15 Cool PS4 Tricks You Should Know
Jun. 22, 2017The Sony PlayStation 4 is one of the most powerful gaming consoles of the current generation. Over the years, Sony has brought out the PS4 Slim variant, and the far more powerful PS4 Pro version, which has made sure that the PS4’s foothold in the gaming console market remains strong. While the PS4 is a great machine, its user interface with its complicated menus do conceal some great productive options underneath. Most people prefer to use the system just as it is, without knowing how to make the most out of the PS4 and further improve their overall gaming experience.Well, that’s where we come in.Here are 15 cool PS4 tips and tricks that will definitely enhance your PlayStation 4 experience:
1. Use your Smartphone As Keyboard for PS4
Entering text on the PS4 can rather be a hassle, whether you are using the normal buttons or the motion controlled typing. Wouldn’t you love it if you could type using the on-screen keyboard on your smartphone? Well, thanks to the PlayStation App for your smartphones, you can. To do so, follow the steps below:
Who likes waiting, right? So there’s thisawesome game for the PS4that you just pre-ordered, and can’t wait to play it. But first there are the tons of game data to be downloaded, and luckily for you, you don’t have to wait to download it. The PlayStation Store allows user’s todownload the pre-ordered game’s data files 4 days before the actual launch, from the PlayStation Store only. Yes, you can’t play the game until it has been released, but then again, once it is, you won’t have to wait.
How to download it
Everyone mostly uses their DualShock 4 Controller in the wireless mode. Now what’s the one thing that any user of a wireless device desires the most? Battery backup! Has it ever happened to you that you’re engrossed in a gaming session and suddenly a notification pops up saying that your controller’s battery is low? Well, you can save up some juice of your controller bydimming the controller light, by following the steps below.
Aren’t you bored of the stock blue panel in the background of your PS4? Or maybe the icons seem to simple for you? Well, don’t worry, as powerful a machine the PS4 is, it is quite customizable as well. You canchange the look of the interfacewith the help of themes. To do so, follow the steps below.
If you’d like to change the way how the PS4 hardware looks, you should take a look at our list of thebest PS4 skins.
The PlayStation Plus membership for the PS4 offers tons of benefits to its members when compared to the normal PS4 users. Online Multiplayer, Exclusive Discounts, Online Game Saves and Access to Betas are some of the added features that the PS Plus offers its members. Amongst all these features, there’s another feature that the PS Plus users are really fond of, and that is thateach month there’s a full game available for freeto the PS Plus users. Now, you can avail this game for free only when you download it during that specific month, otherwise the offer will be gone. But what if you wanted to own the game, but at the time of it being on offer, you ran out of your data pack? Well, you canavail the game without even downloading it.
To do so, at the game’s option, simply tap on“Add to Library”and voila, you’ll own the game. You can now download it whenever you feel like, even after months of the offer period. Nifty, isn’t it?
The Share button on your DualShock 4 can be used to take screenshots and record your gameplay with the ease of a single button. By default, if you hold the Share button, you can take a screenshot that will be saved to your PS4. But wouldn’t it be better tochange it to a single tap, saving you a few seconds of your valuable gaming experience? Well, actually you can do that, by following the steps below:
Your PS4 comes with a standby mode, or as Sony likes to call it – Rest Mode. In this mode, the system is basically on standby, and is made tooperate at a lower power usage. Even so, you can further modify this mode to charge your controllers or update your games while using less power. To do so, follow the steps given below:
While anyone can turn on the PS4 by pressing the power button on their PS4, the PS4 does come with alternative methods to turn the device on as well. In case your DualShock 4 Controller has been paired with the system in the past, you canpower on the PS4 by simply tapping on the PS Buttonon the Dualshock 4 Controller to wake the PS4.
Alternatively, if your TV supports HDMI Device Link, you can turn its respective option in the PS4 to turn the device on automaticallywhenever you turn on your TV. To do so, simply head over to thePlayStation’s Settingsand go to“System”. From there, check the box next to“Enable HDMI Device Link”.
Recording and uploading your gameplay videos online is one way of sharing your achievements, but wouldn’t it be better if you could do it in real-time? Well, thanks to the PS4’s Broadcast option, you can. The PlayStation has in-built support for Twitch, YouTube and Dailymotion. To livestream gameplay in real time from your PS4, follow the steps below:
Obviously you must be aware of the fact that your DualShock 4 comes equipped with a 3.5 mm jack for connecting earphones/headphones directly to the controller. While this sounds good, by default you can only direct the chat audio to the earphones connected to this audio port, effectively turning it into a chat headset only. In case you would like to alter this and direct all the audio to the said port, you can do so by following the steps below:
Much like the Microsoft Xbox One’s Kinect, the PS4 can also accept voice commands. However, unlike the Xbox One that requires a Kinect in order to be able to use voice commands, you can control your PS4 with your voice by simply connecting an earphone/headphone with a mic to the DualShock 4 Controller. To use voice commands, do the following:
We generally prefer buying the consoles that our friends buy, so that multiplayer gaming with friends is always an option (Thank you Sony for blocking cross-platform gaming). But what if you’re going to a friend’s place to play local multiplayer on their system, but would want to use your save files for story continuation in co-op, or simply make use of the items you unlocked on your system. Either way, you’re gonna need your save files for that. To carry your save files with you wherever you go, you could eitherstore your save files on a USB pen drive or you could store them on a cloudstorage.To do so, follow the steps below:
Note: Using the cloud storage option to save files in the PS4 requires PS Plus Membership.
Are you one of those players that are annoyed by friends or fellow online partners constantly messaging you while you’re trying to enjoy your game? Well, you can’t entirely stop them, but you could appear offline so that your friends don’t message you in the first place. To do so, follow the steps below:
Wouldn’t you love tocarry your gaming experience with you wherever you go? Well actually, you can. You can Remote Play on your PS4 by connecting it to your PC or Mac and then playing it with the help of a DualShock 4 Controller connected to the same. For this, you will need thePS4 Remote Play Appfor Windows and macOS that you can download fromhere.
Then, you can go toPlayStation Settingsand set up Remote Play from the “Remote Play Connection Settings” option. For detailed steps, you can follow our detailed guidehere.
While the PS4 and PS4 Slim were very powerful consoles themselves, the PS4 Pro brought an overclocked processor and a much more powerful GPU to the table, allowing for an improved gameplay experience. All the games released after the release of PS4 Pro have been designed to make greater use of the core power of the PS4 Pro. But what about the games that were designed keeping the PS4 only in mind? Well, the PS4 Pro comes with a Boost Mode to optimize older games to work better with the PS4 Pro, resulting inbetter framerates and improved overall gameplay experience.
To enable the Boost Mode, go to thePlayStation Settings, browse to“System”and select“Boost Mode”to enable/disable it.
See Also :15 Best PS4 Exclusive Games You Should Play
So, these are some of the PS4 tricks that we think might come in handy for you. The Sony PlayStation 4 is a beast of a gaming machine, and with the number of exclusive titles that come to this platform, it’s definitely here to stay. Well, that was all from our side, do give these PlayStation tricks a shot and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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