The PS3 and PS4 being online you had access to a web browser. It wasn't brilliant or as feature rich as a proper Web Browser but it could be useful if you needed to look something up quickly and you didn't have anything else near you.
But Sony changed this with PS5 not having direct access to any Web browser, which seems very strange in this day and age. They seems to want to separate the PS5 as a gaming platform and remove any general computer use by it's users. Other the Twitch you don't have any social media apps available either, which is fine by me.
However the PS5 does have a hidden web browser built in.
There was a simple exploit to access and use it. If you opened Gamebase and posted a message with a URL to say google.com and posted it, you could thin click on the link in the message and it would launch the browser and away you went. But it seems they have locked this down now too. My phone was flat yesterday and I needed to look something up whilst on my PS5. I posted a message to Google and as soon as I posted it the URL was automatically removed and a warning that a potentially dangerous message had been removed. And I later received this email:
Originally Posted by :
You breached the Code of Conduct
Dear Dave,
Your account received a warning.
Why?
We determined that you breached our Terms of Service, which includes the Code of Conduct, in Message.
Further offences may lead to your temporary or permanent suspension from PlayStation, preventing you from interacting with other players and playing online games.
What's wrong with it?
Sharing malicious URLs, including those that may harm another player.
How did we learn about this?
Your content was flagged by our automated detection tools as content that may breach the Code of Conduct.
What now? We expect all players to act decently, respectfully, and with consideration for one another. Therefore, we ask that you review the Code of Conduct and follow these rules in the future. These guidelines exist to ensure all members of the PlayStation community can fully enjoy their online experience.
Sincerely, PlayStation Safety
Wow! Talk about an over reaction. Threatening to close down your Playstation account, which would instantly lock you out of all your digital purchases and online access meaning no ability to even install OS updates.
An alternative exploit does still exist. If you go into settings and to where it has information about network settings and Youtube. If you select to log into your Youtube account, on the next screen at the bottom is a link for Privacy T&C. If you select this it launches the web browser and you can use it fully. Select the 9 dot Google app icon top right and you have full access to the Google search and all the other apps in your Google account if you log in,
Is it worth using this exploit that still works? As Sony seems to be looking for any attempt to bypass them locking you out of the PS5's browser maybe it isn't worth risking it as you could find your Playstation account gets banned and you are permanently locked out of the digital games you own and the PS5 as a whole.
I have to wonder if this is linked to countries including the US and Australia becoming far more strict about Internet activity and what we should be allowed to use our internet connections for. Personally I feel this might go against the EU laws on being able to use the devices we own for whatever purpose we wish. Not sure.
So maybe if you have a PS5 it's not even worth trying to get to the web browser.
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