pressing the Mute button under the PlayStation button.

2. Enable Automatic Updates

This should be on by default, but since we’ve got you in the settings, it doesn’t hurt to double-check! There are two places you wanna check. First, under Settings, go to System then System Software Update and Settings. This will make sure your PlayStation 5 checks for system updates automatically. After that, go back to System then Saved Data and Game/App Settings, where you’ll be able to make sure your PS5 is checking for game updates. With both of these settings on, your PlayStation 5 will be constantly checking and downloading updates as long as you keep it in Rest Mode.

3. Set Your Controllers To Turn Off Automatically

When your system idles for a certain amount of time, it’ll enter Rest Mode on its own. When this happens, your controller turns off as well. If you wanna save more of your controller’s battery life, you can set the Dual Sense to turn off after a certain period of time without inputs. You can change this in Settings under Power Saving. Select Set Time Until Controller Turn Off, then choose whatever interval suits you.

Let’s stay on the subject of controllers for a second.

4. Adjust The Controller Settings

Like we mentioned before, the Dual Sense controller is a marvel of controller technology. The PS5 controller features triggers that simulate resistance, and dynamic rumble that puts the Nintendo Switch’s HD Rumble to shame. These effects may be too intense for some players, though. You can alter them in Settings under Accessories > Controllers.

5. Check Out 3D Audio

The PlayStation 5 features a 3D Audio experience. 3D Audio is turned on by default; In order to experience it, you need to plug headphones into the Dual Sense controller. The system offers audio profile adjustments, so you can experience the 3D Audio just right. Go to Settings, then Sound, then Audio Output. Go to Enable 3D Audio, where you’ll find the Adjust 3D Audio Profile setting.

6. Make Sure You’re Playing The Right Version

This generation of consoles ushered in a new age of cross-platform buy. Certain games you already own for the PlayStation 4 will entitle you to a free upgrade to its PlayStation 5 counterpart. Some of these updates are not automatic, though, and you may find yourself playing on a version of the game that’s not optimized for the PS5. It’s an easy enough catch; On the home screen, the game title will say PS4 next to it if you’re playing the PlayStation 4 version, and only shows up if there’s a next-gen upgrade available for the game. You’ll get a notification if you are booting up the wrong version of the game, as well.

Also, if you go to your game library and click the little drop down arrow to the left you can sort by platform. Select PS5, PS4 or PS3 to only display the games for that specific Sony platform.

7. Choose Between Performance or Resolution Mode

Games released since the PlayStation 4 Pro often come with two different settings. A performance mode, for optimized framerates on any console, and a resolution mode, which takes advantage of the higher-end hardware’s ability to render visual effects. On the PlayStation 5, there is a system-level option to force games to default to one or the other when you first boot them up. Navigate back to Saved Game Data and Game/App Settings, then go to Game Presets. Here you’ll be able to choose between Performance Mode or Resolution Mode as your default way to run games.

8. Free Up HD Space

The biggest problem you’ll run into with your PS5 is going to be storage space. With only 667.2GB of storage space to cover your games and apps, you can run out of room pretty quickly. On top of that, there is no way to expand the internal storage of the PS5 and you currently can’t transfer PS5 games to an external hard drive, no matter how fast it is. This is apparently coming in a later update, but there’s no word whether there will be certain requirements for the external drives that will support PS5 titles.

So how do you free up some space on your PS5 HD? You can store PS4 games on an external hard drive to play on PS5. This includes all those PS Plus Collection games that you can download for free from launch if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber as well as anything you want to re-download from your PS4 library on PS5. Just plug in any external HD to your PS5 and the console will prompt you to format it. Be careful to copy anything of value off of the drive BEFORE you do this.

Once formatted you can transfer any of your PS4 titles to the external drive. To do this, go to: Settings > Storage > Console Storage > Games and Apps. In this menu, tab over to “Items You Can Move” by hitting R1, and then either select the games and apps you want to transfer to your PS5 external hard drive, or simply hit select all to move all appropriate PS4 content.

You can make sure all PlayStation 4 games install directly to your external hard drive by selecting Always Install PS4 Games to Extended Storage in Settings > Storage > Extended Storage. If you’ve already been using an external hard drive for your PS4, you can plug that hard drive directly into the PS5, and it’ll recognize all your games and even queue up any PS5-specific updates there are for them.

9. Capture And Share Moments

Some of you may have already asked, “Where is the Share button? How can I clip this Madden NFL 21 glitch and post it to Twitter??”

Well, it’s still there, but it has a new name: the Create button. It’s exactly where the Share button used to be, to the left of the touch pad. Rather than saying Share, however, it now has these little focus lines above it. Just like on the PS4, you can instantly take a screenshot in-game by pressing and holding the Create button. If you tap the button, it brings up a menu with more options, including the option to save a screenshot, and the option to save the last hour of gameplay to your Media Gallery.

10. Set Up Remote Play

Sony’s Remote Play initiative returns for the PlayStation 5. Using the Remote Play system, you’ll be able to stream PS5 gameplay to a PC, or even your PlayStation 4 Pro, and continue playing from another room or location. You can activate Remote Play by going to Settings, then System, then finding the Remote Play option.

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