Appear Offline On A PS4 And Other PS4 Gameplay Secrets!

The PS4 is a popular console. What if you do not want to be seen when you’re PS4 is online? How to appear offline on PS4 and other Playstation secrets to hide gameplay activity.

One of the most popular features of the Playstation 4 is its expansive multiplayer play that allows you to play with friends, family, and kind strangers living all over the world. It’s a great way to game with your friends and family and to meet new people as you play with or against one another in your favorite games. However, sometimes you may not want to be bothered and you would instead like to enjoy your favorite games alone. So how can you hide your user profile from your friends while you are playing games on your PS4?

How do you make it appear like you’re offline when playing a PS4?

There are two ways to appear offline to other PS4 users. First, when you first log in to your account on the PS4 you can hover over your avatar and press the options button and select: Log in with online status (Appear Offline). Second, in your profile, you can set your online status to Appear Offline.

As much as we all love playing our favorite PS4 games online with our friends and family, sometimes there is nothing better than opening up one of your favorite RPGs or other games and just being left alone to fully immerse yourself into the game and the world that the game developers took months to develop. 

It can be quite annoying if you are trying to game in solitude and you constantly are receiving messages from friends and family asking you to join their multiplayer games or to simply chat. There is nothing wrong with wanting to game alone with no interruptions.

Let us take a more detailed look at the two main methods of changing your online status to offline while you are playing games on your Playstation 4. Also, there are a few other privacy settings available for the Playstation 4 that many gamers may want to be aware of. Let us take a look at all the different ways to maintain your privacy while using the Playstation online gaming network. 

How to change your online status to offline

As mentioned previously, there are two main ways to have your profile display that you are offline even when you are online and playing some of your favorite games.

If you are looking to be uninterrupted by game invites and texts from your friends and family, then follow these step-by-step instructions to change your online status to offline even when you are actually online. 

Method #1

The first method and opportunity to change your online status from online to offline appears when you first log in to your PS4 account. 

1. When you reach the login page, use your PS4 controller and go to your avatar which signifies your PS4 account.
2. When your cursor is over your avatar, go ahead and press the options button.
3. You will have two different options. Log in with online status (Appear Offline) and Log in with online status (Online).
4. Simply choose to Log in with online status (Appear Offline) and your status will display that you are offline even when you are fully online and playing games.

One important thing to remember is that if you eventually do join a multiplayer game of some sort, all of the players will see your status as online rather than offline. There is no way to have your status appear offline when you are in a multiplayer game. 

Also, there is no specific way to appear offline to a specific person or group of people. When you set your status to offline, you will appear offline to every PS4 user.

Method #2

The second method to changing your online status from online to offline even when you are currently using and playing your favorite games on the Playstation Network is extremely simple. This method only involves a quick change in your Profile settings. 

1. On the main PS4 menu, you should see approximately 11 different options to choose from.
2. Click on the Profile option which should include a picture of your avatar.
3. Once you are in your Profile settings, find the Set Online Status button.
4. When you click on the Set Online Status Button, you should see a drop-down menu with two options: Online and Appear Offline.
5. Go to the Appear Offline options and click on it.
6. You should now appear offline to all of your friends and family on the Playstation network.

Again, the same rule applies. If you join a multiplayer game, all of the players in that game will see your status as Online. However, any games that are online but are played in single-player mode will keep your online status as offline. 

There is one additional of appearing offline that is not as common as these two options listed above. The Playstation 4 has some general privacy settings that you can access to get more specific about what kind of information you want to display and what information you do not want to display. Their privacy settings are located in the general settings under account management.

What kind of privacy settings does the PS4 have?

The Playstation 4 has a number of privacy settings that you may want to review and set to your preference. To access privacy settings, go to Settings, Account Management, and Privacy Settings. There are three main categories of privacy settings. The first category contains settings for gaming and media whereas the second category is for your friends and connections, and the third category pertains to personal information and messaging.

Gaming/Media privacy settings

In the gaming and media privacy status, you can choose who can see your activity and other details about a number of options. Choose who can see your Spotify music lists and what you have been listening to, change your online status to appear offline, hide games to keep all your individual game information private, and much more.

Here is a quick list of different privacy settings you can adjust in the gaming and media category.

• Activities
• Game history
• Hidden games
• Online status
• Watch requests
• Music

Friends/Connections privacy settings

The second category of privacy settings that you may want to explore pertains to your friends and connections on the PlayStation Network. Choose things like who can see your friends list, who can send you friend requests, who can send you team invitations, and more. 

Here is a list of all the options that are available to review under the friends and connections privacy settings.

• Friends
• Friend Requests
• Who can follow you
• List of followers
• List of players you follow
• Team invitations
• Players you may know

Personal information/Messaging privacy settings

The last category in the Playstation 4 privacy settings pertains to your personal information and messaging preferences. This category basically covers who can see and when your real name and profile picture can be displayed. This pertains to having your real name and profile picture appear in search results, friends lists, and in games. 

This also applies to when other players want to tag you in screenshots or video clips. Do you want your real name and profile picture to appear in these tagged media or do you want an alias or nothing at all to appear? These are some of the privacy settings that you may want to review closely.

Here is a list of all the options in the personal information and messaging privacy settings.

• Name in search results
• Name in friends lists
• Name in games
• Messages
• Tags