PS4 4.50 Software Update Out Tomorrow Announces Sony

Posted on March 9, 2017

Sony have been testing their 4.50 software for PS4 to select users over the last month and now it seems ready to be released to the greater public!  This is shaping up to be a massive upgrade for PlayStation fans, bringing in some much requested features to users of the PS4, PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro.

Here is a complete list of the features 4.50 is bringing about:

External HDD

Sony is now adding the capability to install games and apps to external HDDs. Connect a USB3 hard drive to your console and you can start downloading and playing your games straight off the drive, no need for their… lengthy hard drive backup and replacement process.

PlayStation VR Improvements

Sony is fixing some issues with how the main menu displayed while in VR (Virtual Reality). Increasing the resolution displayed when on the home screen and in Cinema mode will be a welcome addition to VR players.

Voice Chat For Remote Play

Are you one of those people who stream their PS4 to their Vita, Mac, PC or Xperia? Well Sony is now introducing voice chat to Remote Play sessions; now you can still hurl insults to players on COD while playing from the toilet!

Off-Console Availability

The Social screen will now specify (using a smart phone icon) if a player is contactable while they’re not using their console but are still logged into PSN via the PlayStation app or PS Messages.

Custom Wallpaper & Profile Colour

A feature many fans were dying for! Sony is now allowing players to set custom wallpapers on the PS4 and change their profile colour. This is a feature PlayStation fans have been waiting for since the PS3, and it’s great to see it finally available.

Share Your Activity

The Activity Feed will now work more like a social network allowing players the ability to set status updates and upload their own custom text with screenshots and achievements.

Activity Feed Privacy

4.50 is introducing more control for the player over their privacy on the Activity Feed; similar to other social networks, users will be able to choose who can see what content they post to PSN

Save Data Shortcut

A new shortcut has been added to the game’s Options Menu on the home screen; you can now easily trigger a save data upload or download from this shortcut

From Capture Gallery to SHAREfactory

Screenshots and videos can now be edited directly into SHAREfactory from the gallery screen, just press options to link into SHAREfactory.

GIF Support

Gif support is coming to PS4, clips from SHAREfactory can now be shared as gifs

Boost Mode (Applicable To PlayStation 4 Pro Only)

Your older PS4 games don’t support the Pro’s extra grunt? That’s cool, the system can now allow games to run even better on Pro hardware by giving them access to the extra RAM and CPU power of the console. In most cases this will probably help maintain framerate in high-intestity conditions.

PS Messages And Communities App Updates

Alongside the 4.50 Software update, Sony is also bringing in updates to their Mobile Apps including the ability to accept or join party requests straight from the Messages App.

I’ve been lucky enough to be running the 4.50 beta for the last few months and I can happily say its an excellent update to the console, bringing some much needed changes and usability tweaks! It should be downloadable on your system tomorrow!