PlayStation 4’s newest system update: better parental options, messaging, and friend lists

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PlayStation 4‘s 5.00 system update is now available. It makes it easier to create special accounts for children and make special lists of friends, and it adds improvements to broadcasting, notifications, and messaging.

These system updates regularly add new features, which is important for keeping users happy and engaged. It’s also important in the console war between PS4 and Xbox One, with both systems attempting to one-up each other when it comes to selling hardware.

Before the update, using parental controls on a PS4 applied those settings to all users of that console. Now, parents and guardians can make specific restrictions for child accounts.

Friend Lists makes it easier to organize your online buddies. You could, for example, put all of your Call of Duty buddies in one place, making it simpler to see who’s available for multiplayer.

Users can now send direct links to Spotify music tracks to their PlayStation 4 friends. If you send a link to a website in your message, a site preview will appear without the receiver having to click the link. You can also turn off pop-up notifications while you’re playing videos, so you won’t have incoming messages distract you from your fifth viewing The Nightmare Before Christmas this month.

On the VR side, you can now see comments from viewers if your broadcasting while wearing the PlayStation VR headset. The update also adds new system languages: Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Romanian, Thai and Vietnamese.