(Pocket-lint) – With the PlayStation 5 launch just weeks away, and gamers the world over gearing up for their first taste of next-generation gameplay, Sony’s given its companion app for smartphones a hearty lick of new paint.
The app’s been refreshed pretty significantly with an entirely new design and functionality, giving a user experience that should track more closely to how it’ll feel using the PS5.
One big change is bringing the PS Store into the app natively, letting you browse games, buy them, and set them to download on your console all from a single interface.
Messages are also integrated, along with the option of voice chat, which is perfect if you don’t have easy access to a headset that’ll work with your console.
The new home screen lets you check out your activity and trophies for recently-played games, with tabs at the bottom letting you access news, the PS Store, your library of games, and a search function. A drag-down menu at the top of the screen gives constant access to your messages and parties, meanwhile.
Sony also says that when you get a PS5 you’ll be able to remotely launch games from the app, as well as using it to manage storage on your console and sign into the console quickly when you first set it up, all of which sound useful.
The update is rolling out now, so should be available through your app store, and is live for both Android and iOS.
Writing by Max Freeman-Mills.
